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Subscribe to RSS*** UPDATED AT 1:15 PM WITH COMMENT FROM PRIORITIES USA ***
A top campaign watchdog group today is calling for a Justice Department criminal investigation into Super PACs supporting President Obama and GOP front runner Mitt Romney.
Fred Wertheimer, president of Democracy 21, a group sharply critical of Super PACs, said Priorities USA Action, the Obama Super PAC, and Restore Our Future, a similar group backing Romney, are both "illegal operations" because of their close ties to the candidates they are backing.
In the wake of reports that the White House has signed off on plans to urge wealthy donors to contribute to the group, Wertheimer said he is writing a letter to the Justice Department today urging criminal probes of both groups.
"In order to believe that the Super PACs supporting President Obama and Mitt Romney are 'independent' from the presidential campaigns they are supporting, you must believe in the tooth fairy," Wertheimer said.
Bill Burton, Obama's former deputy press secretary and 2008 campaign spokesman, set up Priorities USA Action last year along with another former Obama political aide, Sean Sweeney. Burton did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Restore Our Future, which has spent millions in the GOP primary so far, was set up by former Romney aides Charlie Spies, who was Romney’s general counsel during his 2008 bid, and Carl Forti, who was Romney’s political director. Forti is also the political director for American Crossroads.
The White House plan to steer wealthy donors to give money to Priorities USA Action was disclosed in a blog posting on the Obama campaign website, saying that the move was needed to "neutralize the avalanche of special interest spending" being mounted on the GOP side to defeat President Obama.
"The stakes are too important to play by two different sets of rules," Jim Messina, Obama's campaign manager wrote.
The New York Times reported that the White House plans to dispatch top officials, including senior advisers David Plouffe and Valerie Jarrett to meet with donors. Romney himself has appeared at Restore Our Future fundraisers, something he defended on MSNBC’s The Daily Rundown, saying he’d acted within the law.
“They can help in terms of fundraising, but cannot in any way communicate a course of advertising, suggest when ads run, where they run, what's in the content of the ads,” Romney said of candidates and campaigns and whether or how much they can coordinate with Super PACs supporting them. “Those are things that are prohibited so we're being very careful in that regard.”
A top strategist who works with Democratic Super PACs told NBC News that the White House decision came after mounting worries within party circles that spending by a phalanx of GOP Super PACs could reach $1 billion by election day -- including $100 million from the conservative oil magnate Koch brothers -- drowning out the president's message
"When you see numbers like that, it starts getting a little spooky," the strategist said.
He also said most big Democratic donors have so far been gun shy of the Super PACs, because of Obama's past criticism of such groups. In the 2010 election, Obama charged that GOP groups, fueled with “special interest” money, were threatening to “hijack” democracy.
"We need some of our big birds to get off the wire," the strategist said, noting that some wealthy donors have expressed concerns that they'll be "demonized" if they give to one of the Democratic Super PACs.
So far, Priorities USA Action has had relatively little success in raising funds, reporting last week that it had collected just $4.4 million through the end of last year. A Priorities official said it had raised another $2.3 million via a 501(c)4 arm that doesn’t have to disclose donors. (The Karl Rove-Ed Gillespie-led groups American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS have a similar set up and has raised far more money.)
That $6.7 million is compared to the $30 million raised by Restore Our Future and the $51 million reported raised by American Crossroads and its non-profit, non-disclosed affiliate Crossroads GPS.
The pro-Obama group did report a handful of big checks, including $2 million from Hollywood mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg, $1 million from the SEIU labor union, $100,000 from director Steven Spielberg, and others.
While individual donors can only give $2,500 a piece to official campaign committees, the Super PACs can collect unlimited donations from individuals, corporations, and labor unions. Priorities USA Action also reported last week that $215,000 of its operating expenses were being paid by its non-profit affiliate -- called Priorities USA -- which like Crossroads GPS, does not disclose its donors.
"As much as [David] Axelrod hates to give up this part of the president's message,” the strategist said, “most voters are pretty cynical about this stuff and don't much care.”
*** UPDATE *** Priorities spokesman Bill Burton disputes the notion that Priorities is an "illegal operation."
"We of course are abiding by all appropriate rules and laws," Burton said.
