Roy Moore sues Highway 31 Super PAC over negative campaign ads
Failed Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore has filed a defamation lawsuit against a super PAC, claiming the campaign ads that ran during the Alabama U.S. Senate special election in December damaged his reputation. Melissa Isaak, Moore’s attorney, said the Highway 31 Super PAC ran widespread defamatory and misleading ads during the 2017 race, which doubled-down on accusations of sexual misconduct that surfaced against Moore during the campaign. The suit alleges Highway 31 ran the “false” ads and “intentionally or recklessly failed to confirm the accuracy” of them. “Despite knowing that the content was false or in reckless disregard thereof each one of (the defendants) did in fact run advertisements that contained false and defaming material,” the complaint reads. Moore and his attorney announced the lawsuit during a press conference on Wednesday. “The Moore’s have every intention of fighting back,” said Isaak said during the press conference with Moore and his wife, Kayla. In November, The Washington Post published a bombshell report with the accounts of Corfman, Gibson, and one other woman who claimed Moore sexually pursued them when he was in his 30s and they were in their teens. Moore previously filed an earlier defamation suit in April when he sued some of the women who made accusations against him — Marjorie Leigh Corfman, Debbie Wesson Gibson, Beverly Young Nelson, Tina Turner Johnson, and other “unknown” defendants — for causing “irrevocable damage” to his reputation “that affected the outcome of the Senate election in December 2017.” Watch Moore’s press conference announcing the lawsuit below:
Super PAC attacking Roy Moore won’t disclose donors, FEC asked to investigate
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) has been asked to investigate a super PAC that is spending large amounts against Republican senate candidate Roy Moore, but is not showing any donations. Highway 31, a super PAC backing Democratic candidate Doug Jones and the largest independent spender in the Alabama Senate race, has spent millions attacking Moore. But unlike other campaign spenders, this particular group refuses to disclose who the donors are behind its multi-million ad buy before Election Day. On Monday, Baldwin County businessman Kevin Spriggs asked the FEC to investigate the mysterious super PAC. “Mr. Commissioner – As a resident of Alabama, I have noticed a Super PAC titled ‘Highway 31’ running numerous campaign commercials in the Mobile. Ala. television market, including an ad during the SEC Championship football game,” Spriggs said in his request to FEC Chairman Mathew Peterson. “A search of the FEC website shows hundreds of thousands of dollars of expenses without any donors. I also checked the irs.gov website for forms 8871 and 8872 required to be filed by 527 organizations. No filings are shown for donors and expenses. If donations and expenses exceed $50,000, the IRS requires an electronic filing of form 8872.” Spriggs continued, “I am asking you to please investigate this matter as it appears that this Highway 31 organization is evading campaign finance law by not disclosing their donors.” Lachlan Markay of the Daily Beast explained the situation further : Super PACs are required to disclose their donors, but the group Highway 31 has structured its spending in a way that campaign-finance experts say is almost unprecedented. While legal, it will have the effect of obscuring the group’s benefactors, who will have financed a series of ads over the last two months of the campaign propping up Jones and hammering his Republican opponent, former State Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore. Highway 31 has reported nearly $2 million worth of ads in the race, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission… The group filed what was expected to be its first itemized disclosure of donors and expenditures Thursday. But in the filing, Highway 31 said it had received and spent no money whatsoever. Spriggs says he has not received any reply from the FEC, but he hopes for action before the Dec. 12 special election when Moore faces off against Jones Under FEC rules, final contributor and expense disclosure reports are not required to be filed until Jan. 21, 2018.
