dark money  -Mobile
FREE NEWS LINKS

photo of U.S. Capitol Building  
      HOME 
  SEARCH

Updates & changes ongoing ....

---- Although this site is https-secure, we cannot guarantee that it or any provided links are safe; be sure your antivirus and other security systems are up to date.

Also see: Soft money; black money;

   Jump to:
   2018;   2019;   2020; 

Undated:
In the politics of the United States, dark money refers to political spending by nonprofit organizations—for example, 501(c)(4) (social welfare) 501(c)(5) (unions) and 501(c)(6) (trade association) groups—that are not required to disclose their donors.[3][4] Such organizations can receive unlimited donations from corporations, individuals and unions. In this way, their donors can spend funds to influence elections, without voters knowing where the money came from. Dark money first entered politics with Buckley v. Valeo (1976) when the United States Supreme Court laid out Eight Magic Words that define the difference between electioneering and issue advocacy.

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, "spending by organizations that do not disclose their donors has increased from less than $5.2 million in 2006 to well over $300 million in the 2012 presidential cycle and more than $174 million in the 2014 midterms."[3] The New York Times editorial board has opined that the 2014 midterm elections were influenced by "the greatest wave of secret, special-interest money ever raised in a congressional election."[5] "There are other groups now free to spend unrestricted funds advocating the election or defeat of candidates. These groups contend that they are not required to register with the FEC as any sort of PAC because their primary purpose is something other than electoral politics. This spending itself isn’t new. But the use of funds from a virtually unrestricted range of sources, including corporations, began with the most recent court rulings."(Open Secrets)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_money

-- 2018 --

Back to top


July 20: Trump just made it easier for groups like the NRA to hide dark money donors. The timing couldn't be worse.

The Treasury Department's change in policy will have (at least) two negative
impacts on our democracy.
https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/trump-just-made-it-easier-groups-nra-hide-dark-money-ncna893191

November 11: Before he became Jeff Sessions' chief of staff, Matthew Whitaker worked as the executive director of the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust, a Washington nonprofit funded almost entirely by dark money.

On its website, the group proclaims it is 'dedicated to promoting accountability, ethics, and transparency in government and civic arenas.' But the accountability it has sought is almost exclusively related to Democrats.

Since its founding, FACT has filed complaints and called for investigations into dozens of Democrats, and in the group's early days, Whitaker focused his efforts on Hillary Clinton.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/09/politics/matthew-whitaker-dark-money/index.html

Back to top


November 28: San Antonio Adman Brad Parscale’s ‘Dark Money’ Group Spent $4.3 Million Last Year to Back Pro-Trump Candidates
https://www.sacurrent.com/the-daily/archives/2018/11/28/shadow-master-san-antonio-adman-brad-parscales-dark-money-group-spent-43-million-last-year-to-back-pro-trump-candidates

December 9: Nick Ayers Turns Down Trump, Eyes Dark Money Group

Ayers’ rise through the Trumpworld ranks was meteoric for an aide his age, and his reputation for loyalty and hard work earned him the trust of the president and those around him.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/nick-ayers-turns-down-trump-expected-to-land-at-pro-trump-dark-money-group

Back to top


December 12: The Senate on Wednesday voted 50 to 49 to overturn a Trump administration policy that allows politically active nonprofits to withhold from the government the identities of their donors, underscoring a growing unease among Democrats over the influence of wealthy donors and foreign actors in U.S. elections.

The Senate move is unlikely to survive the GOP-led House, which must vote on the resolution before the end of the year, or receive the support of President Trump, whose Treasury Department enacted the rule earlier this year.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/senate-votes-to-overturn-trump-administration-donor-disclosure-rule-for-dark-money-groups/2018/12/12/92d8d93a-fe3d-11e8-ad40-cdfd0e0dd65a_story.html?utm_term=.14d1a09f63ef
 
-- 2019 --  

Back to top


January 7: Top Trump Backer Financed Supreme Court Confirmation Fights Through Shadowy Network

Leonard Leo is the top judicial lobbyist in the country and a well-known booster of the president. But the reach of his influence is just starting to come into focus.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/top-trump-backer-financed-supreme-court-confirmation-fights-through-shadowy-network

January 23: Dark money groups spent $150 million in the 2018 midterms. And unlike super PACs, which must disclose their donors to the Federal Election Commission, these politically active nonprofits are not required to do so.

Liberal groups spent about 54 percent of that total in the 2018 cycle, with conservative groups only spending 31 percent. Nonpartisan or bipartisan groups made up the remaining 15 percent. The liberal dominance is a marked shift. In 2016, conservative groups that don’t have to disclose their donors outspent liberal groups 4-to-1, according to Issue One.
https://www.rollcall.com/news/campaigns/liberal-dark-money-groups-spent-2018-conservative-groups

Back to top


February 13: The influence of “dark money” in American politics that allows billionaires to fund political campaigns through third-party groups without disclosing their involvement was put under the spotlight at a congressional hearing on Thursday, as Democrats use their newfound majority to crank up a sweeping new anti-corruption measure.

... soon after [Wisconsin Governor Scott] Walker won the election, the Republican-controlled legislature in Wisconsin changed state law. Under the rule change, it became much more difficult for victims of lead paint poisoning, most of them children, to sue NL Industries and other former lead paint manufacturers for the damage inflicted on them.

The bill is likely to be put to a House vote next month and is assured of passage through overwhelming Democratic support. It is almost certain to flounder, however, in the Republican-controlled Senate, given the virulent opposition from the party.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/feb/13/political-funding-dark-money-anti-corruption-trump

March 6:A pro-Trump nonprofit organization called the 45Committee raised nearly half of its funding during its 2017 tax year from a single donor who gave the group $6 million, according to a new tax return obtained by CREW. Overall, three anonymous donors who wrote checks of $2 million or more provided nearly 90 percent of the group’s more than $13 million haul.

Back to top


The dark money group’s revenue dropped significantly from its 2016 tax year, which covered the end of the 2016 election, when the group raised more than $46 million and acknowledged spending $21.6 million on political activity, largely in support of President Trump’s election
https://www.citizensforethics.org/45committee-funding/

March 27:Trump-linked US Christian ‘fundamentalists’ pour millions of ‘dark money’ into Europe, boosting the far right
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/revealed-trump-linked-us-christian-fundamentalists-pour-millions-of-dark-money-into-europe-boosting-the-far-right/

-- 2020 --

Back to top
    





 Webpage visitor counts provided by


 

 

copyr 2018 trump-news-history.com, Minneapolis, MN