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Big Donors Have Fled Jeb Bush’s Super-PAC

by XavierFrewin634 Posted on February 1, 2016

Mother Jones

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This summer, Jeb Bush’s warchest seemed unbeatable. In July, the pro-Bush super-PAC, Right to Rise, announced a record haul of $103 million. Bush insiders said at the time that this staggering total was meant to “shock and awe” the former Florida governor’s competitors and pressure uncommitted donors to either climb on the bandwagon or stay the hell out of the way. Now it’s Right to Rise’s fundraisers who must be feeling shocked and awed: According to just-released disclosures, they managed to raise just $15.1 million during the second half of the year, as Bush fell from presumptive favorite to Donald Trump’s favorite punching bag.

In July, when the super-PAC’s first-half numbers were released, we counted at least 23 donors who gave $1 million or more to Right to Rise. This time, there was just one donor who gave more than $500,000—former AIG chairman and CEO, Hank Greenberg, who donated a whopping $10 million. And where during the first half of the year Right to Rise had 9,400 donors, it reported just 155 contributors in its latest disclosure.

Last spring, the super-PAC was so worried about appearing elitist and hurting Bush’s “man-of-the-people” image that it instructed donors to hold off on making any donations larger than $1 million. According to its latest filing, the super-PAC still has $54 million in cash (after having blown more than $58 million), but still, Right to Rise officials must be regretting that decision now.

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Big Donors Have Fled Jeb Bush’s Super-PAC

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A Shady Conservative Group Is Fundraising Off the Death of a Ben Carson Volunteer

by GeorginaDownie2 Posted on January 25, 2016

Mother Jones

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A political action committee with a track record of questionable tactics is attempting to use the recent death of a Ben Carson campaign volunteer to raise money. The group has no connection to Carson’s presidential effort, and a spokesman for the retired neurosurgeon who is seeking the GOP presidential nomination tells Mother Jones that the Carson team was “disgusted and appalled” by the ploy.

On Sunday, the Sacramento-based Defenders of Freedom and Security PAC sent out an email blast urging recipients to donate whatever they could and to join its email list to “help Ben Carson carry the baton of freedom to the next generation!” The message, which includes language suggesting that donations will be used to directly support Carson’s presidential bid, begins with a not-very-subtle attempt to grab potential donors by their heartstrings: “The Carson campaign dealt with a tragedy this week when a student campaign worker died tragically in a car accident in Iowa.” This was a reference to 25-year-old Braden Joplin, who died when a van carrying Carson campaign volunteers was involved in a crash on icy roads in western Iowa on Tuesday.

Far from using the volunteer’s death as a fundraising gambit, Carson suspended campaigning for two days, and the campaign sent a private jet to fly Joplin’s family to Iowa. When Carson resumed campaigning, he dedicated his stops to the young volunteer. When told of Defenders of Freedom’s fundraising email, the Carson campaign criticized the move.

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A Shady Conservative Group Is Fundraising Off the Death of a Ben Carson Volunteer

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Does Anyone Know a Doctor? Because Ben Carson’s Campaign Is Hemorrhaging Supporters.

by RNZEarnest Posted on January 11, 2016

Mother Jones

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All five paid staffers in the New Hampshire office of a pro-Ben Carson super-PAC have quit their jobs to volunteer for rival presidential candidate Ted Cruz, a state television station reported Monday.

“We think it is important that our party…get behind a single conservative who can win, and we strongly believe that candidate is Ted Cruz,” former super-PAC staffer Jerry Sickles told station WMUR. He added that his colleagues had been frustrated by the fact that Carson spent very little time campaigning in New Hampshire. Oddly, Carson appeared in Staten Island earlier this month.

The five former staffers had worked at the 2016 Committee, a super-PAC founded in 2013 to convince the retired neurosurgeon to run for president. Their decision to leave the Carson super-PAC comes less than two weeks after three of Carson’s highest-ranking staffers, among them campaign manager Barry Bennett, stepped down from the campaign. Carson said in a statement that he had initiated the shake-up, but Bennett told the Hill that he left over frustration with the direction the campaign had taken.