Trump’s first campaign manager Corey Lewandowski joins super PAC backing him
President Donald Trump‘s first campaign manager is joining a growing outside political effort dedicated to helping him. Corey Lewandowski will be a senior adviser and spokesman for a super PAC called America First Action. That group and a related nonprofit aim to boost Trump’s legislative agenda and the political candidates the president supports. “Like the president, Corey has a natural understanding of the needs of the American people, and I am excited to be working with him again,” Brad Parscale, another senior adviser to the super PAC and one of Trump’s 2016 campaign leaders, said in the announcement. Lewandowski led Trump’s unexpectedly successful Republican primary campaign. He left the campaign after assaulting a reporter and has recently been giving speeches and trying his hand at government influence. Becoming a super PAC adviser doesn’t preclude him from continuing to develop those other business interests. Lewandowski and Trump have remained close. The two frequently talk, and Lewandowski occasionally travels with him. That close relationship could prove a challenge for maintaining the necessary legal distance between Trump’s already operational re-election campaign and the super PAC. By law, candidates – who face campaign contribution limits – may not direct the spending of outside groups that can accept unlimited amounts of money from donors. However, loopholes abound in the rules about super PACs. One legal way that candidates and super PACs can “talk” was on display Thursday morning. Trump tweeted that Sen. Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican who frequently tussles with him, is “toxic.” Flake faces re-election next year, and it’s clear from Trump’s tweets that he’s not in favor of him winning the Republican primary. It would be legal for the super PAC to take that as a cue to spend money defeating Flake. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Super PAC tries to plug holes in Donald Trump’s ground campaign
The tour bus features a giant photo of a waving, smiling Donald Trump, but the person who steps out is actor Jon Voight, trailed by conservative radio stars and strategists for a super political action committee. Great America PAC is rolling through some of campaign 2016’s most contested states, opening offices and registering voters. In a presidential race where Trump has paid little attention to the ground game, this outside group has decided the best way to support the GOP nominee is to take such matters into its own hands. “We look at it as, how do we fix the missing pieces of the campaign?” said Ed Rollins, lead strategist for Great America. The group is using a different playbook – both in how it raises and spends money – than the usual super PAC. It has struggled to land major donors, but has toiled since January, making it one of the most senior and active outside groups in the Trump orbit. Unlike candidates, super PACs can accept unlimited amounts of money from donors, so they typically focus on getting the biggest checks possible. Then they often spend most of their money on TV ads, among the most expensive parts of any race and the easiest way to reach millions of voters. Great America sees another way. “Gone are the days where a super PAC should be spending hundreds of millions of dollars on slick TV ads,” said Eric Beach, the group’s founding chairman, between stops in Florida. “We are coming out with a new model, and that is the grass roots. Getting out and registering voters. Getting them excited.” Priorities USA, a super PAC backing Democrat Hillary Clinton, had accepted 42 contributions of $1 million or more each and plans to spend $119 million on TV and radio ads by the Nov. 8 election, but the bulk of Great America’s $7.6 million came from small donors, according to federal filings. The group is hoping to change that. On Tuesday night, about 50 super PAC donors dined at Trump Tower in Manhattan, where they mingled with one of the candidate’s sons, Eric Trump. Federal rules prohibit super PACs from coordinating with campaigns on how their money is spent, and campaign officials may not explicitly ask donors to give more than $2,700. But it has become standard for the campaigns to send stands-ins for the candidates – or even the candidates themselves – to super PAC events. Great America claims to have contacted several million new voters through online solicitations, telemarketing and television ads featuring an 800 number – something more in line with hawking a gadget than promoting a presidential candidate. Callers are asked a few questions and urged to give money. Super PACs don’t usually seek out low-dollar contributions because doing so “can cannibalize donors” who would otherwise give directly to the campaigns, said Charlie Spies, a Republican super PAC operative and lawyer. Rollins defended Great America’s approach. “We built a lot of our operation on small donors because we were reaching out to them anyway,” he said. The group’s cross-country tour began Monday in Florida, with Ohio on the schedule Thursday before ending Saturday in Colorado. The super PAC plans a second tour with four or more buses in October, Beach said. Presidential candidates have long used roadshows to connect with voters, but Trump “likes to fly in his own plane and sleep in his own bed every night,” Rollins