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Ellen Weintraub, a member of the Federal Election Commission, says she plans to reveal the name of a secret donor to a GOP super PAC.
High court rules against a donor's secrecy, maybe boosting disclosure
Mar 24 2020
In what is being hailed as a victory for campaign finance transparency, the Supreme Court has rejected an attempt to keep secret the name of a donor who gave $1.7 million to a Republican super PAC eight years ago.
The decision holds some potential to make it more difficult for so-called dark money groups to shield the identities of their biggest contributors in this campaign season and beyond. Increasing sunlight on the forces pouring so many millions into American politics is a main goal of democracy reform groups at a time when increased regulation is not a realistic hope.
The high court on Monday let stand an appeals court's ruling that the donor — a trust fund and its trustee identified only as "John Doe" in court filings — has no right to remain anonymous and may be publicly identified by the Federal Election Commission.
<p>Ellen Weintraub, the most assertive regulator on the commission, says she plans to unmask John Doe as soon as the court's decision is processed by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. She would be acting unilaterally at a time when the FEC has almost entirely ceased operating for <a href="https://thefulcrum.us/what-the-fec-can-but-mostly-cannot-do-with-only-three-regulators-on-the-job" target="_self">lack of a quorum</a>.</p><p><p style="text-align: center;" id="sufn"><a style="font-weight: bold;margin:40px auto;font-size:2rem" href="https://thefulcrum.us/st/newsletters">Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter </a></p></p><p>The donation was made in 2012, early in the rise of the "dark money" system decried by campaign finance reform advocates. Dark money groups are nonprofits regulated by the IRS, not the FEC, and therefore do not have to disclose their sources of revenue. They are similar to <a href="http://thefulcrum.us/super-pac" target="_self">super PACs</a> in that they may spend unlimited amounts on a campaign but are not directly affiliated with the candidate. Super PACs are regulated by the FEC and must disclose their donors.</p><p>It is not yet clear how much impact this case will have on increasing campaign finance transparency, because the Republican who funneled the money to the super PAC is going to be exposed only because of a connection to a case at the FEC.</p><p>That was a complaint by <a href="https://thefulcrum.us/directory/citizens-for-responsibility-and-ethics-in-washington" target="_self">Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington</a>, or CREW, maintaining the $1.7 million donation to the Now or Never PAC was illegal because it was listed as coming from someone other than the real donor — the so-far-unidentified trustee.</p><p>According to an agreement settling the complaint, on the same day as that donation, money was given by the same secretive donor to a group called the Government Integrity Project. That group in turn donated to the American Conservative Union, which then gave $1.7 million to the Now or Never PAC.</p><p>Now or Never PAC, which was terminated in 2018, was created in 2012 to support candidates who favored balancing the federal budget. It made millions of dollars in independent expenditures mosty in support of Republican congressional candidates and against Democratic candidates. </p><p>The FEC in Novembrer 2017 signed off on the settlement, which called for the groups to pay $350,000 in fines for the money funneling. Normally that would have triggered public release of all the case documents. But attorneys for the unnamed donor got a court order to redact the name while their attempt to keep it permanently secret moved through the courts. They argued release of the names violated privacy and federal election and public records laws. But the district court and the appeals court rejected all of those arguments.</p>
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RepresentUs
The annual Unrig conference, which Jennifer Lawrence has headlined the past two years, is going to be postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Pandemic alters the democracy reform world's rhythm and priorities
Mar 18 2020
While the novel coronavirus has upended life across the country, the democracy reform community is sounding determined to stay on course through an election year that could prove pivotal for its goals.
The rapid spread of Covid-19 has brought unprecedented challenge to lobbyists and advocates for all causes, including those working to fix the broken political system. Not only have logistics been jumbled and planned campaigns threatened, but the public and the nation's policymakers are now singularly focused on the pandemic and the economic collapse it's threatening — leaving almost no room for discussing any other national ills.
Highlighting how fix-the-system efforts are in limbo, one of the most prominent and best-financed advocacy groups, RepresentUs, planned to announce that its Unrig convention, scheduled to take place in eight weeks, would be postponed for at least several months.
At the same time, the infectious and potentially deadly virus is also scrambling the democracy reform agenda, with an optimistic coalition rapidly assembling behind what had been a second-tier cause: expanding access to the polls by making voting at home the American standard.
