Jimmy Cloutier, OpenSecrets

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A complaint with the Federal Election Commission alleges that a shell company with ties to the former chief financial officer of the Republican State Leadership Committee illegally steered nearly $2.6 million to half a dozen political committees.

The complaint filed May 7 by the nonpartisan watchdog Campaign Legal Center revolves around Ardleigh Impact Corp., a company incorporated in Delaware on Oct. 24, 2023, which appears to exist only on paper. The Campaign Legal Center found no reference to the company online or record of it doing business. But barely three months after it was organized, the company made multiple large donations to six super PACs connected to high-ranking Republicans and conservative groups....

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The Federal Election Commission is urging Congress to close a loophole in federal law that allows foreign corporations to finance ballot measures.

The Federal Election Campaign Act currently prohibits foreign nationals and corporations from making political donations and independent expenditures in connection to an election for federal, state or local office. But the ban does not apply to political spending on ballot measures, referenda or even recall elections where a candidate is not seeking office. ...

The Federal Election Commission on Thursday voted 5-1 to approve new rules allowing more candidates to pay themselves a salary while running for office, including recent caregivers and workers suffering from an unexpected job loss.

Under existing regulations, only candidates who earned an income during the 12 months immediately before running for office qualified to receive compensation from campaign funds, putting stay-at-home parents, recent college graduates and workers with gaps in employment at a disadvantage.

In 2021, Nabilah Islam Parkes — a former federal candidate and now Democratic state senator in Georgia — filed a petition urging the commission to revise its regulations on campaign salaries, arguing that the restrictions favored the wealthy and left many working-class candidates “out in the cold.”...

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The Environmental Protection Agency unveiled a new proposal Thursday to cut greenhouse gas emissions from thousands of power plants burning coal or natural gas, two of the top sources of electricity across the United States. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), criticizing the “radical” proposal, issued his own scorched earth ultimatum on Wednesday ahead of the announcement.

Manchin, chair of the Senate Energy Committee and the top recipient of contributions from the oil and gas industry during the 2022 election cycle, vowed Wednesday to oppose every one of President Joe Biden’s nominees for the EPA “until they halt their government overreach.” ...