said. Rollins was President Ronald Reagan‘s 1984 campaign manager and accompanied him on a “train tour” of America. Aboard the bus are popular conservative radio hosts, Salem Media executives and super PAC operatives. Voight, one of the few highly visible conservatives in Hollywood, provides a dollop of the celebrity that Trump himself would. “I’ve known him for a number of years, not very well, but I like him,” Voight said in an interview. “He’s a doer, and he organizes his thinking to accomplish goals.” As the bus rolled through Orlando suburbs, Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke and Voight, who’d just met, chatted genially. Radio hosts Hugh Hewitt and Dennis Prager (who tells crowds Trump was his 17th choice but a better option than Clinton) pecked away at keyboards. Fox News blared on TVs, and as a Clinton ad featuring Republicans slamming their nominee came on the air, the bus fell silent. Later in Tampa, before an event with more than 1,000 people, Dan Frishberg, a drive-time host for Salem, said of Great America: “I love that they’re doing this. We need it. Anything to help with enthusiasm.” Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Presidential TV ad roundup: 4/5/16 edition
As the presidential field has winnowed to five candidates, campaigns from both sides of the aisle have honed their targets primarily on one candidate: Donald Trump. According to data provided by Kantar Media/CMAG, more than half of the record spending on negative advertising during the 2016 presidential primary has been directed at the GOP-front runner. With more than $132 million spent on negative ads by candidates and their Super PACs, nearly $70 million has gone to commercials attacking Trump, Here are the ads the candidates released this past week: Ted Cruz Title: Simple flat tax Published: April 14, 2016 Tone: Informative Title: Great Published: April 15, 2016 Tone: Insulting John Kasich Title: Values Published: April 7, 2016 Tone: Condemnatory Title: One choice Published: April 8, 2016 Tone: Critical Title: Two paths, America has a choice Published: April 13, 2016 Tone: Encouraging Donald Trump No new videos posted. Hillary Clinton Title: Norma Published: April 7, 2016 Tone: Appreciative Title: Every corner Published: April 7, 2016 Tone: Proud Title: Stronger together Published: April 11, 2016 Tone: Critical Title: Came through Published: April 15, 2016 Tone: Hopeful Bernie Sanders Title: Dear New York, Please Make The Right Choice On April 19th Published: April 13, 2016 Tone: Condemnatory https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwYcstt2D5U
Outside groups backing Ted Cruz land big checks in January
The six Republican presidential candidates and two Democratic contenders are due to report on the financial health of their campaigns by midnight Saturday. With Republicans voting in South Carolina and Democrats caucusing in Nevada, the reports on fundraising and spending in January provide a glimpse of who has been thinking ahead in the primary calendar. Most of the outside groups known as super political action committees also must report to the Federal Election Commission by midnight Saturday. Here’s what we know: CRUZ NETWORK GROWS Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has the biggest network of outside groups helping him out — more than half a dozen. A super PAC called Courageous Conservatives has stood out for employing some of the most aggressive tactics, even though it isn’t the best-funded of those pro-Cruz groups. In the lead-up to the South Carolina vote, Courageous Conservatives made thousands of automated phone calls bashing Donald Trump, who has consistently led polls in the state. So who’s paying for all this? The group’s January fundraising report shows it has two donors: Stan Herzog, a Missouri builder, and Christopher Ekstrom, a Dallas investor. Herzog, who gave $60,000 last month, is a seasoned super PAC donor, having put up more than $1 million to back 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney. Ekstrom has a relatively short history as a political donor: His $34,500 contribution to Courageous Conservatives last month appears to be his biggest ever. A far better funded pro-Cruz group, Stand for Truth, also filed a January fundraising report. That super PAC raised about $2.5 million in January. Its biggest contributor, Trinity Equity, gave more than $1 million. Corporate records show the Houston company shares an address with Quantum Energy Partners, a private equity firm run by Wil VanLoh, who has given the maximum legal amount to Cruz’s presidential campaign, $5,400. Stand for Truth’s FEC documents show the super PAC spent much of its money on South Carolina advertisements knocking Cruz rival Marco Rubio, a Florida senator. ___ TRUMP TAKEDOWN? NOT SO MUCH A super PAC claiming it would try to take down Trump has not really gotten off the ground. Make America Awesome — a riff on Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan — raised just $8,640 in January. That followed a disappointing December, when it raised just $1,711. The super PAC is led by Republican strategist and outspoken Trump antagonist Liz Mair. Perhaps because of its underwhelming funding, the super PAC has done just a few digital ads knocking the celebrity businessman. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Can Marco Rubio’s lean campaign keep up with Jeb Bush’s behemoth?
