January 20, 2012

Candidates and the Totally Unrelated Super-PACs That Love Them

The only thing breaking coordination rules here is Stephen Colbert's outfit.Pete Marovich/ZUMApress.com

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“God bless you all! And God bless Citizens United!”

So roared a beaming Stephen Colbert, arms spread wide, on his show a week ago. He’d just handed over control of his super-PAC to his Comedy Central colleague Jon Stewart—just in time to unveil an exploratory committee to run for “president of the United States of South Carolina.” Colbert, of course, won’t succeed in his comical presidential bid. But the latest stunt in his long-running super-PAC gag intentionally laid bare what campaign-finance advocate Fred Wertheimer calls “the campaign finance scandal of the 2012 elections.”

In the wake of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision nearly two years ago, super-PACs can raise and spend unlimited sums of money to support or attack candidates, but with one catch: They can’t coordinate with the candidates they’re backing. In other words, Colbert can’t tell Stewart how to run the pro-Colbert super-PAC. But is Stewart really running the PAC independently of his friend and coworker? Who knows, and besides, the rule is virtually impossible to enforce. To rub in the ridiculousness, Stewart said he’d rename his new super-PAC “The Definitely Not Coordinating With Stephen Colbert Super-PAC.” Hyuk, hyuk.

Real presidential super-PACs appear to be in on the joke. Below, 10 super-PACs run by operatives with remarkably close ties to the candidates they’re “independently” supporting:

Restore Our Future (pro-Mitt Romney)
Carl Forti: political director of Romney 2008 campaign
Charles Spies: CFO and counsel of Romney 2008 campaign
Larry McCarthy: media adviser of Romney 2008 campaign

Priorities USA Action (pro-Barack Obama)
Sean Sweeney: former Obama White House aide
Bill Burton: former White House deputy press secretary

Winning Our Future (pro-Newt Gingrich)
Rick Tyler: former Gingrich spokesman and aide
Becky Burkett: former chief fundraiser for Gingrich’s American Solutions for Winning the Future

Solutions 2012 (pro-Gingrich)
Charlie Smith: former aide

Revolution PAC (pro-Ron Paul)
Joe Becker: chief legal counsel to Ron Paul 2008 campaign
Penny Langford Freeman: political consultant and Paul’s political director from 1998 to 2007

Our Destiny (pro-Jon Huntsman)
Jon Huntsman Sr.: his dad
Tom Loeffler: former senior adviser for Huntsman 2012 campaign
Fred Davis: former adviser for Huntsman 2012 campaign
Gary N. Reger: attorney for Huntsman Corporation, friend of Jon Huntsman Sr.

Make Us Great Again (pro-Rick Perry)
Mike Toomey: former Perry chief of staff and longtime friend; co-owns a private island in New Hampshire with Perry campaign manager Dave Carney
Brint Ryan: longtime Perry donor

Veterans for Rick Perry/Jobs for Vets Fund
Dan Shelley: former Perry legislative aide

Americans for Rick Perry
Bob Schuman: former consultant for Perry mentor Phil Gramm

More Mother Jones reporting on Dark Money

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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