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To everyone who push's the money/competition system ... this is what you get....ha ha ha ha ha ha .....hope this law stays put.
If the Super Packs aren't Corruption at its worse then what is. We as citizens have been finally marginalized thanks to the help of the Conservatives on the Supreme Court that feel Corporations are more valuable to sustaining their corrupt lives than we the people of this great land. Is this what our forefathers fought four in founding our country, fighting wars oversees etc? I doubt it!. When the wealthiest of the wealthy can put in a billion dollars to get their views across on the airwaves, newspapers etc. what chance do we have to hear the truth. How can we elect public servants in congress, senate and everything in between when most are bought by these PAC's and are indebted to them?
"thanks to the help of the Conservatives on the Supreme Court"
And do not forget................ Micheal Moore and F' 9/11...ha ha ha ha (funny cuz it's true)
So if a Super PAC supports Obama it is alright. But, if it supports the opposition then that is a no no. True democracy here. Anyone stupid enough and I do mean stupid enough to support the socialist Obama needs his or her head examined. What the Democrats are doing to our Country is criminal and don't tell me it is the Republicans, neither party is working FOR the Country and the people. What the answer is I do not know but it is not the mess we have here and now that is for sure. The Tea Party tried to establish some fiscal responsibilities but the members of BOTH parties refused to even TRY to do the right thing with our debt. We will pay the price. And it will not be in dollars.
For sale: "Amercia, the greatest nation on earth."
Cheap!
Indeed!
(too cheap)
But seriously, folks... what is the purpose of this investigation?
We already know these PACs are a facade and nobody in Washington gives a rip.
In fact, during the 2000 Republican primary Jim Lehrer interviewed Senator John McCain, co-author of McCain/Feingold, that gave rise to these 527's... and right there on national television... well, sort of, it was PBS... I guess the Senator felt comfortable being candid (nobody watching)... Mr Lehrer asked the Senator about all the ugliness of those 527 ads and the untruthfulness and all that...
... and the Senator's reply?
"We knew that was going to happen."
Look it up. That is word for word. I will never forget it.
He KNEW exactly what was going to happen... and it was planned that way.
Do you believe for one minute the two major parties are going to let these things go away?
So what's the point of this investigation - to confirm what we already know and reassure the directors, donors and beneficiaries that nothing is going to stop this?
Some of these so called "watch-dog" groups need to learn where to focus their efforts. No one wants to hear about you pressing an issue which cannot be changed by your efforts; these groups look like stubborn fools.
what if.......we boycott viewing tv for the next 6 months ....or until after the puny baseball season, ouch!
jose - What do you have against the american past time?
But look at the list of contributors to mr grover, the gop, & the rushbo. Russia, china, putin, syria, iran, north korea. The list losers to obama. China wants jobs to flow to china like when mr grover's the bushman was president. Russian petro wishes us an oil based economy.
how about the money Clinton got by selling technologies to China when he ran. If you had a fair media that did its job these ads. would stop-The media has really dropped the ball
There's only one way to stop this crap. Each candidate gets X amount of dollars, akin to federal fund matching, with which to run his/her campaign. That amount is determined by the level of the position as voted on by the people of this great Republic. The candidate cannot use their own money (good-bye rich influence), super pacs, unions or any other outside funds (good-bye foreign investments). Once the money is gone, that's it. No more. By the way, they have to turn in receipts. That would also make for a real short campaign season, yeah. The representatives are paided by the state that they represent, at a level the state chooses and are held to only 2 terms. Bye-bye Mr./Mrs. lifelong government parasite. Oh, and let them buy their own insurance and fund their own retirement like the rest of us. Maybe then we can actually have a governmen by and for the people.
A. Populist, who would you appoint as God to dole out those public funds? Who gets to decide? Public funding of public campaigns is a really, really bad idea, because it becomes a self-perpetuating cycle, with the Ruling Class re-electing themselves at the citizens's expense.
The best solution to the corruption problem is FULL DISCLOSURE. Let the people see exactly who is contributing to each candidate's run. Then let the people decide who to elect, based on that information.