Hundreds of donors to Jeb Bush‘s presidential campaign will gather later this month in Houston. They’ll shake hands with a pair of former presidents, and high-profile lieutenants of the former Florida governor will push them to write generous checks. This weekend in Las Vegas, dozens of donors met up with Marco Rubio. They ate fast-food hamburgers, shook hands with a celebrity pawn-shop owner and played flag football with the Florida senator. “I’d say he threw five interceptions, maybe three or four touchdown passes,” Wayne Berman, Rubio’s national finance chairman, said playfully. “There were a lot of middle aged guys trying to show off.” There are more than a dozen major candidates in the Republican presidential primary, and while outsiders Donald Trump and Ben Carson top the current preference polls, it’s the two Floridians — Bush and Rubio — at the head of the second wave. They’re competing for same donors who traditionally support GOP White House candidates, and their October finance summits illustrate how each plans to pay for their presidential ambitions with the hand he was dealt. They are also evidence of how Bush, with four months to go before the lead-off Iowa caucuses, enters the fall with a distinct advantage over his one-time protege. The son and brother of presidents, Bush came to the race with a sprawling network of experienced fundraisers. He also spent months personally wooing wealthy donors for a super PAC designed to help him win. Rubio had none of those advantages. He’s the son of working-class immigrants, and as a sitting senator he is legally barred from raising money for a super PAC that backs him. As a result, his campaign and the super PAC collected less than a quarter of the $114 million the Bush team raised in the first six months of the year. “We have no margin for error in our fundraising,” Berman told The Associated Press as the weekend retreat for roughly 70 top donors was wrapping up inside a hotel on the Las Vegas strip. But, he added, “Our ability to raise money is dramatically improving.” It has to. In modern American politics, money is often the strongest predictor of success. Even though Rubio’s poll numbers are improving, his fundraising is badly lagging several Republican competitors. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz doubled Rubio’s take from donors over the last three months, while Carson, the retired neurosurgeon, tripled it. Money raised for a presidential campaign is usually consumed by one thing above others: television advertising. And in TV dollars Bush’s distinct financial advantage is already starting to play out in the campaign. Bush and his super PAC, Right to Rise, have begun a planned $50 million television advertising blitz. Pro-Bush commercials hit the air several weeks ago and are booked to run continuously in the early voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina through February, according to information collected by Kantar Media’s CMAG advertising tracker. Meanwhile, Rubio and the super PAC helping him, Conservative Solutions, have reserved ad space worth about half that amount. They’re putting off expensive broadcast TV commercials until the week of Thanksgiving, according to tracking information updated through Friday. The campaigns and outside groups can purchase ad space at any time, meaning those plans could change. But the ads only become more expensive, particularly for the super PACs. Any investment now pays extra dividends. Rubio’s team currently cannot afford the TV space it has reserved, so it must raise more money to see them through. Bush’s team, particularly his allied super PAC, might not need to bring in another dollar to fund its TV strategy well into next year. Bush’s financial advantage loomed over Rubio’s donor retreat at the Bellagio Hotel and Casino this past week as senior aides shared political and fundraising strategy with top donors. While Bush’s retreat will feature former Presidents George H.W and George W. Bush, the best-known supporter at Rubio’s gathering was Rick Harrison, the Las Vegas pawn-shop owner and one of the “Pawn Stars” of the reality television show. Bush hasn’t yet said what he raised between July 1 and Sept. 30, but he’s thanked supporters in an email that said the campaign beat its fundraising goal. Rubio’s early numbers are in — and they aren’t good. His fundraising dropped to just $6 million over the summer, aides told donors this weekend. While the campaign began October with $11 million in available cash, the nearly $17 million worth of advertising reservations that begin in November show just how quickly that money can evaporate. Still, Rubio’s campaign has been thriftier than others. He was paying salaries for 18 people at the end of June compared to Bush’s more than 50. His campaign manager, Terry Sullivan, has bragged about pinching pennies, saying he must approve any expense over $500. He said Rubio almost always flies commercial. Rubio is also getting millions of dollars in advertising help from a nonprofit group that doesn’t make public its donors. Its pro-Rubio commercials are on the air at a time when the campaign and super PAC haven’t been. More help could be on the way. Rubio shared a private dinner Thursday night in Las Vegas with Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire casino magnate who with his wife donated more than $90 million during last presidential contest. Rubio, like other Republicans, has aggressively sought Adelson’s endorsement. He’s yet to publicly pick a favorite. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Wisconsin’s Scott Walker exits ’16 race with harsh words for Donald Trump
