Fun With Opensecrets.org and 527s
By Bird Dog Posted in User Blogs — Comments (2) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Promoted from Diaries.
From MSNBC:
The president's criticism of the ads by Swift Boat Veterans for the Truth came as Bush denounced all TV ads by outside groups attacking both Kerry and himself on Monday and called for a halt to all such political efforts. "I think they're bad for the system," he said. When asked specifically whether the ads by the group "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" should be halted, Bush said: "All of them. That means that ad, every other ad. Absolutely.""I can't be more plain about it," Bush said. "I hope my opponent joins me in condemning these activities of the 527s (political groups that sponsor to ads). I think they're bad for the system."
Bush has now raised the ante by asking Kerry to join him in condemning the activities of all 527s. Will it happen? Not a snowball's chance. Not when nine of the top ten 527s are either anti-Bush, pro-Democrat or pro-Kerry.
Read on. The "liberal eight" have collected over $113 million so far, 718 times more cash raised than the Swiftvets ($158,000) over the same period. Three of the top ten are heavily funded by George Soros, who had strange opinions on how to deal with 9/11:
Mr. Soros argues that the U.S. should have treated the Sept. 11 attacks as a criminal matter, not an act of war. "Crime requires police work, not military action," he writes.In fact, Mr. Soros, while conceding that the Sept. 11 attack was a bad thing, wonders why Americans got quite so upset about it. "How could a single event, even if it involved three thousand civilian casualties, have such a far-reaching effect?" he asks, apparently sincerely.
Really, what is all that fuss over that 9/11 thing? Soros has also dabbled in Bush=Hitler paranoia.
A Jew who grew up in Hungary under both Nazi and communist domination, Mr. Soros writes: "When I hear President Bush say that 'either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists,' I hear alarm bells." Speaking to the Washington Post in November, he was a bit more explicit, claiming that Mr. Bush "reminds me of the Germans."
The funny thing is, Soros isn't even the individual biggest contributor. That honor goes to Peter Lewis, who's given $14,230,000, all to left-leaning groups. In fact, nineteen of the top twenty individual donors are Democrat-friendly fat cats, giving a sum total of over $54 million to 527s. This vast left-wing conspiracy took a small loophole in McCain-Feingold and widened it into a grand canyon of political largesse.
Here's the opensecrets.org description of Media Fund and America Coming Together (over $55 million in combined receipts): "One of the leading Democratic interest groups dedicated to defeating President Bush in November. Plans to raise close to $100 million for a massive issue-ad campaign to support the Democratic presidential nominee. The ads will air in 17 battleground states." For Media Fund, all ads are negative against Bush, and least $11 million has been spent (the amounts for over half of the ad buys are "unknown").
moveon.org ($9.1 million in receipts): "Its political action committee, the MoveOn PAC, spends millions of dollars to support the election of Democratic candidates. The MoveOn.org Voter Fund is raising soft money, which may be contributed in unlimited amounts, for TV ads in key battleground states that are critical of President Bush." So, far over $10 million in advertising, and every bit is negative against Bush.
While it is unseemly but legal for connections to exist between 527s and political parties, coordination or collaboration is illegal. Somebody better tell that to the DNC Women's Vote Center:
The Democratic Party is partnering with MoveOn.org, People for the American Way, Campaign for America's Future, and dozens of other groups representing millions of Americans to organize a massive public mobilization. On Wednesday, May 14, join us by calling and emailing your representatives in Congress to let them know that the majority of Americans oppose more irresponsible tax cuts that go overwhelmingly to the wealthiest sliver of Americans.
Truth be told, I'm not terribly concerned about 527s as long as contributions are transparent, accurate and immediate (heck, part of me is a little envious). But are they? I don't know, and that's the one thing that bothers me. What also bothers is that we're hearing lots of complaints by Democrats who want to shut down the Swiftvet ads, but we hear little about the Democrat-financed 527 ads that - are - also - misleading.
(cross-posted at tacitus.org)
Bush has now raised the ante by asking Kerry to join him in condemning the activities of all 527s. Will it happen? Not a snowball's chance.
That's simply awful of Kerry. Clearly the shadowy American Fedn of St/Cnty/Munic Employees (as opensecrets.org delightfully calls them) and their shady activities must be condemned - and it's great that the Commander-in-Chief has the cojones to do just that. I simply can't believe Kerry won't condemn all 527 activities by organizations such as the deplorable College Republican National Committee, even after being challenged by the Commander in Chief. But most outraged of all I'm about Kerry's steadfast refusal to condem the vile activities of the infamous National Federation of Republican Women 527. Who does Kerry think he's kidding when he attacks honest vets, but stands up for these organizations that are bad for the system, as the Commander in Chief so aptly put it?
So could Kerry. In fact, Kerry did.
But neither has control over the 527s. There's a difference between dissociating oneself from a particular message and calling for an end to 527s. The latter is meaningless, since they are legally independent entities, and both sides are benefiting from them
Campaign Violated Soft Money Disclosure Law
"The recount fund created by the Bush-Cheney 2000 presidential campaign evaded a soft money campaign finance disclosure law for 18 months and did not file required forms until the last day of an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) "amnesty" program for out-of-compliance groups, Public Citizen has discovered.
"The Bush-Cheney 2000, Inc-Recount Fund, a 527 political group created shortly after the November 2000 election to pay for the legal and political activities in Florida and other contested areas, apparently did not file at least four - and perhaps as many as six - required disclosure forms until 3:25 p.m. on July 15, 2002 - meeting the deadline to avoid millions of dollars in potential fines by less than nine hours."
political groups full of party insiders - USA Today
"Last October, Bush's campaign manager, Ken Mehlman, gave a pep talk to donors of Progress for America, a Republican group seeking to match the Democratic efforts. Gillespie also was there. The group was founded by Tony Feather, political director of Bush's 2000 campaign, and is closely linked to the DCI Group, a voter-contact firm that has contracts with the Bush re-election campaign and the Republican Party.
"Another group, the Leadership Forum, recently recruited a stable of 35 well-connected Republicans to raise money to help Bush. Most of them are Washington lobbyists, and one -- former Senate GOP aide David Hoppe -- now runs Gillespie's lobbying firm."