Bill Allison presents during the free business journalism workshop, "Follow the Money -- Tracking Companies' Influence on Politics."
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1. THE NEW SOFT MONEY
Citizens United, 527s, 501(c)s and the Rise of
Super PACs
2. PRIOR TO CITIZENS UNITED…
¢ Outside groups
certainly spent money
¢ Some had as much
impact as Super PACs
— Swift Boat Vets
— Moveon.org – Bush not
on our side
— PVF: Ashley’s Story
— NSP: Willie Horton
¢ First
three done
through “527
committees”
3. AFTER CITIZENS UNITED….
¢ Restrictionslifted on
express advocacy
¢ Groups that can spend
unlimited funds…
— Super PACs (new!)
— Labor Unions (new!)
— Corporations (new!)
— 501(c)4s (new!)
— 501(c)6s (new!)
4. WHO DISCLOSES WHAT
¢ Super PACs: ¢ C4s, C6s, labor unions
— Disclose all donors — Don’t disclose donors
¢ Sometimes, though, — Disclose expenditures
donors are C4s
¢ Ad buys
¢ C4s don’t disclose their
¢ Phone banks, GOTV
donors
— Candidate supported
— Disclose expenditures
or opposed UNLESS
¢ Ad buys (TV, radio,
online) — Run issue ads
¢ Phone banks, GOTV ¢ Disclosed only within
30 days of a primary or
— List candidate, state 60 days of general
— Who they support or ¢ Lists candidate
oppose mentioned
5. THE OLD RULES ABOUT “ISSUE
ADS” STILL APPLY…
¢ Under Citizens United
— Anyone can run express
advocacy
— “Vote for, vote against”
¢ Despite
that, we see
most C4s and C6s
— Run issue ads
— Mention federal
candidates
— “Tell Joe Smith you
don’t want higher
taxes”
6. A NOTE ON ELECTIONEERING…
¢ There is a ton of
spending that does
NOT show up in FEC
files
¢ The only way to track
it is to go to the public
files the FCC requires
broadcasters to
maintain
¢ Sunlight is part of a
coalition of groups
trying to get these
forms online
7. HERE’S WHAT ONE LOOKS LIKE (THERE
IS NO STANDARD FORMAT FOR THESE)
8. QUICK PLUG…
¢ If
you want more information on the FCC
project, please contact me and/or Kathy Kiely—
¢ ballison@sunlightfoundation.com
¢ kkiely@sunlightfoundation.com
¢ We’d be thrilled to have your help
10. THERE’S LOTS, AND SUNLIGHT MAKES
IT AVAILABLE IN MULTIPLE FORMATS…
¢ Newand improved
tracker shows…
— All Super PACs
— All independent
expenditures
— All federal
candidates &
races with IE
spending
— All electioneering
communications
— And much, much
more!
11. PROVIDES SUMMARIES FOR
CANDIDATES
¢ Howmuch
spent
— IEs
— Electioneering
¢ Links to other
data
— Comparison to
other
candidates
— Candidate
profile on
Influence
Explorer
12. DATA PULLED STRAIGHT FROM
FEC, AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD
¢ Download
— Independent
expenditures
— Donors to a
super PAC or all
super PACs
— Donors and
Expenditures by
state
13. GET TO RAW FEC FILINGS FROM
THE SITE
¢ Helps you…
— Find out what
kind of group it is
— Find its address,
treasurer, etc.
— See more details
than we provide
— All data from the
FEC files are
available for
download from
our site
14. LET’S TAKE A LOOK AT CHAMBER
OF COMMERCE…
¢ Committee type
“E”
¢ Means it only
does issue ads
¢ Note that all
filings are
electioneering
communications
15. IMPORTANT POINT ABOUT BUSINESS
¢ Try to maintain low
political profile
¢ Work through trade
groups
¢ The bigger the better
¢ Trade groups operate
— At federal level
— At state level
— At local level
16. FIND OUT WHICH TRADE GROUPS
BUSINESSES YOU COVER BELONG TO
¢ Trade groups don’t have to release lists of their
members
¢ Generally, though, if you ask about one or two
companies, they will answer
¢ At federal level, HLOGA requires disclosure of
trade group members if…
— Company contributes more than $5,000 and…
— Helps select lobbyists
— Helps set legislative priorities
— Helps organize ad hoc coalitions
— Serves on committees w/in trade group that do any of
the above
21. boards of directors…
¢ Extensive lists
¢ They are usually
company execs
¢ Sometimes
lobbyists
¢ Boards drawn
from members
¢ Good way of
seeing who’s
involved
22. Check to see if a trade group has a
federal PAC…
25. FEC HAS A COMPLETE LIST OF
THESE COMMITTEE CODES
26. LET’S LOOK AT A SUPER PAC
¢ Committee type “O”
¢ Means it’s a super
PAC
¢ We have an address
(Sacramento? For
Hoosiers?)