Warning that the Republican presidential race has become too nasty, Scott Walker exited the 2016 campaign on Monday and urged others to quit, too, and “clear the field” so someone can emerge to take down front-runner Donald Trump. The announcement marked a dramatic fall for Walker, who was struggling to generate money and enthusiasm after surging into the race’s top tier earlier in the year. He will return to his job as governor of Wisconsin, where his term runs through 2018. “Today, I believe that I am being called to lead by helping to clear the field in this race so that a positive conservative message can rise to the top,” Walker said in a news conference. “I encourage other Republican presidential candidates to consider doing the same so the voters can focus on a limited number of candidates who can offer a positive conservative alternative to the current front-runner.” Walker said that is “fundamentally important to the future of the party and more importantly to the future of our country.” One of the last Republicans to enter the race, Walker joined former Texas Gov. Rick Perry as one of the first to leave it. He found himself unable to adjust to Trump’s popularity or break out in either of the first two GOP debates. Both candidates warned of the billionaire businessman’s influence on the GOP as they stepped aside, although neither called him out by name. “Sadly, the debate taking place in the Republican party today is not focused on that optimistic view of America,” Walker said. “Instead, it has drifted into personal attacks.” Walker’s sons, Matt and Alex, attended his speech. They each had taken a semester off from college to campaign with him. Anthony Scaramucci, one of Walker’s top fundraisers, expressed hope that other struggling candidates will heed Walker’s call to distill the field. “I think what he did shows real leadership,” Scaramucci said. “He’s sending a signal to the low single-digiters – the new 1 percenters, if you will – that it’s time to go, for the good of the party.” Walker’s departure prompted a good riddance from Richard Trumka, AFL-CIO president, reflecting the hostility between the governor and organized labor. “Scott Walker is still a disgrace,” Trumka said, “just no longer national.” Walker’s fall was in many ways more dramatic than Perry’s. He was thought to be a leader in the big pack for much of the year and built a massive national organization, with paid staff spread across the country, that dwarfed many of his rivals in scale and scope. “I don’t think he made any really big mistakes,” said Iowa state Sen. Mark Costello, who endorsed Walker earlier this year. “But people lost enthusiasm.” Walker, 47, tried to appeal to religious conservatives, tea party conservatives and the more traditional GOP base. He cast himself as an unintimidated conservative fighter who had a record of victories in a state that hasn’t voted Republican for president since 1984. Like Perry, however, Walker found little room for such a message in a race dominated by Trump. Trump tweeted in response to Walker’s decision, “he’s a very nice person and has a great future.” Walker came to the race having won election in Wisconsin three times in four years, and having gained a national following among donors and conservatives by successfully pushing his state to strip union bargaining rights from its public workers. Walker pointed to those Wisconsin wins, in a state that twice voted for Barack Obama as president, as signs that he could advance a conservative agenda as the GOP’s White House nominee. He called himself “aggressively normal” and made a splash in January with a well-received speech before religious conservatives in Iowa. Groups backing Walker went on to raise $26 million, tapping wealthy donors whom Walker had cultivated in his years as governor and during his successful effort to win a recall election in 2012. Walker’s primary super PAC, called Unintimidated, had just begun spending for a major push in Iowa – reflecting the governor’s last-ditch strategy to place all of his chips on that first-to-vote state. The super PAC told federal regulators in a filing Friday that it had spent more than $1.6 million boosting Walker this year, most recently on a $50,000 mailing to Iowa voters. It will now return what it hasn’t spent to its donors. Many of Walker’s troubles were not of Trump’s making. He took days to clarify whether he supported ending birthright citizenship. He initially showed interest in building a wall between the U.S. and Canada, only to laugh it off as ridiculous. He also declared he wasn’t a career politician, despite having held public office for 22 straight years. After his fade in polls, Walker took a more aggressive approach, promising to “wreak havoc” on Washington. He vowed to take on unions as president, just as he did as governor, outlawing them for federal government workers. But the anti-union policy proposal fell flat; announced in the days before the second GOP debate, it wasn’t mentioned at all – by Walker or anyone else – on stage. While only Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush had more super PAC money available to boost their chances in the original 17-person 2016 Republican field, Walker struggled to generate money for his official campaign. He has yet to report fundraising totals to federal regulators, but top fundraisers and donors have said his plummeting poll numbers left them struggling to generate cash. Walker called his senior staff to the governor’s mansion in Madison on Monday to review recent polling, in which he was mired at the bottom, and his campaign’s finances. “I’m disappointed,” said Stanley Hubbard, a billionaire media mogul from Minneapolis who had backed Walker’s campaign. “He’s a good man and would have been a good president.” As word spread of his decision to exit the race, Republican operatives in Iowa working for other campaigns were already making plans to contact state lawmakers who had committed