We have Hollywood suporting Obama (SOS) on the left ect...health care EU nuts... ... and we have the Koch brothers supporting Romney(Blood money our 401k' shorted money) on the right.
Washington =elitist criminality.
What else is new, besides the amounts of money and the totality of the sellout?
One sells fantasy the other one cons us out for profit. American justice in its finest hours.
I think acorn should investigate, holder to busy and the out come would be the same!!!
Wasn't the Super Pac thing a product of the Supreme Court? If so, how is this a candidate problem when they are just playing within the rules they were given? Granted, some are playing this game better than others. If not, please ignore this post.
Game you call it a game I don't think any thing that has to do with our country should be a game.
the Supreme Court said you can not limit the speech of a person or group of people. This is part of having freedom of speech
The next generation will be well trained in criminal activity who needs an education now a days. I feel sorry for the rest of the world. We owe them a lot of money and we can not pay it back and all that is left of America is the left overs. Our debt is their retirement .LOL... Maybe hyper inflation will bail us out when China and India stop growing. Or when our jobs trickle back. or when it freezes over.
I hope they fine some thing and put both in jail for a long time. F in rich power hungry jerks.
The root of all evil is money. Where did you get your money from ehh ? Do NOT try and hide it ! The EYE is watching us ! Look where this money came from it is dirty money now throw it back at them and assume the position. It is open season when it comes to stupidity and do nothings.
Its the LOVE of money is the root of all evil. Money is not evil it is how you use your money
The best part is, even if everything IS illegal, the only punishment according to the law, is a small fine, that can be paid with Super-PAC money.
Suing to get a small fine to be imposed would be funny, but even if they win it will be a year from now and by then the Super-PAC can just file for bankruptcy.
Not that we can do anything about it, but, the most interesting thing going on here, is we get to see just how vile the entire political environment has become, not just the right, but the left too. Those rich on the left will dole out their money, they have all ready started to show signs of contributions, it's not wrong, according to the law. Maybe, if any of us have a brain, you'll will soon see, in full force, neither of these parties has a lack of the so called 1 percenters certain people rail against. Get to the root of the entire issue.................these parties are mirrors of one another!
One would think that at some point, this ever-increasing torrent of campaign money would reach a point of saturation. People are sick of being inundated by mailers, TV ads, yard signs, billboards, and radio messages for one candidate or another. Haven't we already reached the point of diminishing returns?
I'm told that Abraham Lincoln, in his first campaign for the US Presidency, spent a grand total of $20,000. Man, those were the days: REAL stump speeches, and no teleprompters, tweets, or push-polls.
too funny, yeah, Holder is going to investigate obama, yeah right..
Now that more and more Americans are seeing what our Government has become we can start coming up with some rational ideas to improve our Nation.
So after millions have already been spent, once Obama follows suit as the only way to compete, now its wrong right? Guess I'll have to write the DOJ requesting they investigate Fred Wertheimer for any and all criminal actions.
You can only take so many ads. and then you tune them out. I think we would be better served if you could do away with ads-which you can't- and have nothing but debates. I get more out of watching the GOP debates than I do listening to each one mislead about their opponents with their ads. With freedom of speech I guess we are stuck with this method. Money=speech corps and unions each have a right. I dread the coming season with all the misleading ads. Maybe if we had a fair media that would point out deception of the ads it might help stop them. But then again the news is so biased that would never happen either
We have learned, have we not? The left knows not the TRUE Obama, as well as the right not knowing the TRUE candidate, we get to read and hear from the media, what they want us to hear and see, they are also controlled by corporate advertising, no? So why do we even go left or right? Why do we spew half truths at one another every single night here? Is it worth it? We no longer control anything..............................."by the people" is just a long forgotten about myth.
The biggest problem is with our media. If they were doing their job one side could not lie about the other. Regardless of which side you our on demand fair reporting and reporting that is in depth. The internet along with radio has done a better job but more works needs to be done.
We could all take a page from the British Parliamentary system, although it is much less representative than the American system. When the British Prime Minister is voted out of office, the new Prime Minister moves into Number 10 Downing Street the next day. There's no endless election cycle, no 3-month wait for the inauguration. They just do it.