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A NOTE FROM FRED
Democracy 21 and 12 other reform groups sent a letter to House members today urging them to oppose a bill sponsored by Rep. Roskam to eliminate the requirement for nonprofit groups to disclose their donors to the IRS. This information is not disclosed to the public, but is available to the IRS. As we said in the letter, the bill would open the door wide for secret money from foreign donors to be illegally spent by nonprofit groups in federal elections. While foreign countries, companies and individuals are prohibited from spending money in U.S. elections, nonprofit groups can. The current IRS disclosure requirement protects citizens, acting as a check against illegal foreign money in our elections since the nonprofit groups know their donor information is available to the government. Without this check, there is no way to know what is happening. This is not the only irresponsible effort being pursued by House Republicans. They have also been considering impeachment proceedings against IRS Commissioner John Koskinen. This is part of a series of relentless, unjustified attacks by House Republicans against the IRS, attacks which have seriously damaged the government’s ability to raise revenues. Koskinen has served as a superb public servant in many government positions and this unwarranted, meritless attack on him is nothing more than irresponsible partisanship.
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Trump trails Clinton significantly in the money race. Through the end of April, the Clinton campaign has raised $200 million more than the Trump campaign. Trump largely self-financed his primary campaign spending over $50 million of his own money, but has ramped up fundraising recently as he gears up for the general election and the likely hundreds of millions of dollars needed to run the campaign. Read more
Clinton hosted top bundlers at her DC home. On Friday, Clinton met with 80 of her top bundlers that had each raised or given more than $500,000 to her campaign. Donors at the meeting included former Univision chief and billionaire Haim Saban and venture capitalist Alan Patricof. Read more
Republican donors have "closed their wallets - and they're angry," POLITICO reported from the Park City, UT weekend retreat hosted by Mitt Romney for top Republican donors. Inside the retreat, sources reported intense angry in the GOP donor community. Many donors admitted they were shifting their attention to down-ballot races, including the battle over Senate control. One donor said, "We are doing everything we can to put our money in the right places and to save the Senate." Read more
Trump heads to Texas to court big donors. Starting Thursday, Trump is launching a two-day fundraising swing through major cities in Texas. So far, major Texas Republican donors have held off donating to Trump. Through the end of April, Trump received $500,000 from Texas donors compared to $45 million to in-home Senator Ted Cruz. Oil billionaire T. Boone Pickens canceled a planned Trump fundraiser at his ranch for this month citing scheduling conflicts. Read more
"Hard money still matters, and here's who's giving it." Open Secrets recognizes that we are living in an era of billionaire donors and super PACs, but that hard money (money subject to contribution limits and given directly to campaigns, parties or regular PACs) still matters in regards to paying for campaign expenses. Leading the list are PACs and employees of major companies that do significant lobbying work in DC, such as those at Honeywell who contributed $4.4 million. Read more
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2016 FACT OF THE DAY
53 percent - The percentage of campaign contributions over $200 that Clinton has raised from women. Clinton has raised a higher percentage of her campaign funds from women than any other major presidential candidate in recent history, according to Open Secrets. Read more
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NY: In an editorial in the Post-Standard newspaper, the editorial board says that "Albany's Watergate moment is slipping away." With only three days left in the 2016 legislative session, "it looks as if the NY state legislature will not be passing comprehensive ethics reform this year." The editorial urges voters to vote officials out of office if they continue to choose corruption over ethics reform. Read more
TX: Of 16 formal dinners that Governor Greg Abbott held at the Governor's mansion, 13 were attended by donors who since 2000 have given Abbott over $15 million in campaign contributions. Read more
RI: A last minute addition to state budget bill would reverse a decision made by state regulators and would cause a rate hike on electric bills to pay for a local company to install wind projects. The owner of the company has made numerous donations over the years to many state government leaders, including the House Speaker and the Governor. Read more
By: Fred Wertheimer (@FredWertheimer) & Kathryn Beard (@KathrynBeard)
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