Pro-Bush super PAC spending $10M-plus on first TV campaign
The heavily funded super PAC backing Republican Jeb Bush will spend at least $10 million on television time in the earliest voting presidential primary states, the first salvo in a massive TV ad campaign to support the former Florida governor’s bid for the Republican nomination. Officials with Right to Rise USA say they will buy time in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina TV markets and on cable television in the three states. Ads are scheduled to begin in Iowa and New Hampshire on Sept. 15, in South Carolina a week later and then run continuously through the end of the year. The plan, shared by the group with The Associated Press prior to Monday’s buy, is the first evidence of Right to Rise USA’s major strategic spending of the roughly $100 million it had on hand last month. It’s also the first major move by the group, which was developed by longtime Bush adviser and California ad maker Mike Murphy, to run alongside Bush’s own campaign organization, which is bound by federal fundraising limits. “We believe Jeb Bush has the strongest record of conservative accomplishments in the race, and we plan to tell that story,” Paul Lindsay, communication director for Right to Rise USA, told the AP. The first ads will be positive spots promoting Bush in a field that includes 16 other major GOP candidates. They will resemble videos on the group’s website, promoting Bush and his accomplishments as Florida governor from 1999 to 2007. One piece was taken from clips of Bush from the Aug. 6 Republican debate in Cleveland, Lindsay said. That does not mean the group’s ads won’t turn to criticizing Republican rivals once the first contests draw near. The group has already aired one online ad that points to Bush’s release of decades of tax returns and publication of thousands of emails sent during his time as governor, to draw comparisons with Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton, who recently turned over her private email server to the FBI under pressure. To date, the group, based in southern California, has spent roughly $200,000 on online advertising. The new expenditure, which Lindsay described as an “eight-figure” buy, is significant because it’s the first big expense for the group that Bush helped raise more than $103 million to finance, and which is expected to perform other campaign functions in support of the former governor. Under Federal Election Commission rules, Bush, having declared his candidacy on June 15, is now forbidden as a candidate from directly soliciting money for the group or advising how to spend it. However, before declaring his candidacy, Bush was involved in fundraising for Right to Rise USA, while Murphy planned a long-term strategy where the super PAC would complement the campaign, which is bound by fundraising restrictions that don’t apply to super PACs. The idea of a parallel outside group that can raise unlimited sums from individuals, corporations and groups is not new. Mitt Romney, the 2012 GOP nominee, attempted it later in his campaign. And other GOP candidates for the 2016 GOP nomination have formed super PACs and have begun buying advertising time in early states. However, none has combined the planning strategy with the sums of money Bush’s super PAC has been able to raise, making it a pioneering effort in the super PAC era of presidential campaigning. In June, the group announced it had met its ambitious goal of raising more than $100 million, taking full advantage of the nation’s campaign finance laws to collect $103 million over the first six months of 2015. In June, the group had a balance of $98 million. No candidate for president has benefited from so much money so early in a campaign. Aides to the super PAC noted that similar groups supporting other candidates have purchased advertising time in early states. Some have also aired spots aimed at bumping up a candidate’s national poll numbers to help them gain entry into debates that require top-10 standing. Right to Rise USA aides said their strategy is long-term, aimed at building sustained name identification and support heading into the Iowa caucuses, which begin the 2016 voting on Feb. 1, followed by the New Hampshire and South Carolina primaries. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
News Guide: Super PACs land wealthy donors to fund 2016 bids
Nearly all of the contenders for president are encouraging their deep-pocketed donors to give not just to their campaigns, but to groups known as super PACs, as well. Unlike campaigns, these outside groups aren’t limited in how much money they can accept from individual donors. While they can’t directly take orders from the candidates they’re spending money to help elect, they still account for about $2 of every $3 raised so far in the 2016 race for president. Many super PACs must file their first fundraising reports with federal regulators by midnight Friday. The super PAC filings will detail how money was raised and spent from January to the end of June and include the names of donors. Two weeks ago, many of the candidates filed their first campaign fundraising reports. Together, the reports from the super PACs and the candidates will make for the first major look at who is paying for the campaign for president. A guide to what’s already known about the