The former head of the 2016 Committee, Sam Pimm, on Monday told Politico that he too is now backing Cruz. When asked if the recent shake-ups in Carson’s campaign had anything to do with his decision, he replied, “Yes.”

Carson’s presidential run has sputtered after an unexpected surge of popularity that saw him briefly polling at the head of the pack in early November. On Monday he trailed behind Donald Trump, Cruz, and Marco Rubio, and he polled at 9.5 percent, according to the RealClearPolitics poll average.

The former Carson supporters’ revolt comes at a good time for Cruz, who is planning an exhaustive tour of New Hampshire beginning January 17. The New Hampshire primary will be on Tuesday, February 9.

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Does Anyone Know a Doctor? Because Ben Carson’s Campaign Is Hemorrhaging Supporters.

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Democrats Are…Maybe…Possibly…Thinking About Fundraising the Way Republicans Do

by TracieSeymour Posted on September 14, 2015

Mother Jones

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Nick Confessore has a fascinating story in the New York Times today. He reports that Democrats are planning to adopt the super PAC tactics of Republicans in order to compete more effectively. By itself, that’s no big surprise. But Democrats are asking the FEC for permission to do all this. What’s the point of that? Why not just go ahead and do it, the way Republicans have?

Lawyers are asking the F.E.C. to clarify how declared candidates, their campaign staff, and their volunteers can help court donors for independent super PACs — even whether a candidate could be the “special guest” at a super PAC “fund-raiser” with as few as two donors. The commission’s answer could have profound ramifications for the 2016 campaign, particularly for Democrats who, like Hillary Rodham Clinton, have been reluctant to engage too closely with super PAC fund-raising.

In seeking the commission’s approval for the tactics, Democrats contend that most of what they want permission to do — like having a candidate pretend to “test the waters” of a candidacy for months on end while raising money — appears to violate the law. But if federal regulators determine that such practices are legal, the lawyers wrote, Democratic candidates up and down the ballot are prepared to adopt these tactics in the coming months, a blunt admission that the party cannot compete effectively if it forgoes campaign and fund-raising tactics already widely used by Republicans.

So the apparent plan here isn’t so much to get permission for all these shady practices, but to prod the FEC into declaring them illegal. This would muck things up for Republicans, who currently rely on them.

Or, in the worst case, the FEC would approve them and Democrats could safely adopt them too. All of which raises the question: why are Republicans so cavalier about dodgy fundraising practices while Democrats are so hesitant to adopt them? In some case, like that of Bernie Sanders, it’s based on principle, but I imagine that he’s the exception rather than the rule. Are Democrats afraid the media will be tougher on them than on Republicans if they push the envelope of fundraising tactics? Possibly. Maybe “no controlling legal authority” still keeps them awake at night. Or are they just wimps?

I don’t know. But I confess I was unaware of just how widely Democrats had shied away from the wild West world of super PACs that Republicans have embraced so eagerly. One way or another, that can’t last too much longer.

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Democrats Are…Maybe…Possibly…Thinking About Fundraising the Way Republicans Do

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Rick Perry Is on the Payroll of His Super-PAC’s Biggest Sugar Daddy

by DelphiaHopwood Posted on July 13, 2015

Mother Jones

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Rick Perry’s fundraising for his second presidential campaign is off to a tepid start. Last week, his campaign announced a $1.07 million haul since Perry officially declared his candidacy at the beginning of June. Though he entered the race later than some of the other GOP candidates, that’s far lower than the amounts raised by some of his rivals including Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz, and Ben Carson.

Things were a bit better for Perry on the super PAC front, where a trio of interlocking groups supporting his campaign claimed $16.8 million in donations, according to CNN. The largest donor to this outside spending effort is the billionaire owner of a Texas pipeline company that also happens to write Rick Perry’s paycheck.

As Mother Jones reported last month, Perry is still sitting on the corporate board of Energy Transfer Partners, even after making his presidential campaign official. Perry had joined the board of the oil and natural gas pipeline company in early February, shortly after leaving the Texas governor’s office. Politicians typically step down from such jobs before launching a presidential bid to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest, but Perry’s kept his board spot while hitting the campaign trail. While the company isn’t willing to disclose his salary for the board spot, past Securities and Exchange Commission records show that the job has recently come with about $50,000 in compensation.