<p>The progressive advocacy group <a data-linked-post="2645524426" href="https://thefulcrum.us/stand-up-america" target="_blank">Stand Up America</a> launched a six-figure campaign to pressure Congress to make voting by mail an option nationwide in November — with digital ads, social media posts and a text messaging blast to supporters urging them to phone their senators and House members. With many of its allies working from home, the group said, the campaign generated more than 17,400 calls in a few hours.</p><p>A similar strategic switch was signaled by other prominent groups including <a href="http://thefulcrum.us/common-cause" target="_self">Common Cause</a> and RepresentUs, while the smaller <a href="http://thefulcrum.us/vote-at-home" target="_self">National Vote at Home Institute</a> was newly besieged with attention.</p><p>The burst of activity came after two prominent Democratic senators, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Ron Wyden of Oregon, <a href="https://thefulcrum.us/voting/vote-by-mail-2645512344" target="_self">said they would work</a> to get language in the coming $1 trillion economic stimulus bill mandating that states send postage-paid mail ballots to every voter and also providing federal funds to offset the cost. </p><p>Republican leaders have not signaled willingness to accept the proposal, but pressure for a quick bipartisan deal is building and the GOP is under pressure to be supportive of minimizing infection risks at the polls. Five states have already postponed March and April primaries in response to a health emergency, as officials are discouraging Americans from being in groups of 10 or more.</p><p>A coalition of more than 200 organizations, led by the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, is urging state officials to make the upcoming primary and general elections more medically safe for an anxious electorate. This week the coalition united behind <a href="https://civilrights.org/resource/voting-rights-coalition-letter-on-covid-19-response/" target="_blank">14 proposals</a> for the states to not only ease vote-by-mail rules but also make registering easier online, extend early in-person balloting to shorten Election Day queues at the polls, modify polling locations to ease crowding and combat misinformation about the health risks of casting a vote.</p><p>Debilyn Molineaux, executive director of the <a href="http://thefulcrum.us/bridge-alliance" target="_self">Bridge Alliance</a>, a coalition of 101 democracy reform groups, said she sees the pandemic as a "moment of opportunity to build community and strengthen our democratic values, especially as we are voluntarily giving up liberty and freedom to protect ourselves."</p><p>The coalition is hosting two video calls this week for its members, one on how to manage working remotely and the other on finding opportunity in times of crisis.</p><p>The <a href="http://thefulcrum.us/campaign-legal-center" target="_self">Campaign Legal Center</a> emailed its allies to say it would continue its campaigns for voting rights and campaign finance regulation without impediment. But the logistical restraints will be significant now that the association of 52 employees has abandoned its downtown Washington office and started working entirely online. </p><p>Fortunately for one of CLC's attorneys, the restrictions were being matched by his adversaries. He was not required to go to Cincinnati on Tuesday for oral arguments in a federal appeals court on the constitutionality of Michigan's new independent redistricting commission, for example, because the proceedings were turned into a giant conference call.</p><p>At virtually all the bigger democracy reform groups, employees are working from home and nearly all their conferences, advocacy strategy sessions or other convenings have been canceled, postponed or made virtual.</p><p>The biggest cancelation, by far, would be of what would be this year's premier convention for people across the political spectrum who are plotting to reverse democracy's dysfunction: Now called the Unrig Spotlight (after two years as the Unrig Summit), the conference was on course to attract almost 1,000 people from dozens of groups to a Miami Beach concert hall the weekend of May 15. RepresentUs leaders said they were planning to try to reschedule the event in January.</p><p>However, getting the general public to pay attention to much beside the public health crisis has proved difficult.</p><p><a href="https://thefulcrum.us/directory/citizens-for-responsibility-and-ethics-in-washington" target="_self">Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington</a>, or CREW, says the virus is posing an "extra challenge" to its efforts to get the public interested in and angered by the bad behaviors of Trump administration officials and other elected officials, spokesman Jordan Libowitz said.</p><p>"With everyone totally tuned in to the coronavirus, there isn't much space for other things," Libowitz said.</p><p>Overall, the coronavirus has made an already hectic election year that much more chaotic. Groups have to plan months ahead, while also being wary of day-to-day changes.</p><p>"Everything is in flux," said Common Cause spokesman Dave Vance. "We're just waiting to see how long it takes the curve to get flattened."</p><p><em>(Disclosure: The Bridge Alliance Education Fund is a funder of The Fulcrum.)</em></p>
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Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington
Jun 04 2019
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) uses aggressive legal action, in-depth research, and bold communications to reduce the influence of money in politics and help foster a government that is ethical and accountable. We highlight abuses, change behavior, and lay the groundwork for new policies and approaches that encourage public officials to work for the benefit of the people, not powerful interests, in accordance with the principles of ethical government the founders set out in the Constitution.