presidential super PACs, based on information provided by the groups ahead of the Friday filing deadline with the Federal Election Commission: • • • Jev Bush’s juggernaut Right to Rise, a super PAC helping former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, is backed by a dozen or more donors who have given $1 million or more. Miguel “Mike” Fernandez, a Miami health care investor, gave the biggest contribution at $3 million. Bush aggressively courted big donors in the six months before he announced his presidential campaign, when he faced no legal restrictions on his work with the super PAC. Now that he’s a candidate, Right to Rise is in the hands of a longtime friend and strategist, Mike Murphy. • • • Rand Paul’s (pay)pals PayPal board member and Silicon Valley investor Scott Banister gave $1.25 million to Concerned American Voters, one of three super PACs supporting Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul‘s presidential bid. All three filed their FEC reports earlier this week. Two other donors gave big to pro-Paul entities. Jeff Yass, managing director of high-frequency trading firm Susquehanna International Group, split a $2 million contribution between Purple PAC and America’s Liberty. George Macricostas, head of a data center company called RagingWire, gave more than $1 million to America’s Liberty. Thanks mostly to those three donors, the trio of pro-Paul super PACs raised about $6 million through the end of June. • • • Rick Perry’s Texas twosome Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry isn’t performing well enough in national polls to guarantee he’ll have a spot on the first GOP debate stage, and his campaign has so far only raised about $1 million. But thanks to two Texans, his presidential effort has the money to carry on. Several super PACs working together as an operation called Opportunity and Freedom say they raised $16.8 million through June 30. About two-thirds came from Kelcy Warren and Darwin Deason. Warren, a billionaire Dallas energy executive who gave $6 million, is also Perry’s campaign finance chairman. Because of that position, he’s legally restricted in what he can tell the super PAC. Fellow Dallas businessman Deason gave $5 million. Deason made his fortune by selling Affiliated Computer Services, a data-processing company, to Xerox. • • • Democratic doldrums There won’t be much talk of Democrats in the presidential super PAC filings. That’s because they account for less than 9 percent of the total super PAC haul so far, according to an Associated Press analysis that compared money raised by formal presidential campaigns with what the super PACs say they plan to report having raised on Friday. Priorities USA Action, the main group helping Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton, will report having raised $15.6 million by June 30. Haim Saban, an entertainment executive, gave $2 million to Priorities, making him the top donor. Hedge fund billionaire George Soros, one of the biggest Democratic donors in earlier elections, gave $1 million. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Jeb Bush campaign, super PAC raise $114.4M for presidential bid
Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush raised $114.4 million in the first six months of the year to fuel his White House ambitions, a historic amount that takes full advantage of the nation’s evolving campaign finance laws. No candidate for president has benefited from so much money so early in a campaign, and the total is sure to eclipse the fundraising of each of the other 16 major competitors for the Republican nomination. “People have been willing to take a look, and he’s overcome the people who have said, ‘Not another Bush,’” said Bill Kunkler, a Chicago construction company executive and Bush donor. “People are looking at him as a guy who did it on his own, and who stands on his own.” The former Republican governor of Florida is taking a unique approach to a presidential bid, delegating many operations to an affiliated group that is free of limits on how much money a traditional campaign can raise from individual donors. The affiliated group, a super PAC called Right to Rise, has been active since January. Run by a trusted Bush strategist, it said Thursday it had raised $103 million between January and the end of June. Right to Rise is not subject to the limits placed on donors to Bush’s campaign, and he spent the past six months traveling the country to attend fundraisers for the super PAC. The suggested donation at Right to Rise events was often as much as $100,000. The rest, $11.4 million, came to Bush’s formal campaign in the 16 days between its kickoff and the end of June. Contributions to the formal campaign are limited to checks of no more than $2,700 for the primary and general election. That amounts to an average of about $710,000 a day, which the campaign touted as more than the $562,000 per day average raised by Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton since she launched her campaign April 12. Clinton’s campaign haul in that time totaled $45 million. Bush’s campaign must provide additional fundraising details, including the names of donors and how much they gave, to federal regulators by Wednesday night. “Jeb is encouraged and grateful for the tremendous early support and enthusiasm his candidacy has generated since he launched his campaign,” New York Jets owner Woody Johnson, the Bush campaign national finance chairman, said in a statement. “We are confident our campaign will have the resources needed to get Jeb’s conservative record, message and vision for the future out to voters across the country,” he