But Energy Transfer Partners’ CEO Kelcy Warren is putting far more money into Perry’s presidential ambitions. According to CNN, Warren accounts for $6 million of Perry’s super PAC donations to date. Warren—worth $6.7 billion according to Forbes—chipped in just $250,000 to the pro-Perry super PAC in 2012, but he is clearly more invested in Perry’s second campaign. In addition to ponying up the most money for the super PAC’s, Warren is working for the official campaign as its finance chairman.

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Rick Perry Is on the Payroll of His Super-PAC’s Biggest Sugar Daddy

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Rand Paul Super-PAC Slams “Bailout Bu$h” in Bizarre Web Ad

by ShellyMarion Posted on June 23, 2015

Mother Jones

Here come the crazed attack ads. More than seven months out from the first votes in the 2016 presidential primaries, America’s Liberty, a super-PAC backing Sen. Rand Paul’s bid for the Republican nomination, has put out an online ad attacking Jeb “Bailout” Bush. It is…strange.

The video, which had more than 10,000 views as of Tuesday afternoon, is framed as an infomercial, with an exuberant, wild-bearded speaker named Max Power (perhaps borrowed from Homer Simpson, who took the same name from a hair dryer) serving as the pitchman. The ad offers a Bailout Bu$h action figure—which sadly does not actually seem to be for sale, probably because it appears to be a different action figure with an image of Bush’s face pasted on—as Power shouts about how Jeb worked for Lehman Brothers right before the crash and supported the Troubled Asset Relief Program. “This offer guarantees a presidential candidate cannot win a single primary state, let alone the general election,” a voice-over says at the end of the ad as Power bathes in a tub of money.

Per the Washington Times, America’s Liberty is spending in the five figures to run the ad online in early primary states, though it is also clearly running in DC, since I encountered it when it popped up before a music video on YouTube.

America’s Liberty has close connections to the Paul camp. The super-PAC’s founder and president is John Tate, who worked as Ron Paul’s presidential campaign manager in 2012 and currently also serves as president of Campaign for Liberty, a longtime Ron Paul organization.

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Rand Paul Super-PAC Slams “Bailout Bu$h” in Bizarre Web Ad

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Ben Carson Barely Has a Campaign and He’s Still Winning

by PaulinaBeebe Posted on June 16, 2015

Mother Jones

Ben Carson’s presidential campaign is in chaos. His deputy campaign manager quit to return to his farm. His general counsel just went on a safari. His campaign chairman left almost as soon as Carson announced his candidacy to work on a pro-Carson super-PAC—one of three outside outfits supporting Carson’s run, while at the same time competing with each other for money and volunteers. Carson, meanwhile, is continuing to travel the country giving paid speeches—an unusual move for a candidate.

He’s also leading the entire Republican field, according to the most recent poll of the race from Monmouth:

Monmouth University

It’s early—the first meaningful votes won’t be cast until January. But Carson’s strategy of not really campaigning hasn’t hurt him yet. He’s actually jumped four points in the polls since his non-campaign began.

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Ben Carson Barely Has a Campaign and He’s Still Winning

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Scott Walker Is Bragging About a Pro-Life Endorsement He Didn’t Receive This Year

by TamelaPalladino Posted on October 10, 2014

Mother Jones

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Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has been caught again playing fast and loose with the facts on the issue of abortion. Earlier this week, as I reported, Walker’s campaign released a new ad about a bill he signed that restricted abortion rights for women in Wisconsin. In the ad, Walker says, “the bill leaves the final decision to a woman and her doctor”—a statement that falsely implies that Walker supports a woman’s right to choose an abortion, when in fact he wants to ban all abortions, even in cases of rape and incest.

Now, the Capital Times of Madison, Wis., reports that Walker’s campaign website touts an endorsement from a pro-life group that Walker didn’t actually receive this year. On his 2014 campaign website, Walker touts an endorsement by the group Pro-Life Wisconsin. Under the “Walker on Values” section, it reads:

In my campaign for governor, I am proud to have been endorsed by Wisconsin Right to Life, which recognized my long commitment to right to life issues and noted that my election “would greatly contribute to building a culture of life where the most vulnerable members of the human family are welcomed and protected.”