¢ We have a treasurer’s
name
¢ Forms filed include
statement of
organization, quarterly
report, etc.
27. LET’S LOOK AT THE STATEMENT
OF ORGANIZATION
¢ Page one:
Boiler plate
letter saying
they’re a
super PAC
¢ All super
PACs file this
28. MOVING ON TO PAGE TWO…
¢ Address of
committee
¢ Email &
website (if there
is one—often
there is)
¢ Treasurer’s
name
29. MOVING ON TO PAGE THREE…
¢ Tells you what
kind of
committee it is
¢ Tells you if it
supports one or
multiple
candidates
30. MOVING ON TO PAGE FOUR
¢ Gives you the
phone number of
the treasurer
¢ With a lot of these
shadowy groups,
that’s going to be
your first point of
contact
¢ Sometimes they
list two or three
individuals
31. AND HERE’S A 24-48 HOUR NOTICE
¢ Candidate name
¢ Amount spent
¢ Race, and whether
they supported or
opposed named
candidate
¢ Also can see who
made the ad buy
33. Also has a page for “organizational
donors” (includes companies, nonprofits,
unions, etc.)
34. For the most part, it’s rich people giving
to super PACs
¢ Sheldon Adelson
¢ Harold Simmons
¢ Bob Perry
¢ Jeffrey Katzenberg
¢ Jerry Perenchio
¢ Peter Thiel
¢ Foster Friess
¢ Even most
corporate donors
are companies
controlled by these
individuals
36. SO WHAT DO YOU DO ABOUT THE
501Cs?
¢ Here’s a recent electioneering communication
¢ Run by a group called Freedom Path
¢ Let’s dig deeper
37. WE TELL YOU THEY’RE NOT A
SUPER PAC
¢ When it’s a super
PAC, we tell you
¢ When it’s not, we
leave that space
blank
¢ So what kind of
group is Freedom
Path?
38. FIRST CLUE
¢ Go to the FEC
filings
¢ It’s a type “E”
committee
¢ Like Chamber of
Commerce
¢ It’s a group (other
than PACs) making
electioneering
communications
39. LET’S LOOK AT A FILING
¢ We get an address
¢ The custodian of
records (who looks
like she does FEC
compliance for a
living)…
¢ You also get the
date the ad ran,
40. ON PAGE TWO…
¢ Lists of
people
sharing
control
¢ Plus their
addresses
¢ And
employer
and
occupation
41. NOTE THAT WE CAN LOOK THESE
PEOPLE UP IN OPENSECRETS.ORG
¢ Using main
search on
home page
¢ Bensing a
revolver
¢ Bensing a
lobbyist
¢ Bensing
working for
four PACs
42. WE CAN SEE HE USED TO WORK
FOR JOHN ENSIGN…
¢ Now works for
SBC Strategic
Consulting
¢ Used to work
for November
Inc., another
lobbying firm
43. INTERESTS HE REPRESENTS
¢ Oooh, Ultimate
Fighting
Championship!
¢ State of Nevada
¢ Other
companies…
44. …AND THE PACS HE SERVES AS
TREASURUER
¢ All four are
Super PACs
¢ Freedom Path
Action Network
sounds a lot like
Freedom Path
¢ Check to see if
there are super
PACs with
names similar to
the group you’re
looking at
45. BACK TO THE FEC DISCLOSURE
¢ Money spent
¢ What they’re buying
¢ Federal candidates
mentioned
¢ Yellow: Who’s being
paid
— Note that with ad
buys, most of the
money will go to TV,
radio, etc.
46. GOOGLING FREEDOM PATH…
¢ In this case, we’re
lucky
¢ They have a page
telling us they’re a c4
¢ So we know what it is
and who’s behind it
¢ What we don’t know
is who contributes
¢ Always worth
pointing which
groups don’t disclose
donors
47. IRS SOI HAS A LIST OF ALL TAX-
EXEMPT ORGS…
¢ Organized by
state and region
¢ Has c3s, c4s, c5s,
c6s…c25s
¢ Lists income,
expenditures and
assets from most
recent 990
¢ Has address of
group & contact
name
48. FOR NEW GROUPS…
¢ Some 501c4s and c6s will be created in the
weeks to come
¢ They won’t have 990s available
¢ Check on their status with the IRS by calling
1-877-829-5500
¢ It can be a 10- to 15-minute wait
¢ You can also contact Jim Willis at SOI for help
on exempt org data
¢ james.n.willis@irs.gov