said. Like Bush, several other GOP candidates have said ahead of that deadline how much their campaigns have raised. Among them, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz raised $14.2 million, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson raised $10.5 million and former technology executive Carly Fiorina raised $1.4 million. The son and brother of two presidents, Bush came to the race with a deep roster of experienced fundraisers and likely donors. With their help, he traveled the country raising money for Right to Rise after saying in December he planned to explore a campaign. The super PAC is based in Los Angeles, where its leader, Mike Murphy, lives. It plans to handle a huge part of the costly work of running for president, including buying TV, online and radio commercials, conducting polling and even doing some organizing tasks such as voter outreach in early primary states. By law, it can’t take direction from the campaign, and the two operations have limits on how they can communicate. Right to Rise already is advertising on Bush’s behalf. It has spent $47,000 so far on digital media, according to documents filed this week with the Federal Election Commission. The group has also inquired with broadcast and cable stations in the early primary states about booking TV ad time. Bush’s official campaign bank account, although notably smaller than the super PAC’s, is important because it will pay for his travel and employee salaries and give him a pot of money from which to craft messages exactly as he sees fit. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Chris Christie to embrace underdog role as he launches 2016 bid
When New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie enters the race for president this week, he’ll do so as an underdog. The launch of the Republican governor’s White House campaign is the culmination of years of groundwork that began even before his landslide re-election to a second term as governor in 2013, but one nearly felled by scandal and a descent from his standing as one of the nation’s most popular state leaders to a politician whose approval ratings have reached record lows at home. It’s a reality Christie and his supporters are ready to embrace, not that they have a choice. “Clearly, he’s got some uphill work to be done,” said Ken Langone, a co-founder of Home Depot and one of Christie’s most vocal cheerleaders. “But I think it can be done.” In recent months, Christie’s team has tried to re-establish him as a credible candidate chock-full of policy prescriptions. His aides and supporters talk about his charismatic personality, quick wit and plain-spoken manner, which they believe can win over voters at town hall events and on debate stages. With so many candidates in the field — Christie will be the 14th major Republican to enter the race, with two more likely before summer’s end — and no clear front-runner, they say they can forge a path to the GOP nomination. “The worst position to be in is that of the media-anointed front-runner,” said Phil Cox, who founded the America Leads super PAC that will back Christie’s campaign. “The fact is, there is no front-runner, and anyone who tells you differently doesn’t know what they’re talking about.” Christie will kick off his campaign at the gymnasium of his old high school in Livingston, New Jersey, where he served in student government and played for the celebrated baseball team. His remarks will reintroduce him to a national audience and draw heavily on his biography. Christie often emphasizes his working-class roots, telling the story of his father, who paid his way through college while working at a Breyers ice cream plant. It’s an implicit contrast with former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, whose family name and flush campaign accounts Christie will now be up against. With a new slogan — “Telling it like it is” — Christie will also play up his brash persona, presenting himself as someone unafraid to take on unpopular issues such as overhauling Social Security and Medicare. The message aims to move Christie past the moments that have defined him since 2012, when Langone was among those pleading with him to get into the presidential race. They include the actions of three former aides, charged with creating politically motivated traffic jams to retaliate against a Democratic mayor who passed on endorsing Christie’s re-election. While Christie’s turn as head of the Republican Governors Association was widely viewed as a success in the 2014 midterm elections, and the traffic scandal has never touched him personally, he has so far failed to build much momentum in polling. But polling at this point in the race is notoriously inaccurate, and Cox said the fundraising activity at the pro-Christie super PAC has picked up in the last month as the campaign launch approached. “There’s been more of a sense of urgency with the timeline the governor laid out for making his decision and the financial reporting deadline coming up,” he said. The group seeks to raise $15 million to $20 million by the end of the year, the amount it believes is needed for Christie to compete in early states, according to a person who has attended America Leads events. The group hopes to be a third of the way to that goal soon, said the person, who was not authorized to disclose the PAC’s fundraising and spoke on condition of anonymity. The goal for now: Not to have as much money as some top rivals, but to bring in a broad group of donors, including those who might give significantly more money after Christie declares his candidacy. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