I was also endorsed by Pro-Life Wisconsin which said that a Walker Administration “will have far-reaching, positive effects for Wisconsin citizens who value the dignity of all innocent human life.”

Here’s the problem: That’s not true. Pro-Life Wisconsin endorsed Walker during the 2010 gubernatorial campaign and the 2012 recall election. But the group did not endorse him in this year’s gubernatorial race, as the Capital Times reported:

Pro-Life Wisconsin evaluates political candidates by their responses to a 10-question survey sent during each election cycle. In order to receive an endorsement, a candidate must answer “yes” to every question—giving them a “100 percent pro-life” rating—and complete an interview with members of the political action committee board.

“Scott Walker did not complete our 2014 candidate survey and therefore is ineligible for an endorsement,” wrote Matt Sande, director of the Pro-Life Wisconsin Victory Fund PAC, in an email. “His campaign manager stated in a letter that ‘our campaign will not be completing any interest group surveys or interviews.'”

That didn’t stop Walker’s website from listing Pro-Life Wisconsin as an endorser. Neither the Walker campaign nor Matt Sande, who runs Pro-Life Wisconsin’s Victory Fund PAC, responded to requests for comment.

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Scott Walker Is Bragging About a Pro-Life Endorsement He Didn’t Receive This Year

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Meet the Risky Mortgage Pioneer Trying to Pay His Buddy’s Way Into Congress

by SoilaEllsworth Posted on September 2, 2014

Mother Jones

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If New Hampshire Republican Dan Innis wins his congressional race, he knows where to send the fruit basket: to the home of mortgage giant Peter T. Paul.

Before running for Congress, Innis served as dean of the University of New Hampshire’s business school, which was renamed for Paul after he donated $25 million. His campaign website touts major building projects he oversaw as dean—projects financed by Paul’s contribution. And Innis’ congressional run is getting a big-time boost from a brand new super-PAC founded and financed by Paul.

“Dan’s a friend,” says Paul, who lives in California. Paul is an alumnus of the University of New Hampshire, and he met Innis through his UNH philanthropy. “He’s the better candidate. He needs to get known.”

Innis, who is one of four candidates running in the Republican primary on September 9 to challenge Democratic Rep. Carol Shea Porter, is socially liberal and favors shrinking the government—exactly the type of politician Paul says he would like to see in Congress. In order to make that happen, Paul created a super-PAC, New Hampshire Priorities PAC, and financed it with $562,000. So far, $376,000 of that has gone into radio and TV ads supporting his friend. Innis himself has raised a little more than $338,000—about $150,000 less than his closest Republican opponent. With Paul in the mix, Innis is head and shoulders over his GOP competitors.

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Meet the Risky Mortgage Pioneer Trying to Pay His Buddy’s Way Into Congress

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Meet the GOPers Trolling Hillary From the Left

by DakotaLhotsky Posted on August 4, 2014

Mother Jones

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When Hillary Clinton declined to attend the annual Netroots Nation conference in July, the most vocal outcry came not from the progressive base, but from a Republican super-PAC founded by former staffers for Mitt Romney and the Republican National Committee. “Despite flying over Detroit, MI – the home of Netroots Nation 2014 – Hillary Clinton will not strategize with Democratic activists at the United States’ ‘largest progressive gathering’ this weekend,” the group wrote on its website. “Instead, she will be traveling from Connecticut to Minnesota in order to $ell her book.” That condemnation was paired with a meme-ified graphic of Clinton waving goodbye to the “grassroots” as she flew by.

Officially, Hillary Clinton is still a private citizen contemplating a possible 2016 presidential campaign. But everyone else in the political world is treating her as if she were a formal candidate. A slew of right-wing books targeting Clinton have been published this summer. And a bevy of Democratic super PACs have sprung into existence to defend Clinton and expand her base of support. “I’ve been amazed at what a cottage industry it is… If it all stopped, a lot of people would lose their jobs,” Clinton said recently on the Daily Show of the hype machine that revolves around her potential candidacy.

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Meet the GOPers Trolling Hillary From the Left

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