This Week in Dark Money

A quick look at the week that was in the world of political dark money

the money shot

 

Quote of the week

“This is a nightmare for me.”
—Former Rick Santorum booster Foster Friess, speaking to MoJo‘s Tim Murphy at the Republican National Convention in Tampa about the attention heaped on GOP megadonors. “It’s too many things going on. I’ve got like four things to go to. It’s just so frustrating,” he continued. “I’ve had enough speeches!” Friess was just one of several deep-pocketed donors in Tampa. Miriam Adelson, wife of casino magnate Sheldon and a megadonor herself, gave a policy talk. Direct-marketing CEO Frank VanderSloot and his wife met privately with Karl Rove; hedge-fund manager Paul Singer also organized a private meeting with Rove. And David Kochdiscussed saving America” with Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.).

 

attack ad of the week

American Bridge 21st Century, the liberal super-PAC launched by Media Matters founder David Brock, preempted Thursday night convention speeches by Mitt Romney and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) with a web ad pitting Rubio’s words against Romney. “For almost all of history, almost everyone was poor,” Rubio says. “Only a few people had power and wealth and prosperity.” Then, as the video displays quotes critical of the low tax rate Romney has paid, Rubio continues: “And so the people with all the power, the big corporations, the multi-billonaires, they used their influence to get the rules written to their advantage.”

 

stat of the week

$450,000: The amount that Florida developer Gary Morse has given to the pro-Romney super-PAC Restore Our Future. Morse owns the Cracker Bay, the unfortunately named yacht Romney bundlers partied on in Tampa. The ship flies the flag of the Cayman Islands, a notorious tax haven that Romney’s not too eager to associate himself with. Other bundlers at the bash included Romney’s national finance chairman Ron Weiser, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, and real estate developer Bob Pence, who’s given Restore Our Future $350,000. (Unlike Obama, Romney has not disclosed the names of all his bundlers.)

 

chart of the week

Here’s more evidence of the influence of dark money in the wake of Citizens United: Spending by outside groups has skyrocketed in the 2012 election, tripling the pace set in 2008. The Center for Responsive Politics has it charted:


 

more mojo dark-money coverage

Barack Obama Comes Out in Favor of an anti-Citizens United Amendment on Reddit.
“Cracker Bay,” Team Romney’s Big-Money Party Yacht: Choose where you party carefully, future presidential nominees.
GOP Platform Calls for Nuking What’s Left of McCain-Feingold Law: The platform will also oppose passage of new disclosure laws unmasking big donors to dark-money groups.
Bizarre Super-PAC Targets Liberal Icon Raúl Grijalva…and Sheriff Joe: “I know I will make enemies but our country needs an ass-kicking,” says the operative attacking Rep. Grijalva (D-Ariz.).

 

more must-reads

• Campaign finance reform groups try to shed light on the dark-money dealings at the RNC. Politico
• A look at how “big business is buying the election.” The Nation
• The anti-tax Club for Growth’s dark-money machine’s latest victory: Helping Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) to a Senate primary win. Center for Public Integrity
• Rep. Flake is just the latest of several candidates who have won primaries despite being outspent. Politico
• The Sunlight Foundation has a new app for the iPhone and Android to help viewers debunk attack ads. New Scientist

WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

payment methods

WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

payment methods

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