May 2012
27 posts
As his campaign for president came to a halt, some of Rick Santorum’s charter airplane trips were provided by a firm called “Million Air.”
Me, I’ve always tried to fly “Hundred Air”.
Science!
Behold, your newest Super PAC: Science! It’s website is a little less exciting.
How To Tell When Your Bookkeeping Isn't Good
From Calumet PAC, the leadership PAC of Pete Visclosky of Indiana:
Prior to June 2009 the Committee's previous administrative aide
was responsible for the committee's bookkeeping activities and
supervised the preparation of the FEC reports. This aide was the
only person who saw both the Committee's books and the reports,
and it is unclear whether he reconciled the reports to the...
Had A Lot Going On
From the Texas Tea Party Patriots PAC:
In response to Commission Letter dated April 25, 2012 Item #1 I wish to state the following:
There were a series of mishaps which occurred in filing this report. The first was the theft of my laptop with all of the data. A police report is available upon request. Second, I had a heart attack on November 27th which delayed my getting the information...
Proposed new rule for federal candidates: If you can’t tell which field is for first name and which field is for last name, you are no longer eligible to run for office.
Anonymous PAC shut its doors today. True to form, the stealth PAC registered in January, and then proceeded to not file any reports until today.
We hardly knew ye, but I guess that was the point, right?
Texas Constable: Not a Federal Office
The Liberty for All Super PAC (funded by a 21-year-old, so hey, it’s new to the game) has moved on from a Kentucky House race to supporting opposing a candidate for Texas Constable. So far, so good, yes?
But you don’t need to file FEC reports for independent expenditures in a race for an office that isn’t the U.S. House, U.S. Senate or President. I’m guessing that Texas...
Great PAC Names, Volume II
Karen Bass, a California Democratic lawmaker, has a leadership PAC called Sea Change Leadership Fund. Get it? Because her name is “Bass”? You see?
Although she missed a chance to work in “Chilean” somehow.
Penalty or Charitable Donation?
Nobody likes paying fines and penalties to the government, but for the Montana Republican State Central Committee, it’s an act of charity.
New Math
From a filing by Citizens for Prosperity and Good Government, a California Super PAC funded by the Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indian tribe:
The May 7, 2012 $2,500 payment to Catalyst Marketing
was an additional payment to the $52,000 reported as a
48-hour notice on May 5, 2012. The original notice was an
estimate, and the final amount is $54,50.00.
So we’re all clear, then.
The Case for Senate Electronic Filing, Vol. 1
Nebraska Senate candidate Debra Fischer’s campaign sent its pre-primary report, which was due to be mailed by April 30, to the Secretary of the Senate, which is where Senate candidates file their paper reports, having exempted themselves from electronic filing.
But because items mailed to the Secretary of the Senate need to be screened for security, Fischer’s report - which was sent...
ZoidPAC as Literature
Another missive from Daniel Mark Ben-David, the proprietor of Why Not ZoidPAC? Given the standards for turning web postings into books, I think it’s safe to say that he’s on his way:
To Whom I May Concern:
The successful filing of my last memo and the lack of response from you, the FEC, suggests that everyone’s at least OK for now with my using these memos as a public soapbox....
No.
The FEC is not where you are “bringin’ sexy”.
Newt Gingrich spent $25,000 in April for web hosting. Just let that sink in.
"Please Stop."
From Aaron Bycoffe: Bears for a Bearable Tomorrow.
Not sure which is a better name: Super PAC icPurple Inc. or the online video production firm it’s paying: Little Weapons, LLC.
Take Us Back, FEC!
The Hill & Knowlton PAC filed a termination report earlier today, but it turns out they didn’t really mean it:
The Committee filed a termination report earlier today;
however,it does not wish to file for termination at this time.
The Committee asks the termination report be marked as
an M5 instead of a termination report.
How To Name Your PAC
It’s early, but I’m ready to declare this the best PAC name of 2012.
Not Quite Extraordinary
A new committee was registered with the FEC in early May: League of Gentlemen. But if you look closely at the email, I think we can assume that the treasurer meant to say “Extraordinary Gentlemen”.
Wisconsin = California
How can the same independent expenditure be in California and Wisconsin at the same time? Apparently the Campaign to Defeat Barack Obama knows how. (via Aaron Bycoffe)
How did a 21-year-old college kid from Nacogdoches... →
motherjones:
This is your campaign finance system on drugs.
Hey, it’s his money.
Software Limitations
We all hate it when software prevents us from doing what we want, such as filling out a field called “purpose”. Read now the testimony of Paul Kilgore, treasurer of the Madison Project PAC:
The purpose "LRI - Usual & Normal" on our report is
List Rental Income received by the committee. Due to a
software limitation on the number of characters allowed
in the purpose field, we...
What Miscellaneous Filings Are For
A message from the President/Treasurer/Grand Poobah of Why Not ZoidPAC?, filed at around 2:30 a.m.:
To Whom I May Concern: This memo is primarily intended as a test: I recognize the gravity generally attached to something like the submission of a form to the FEC, but I wanted to confirm for myself that the Federal Elections Comission lives up to its lofty goal of transparency.
It recently...
Return to Sender
In which the Republican Party of Florida assures the FEC that, unlike in the past, it will now send checks to vendors at the correct addresses:
Attempts to locate the correct mailing address and responsible person
to handle deposit of these checks has occurred and the Committee
expects all checks to subsequently be deposited by the vendors to
whom the checks are written.
Great PAC Names, Volume I
There are awards for so many trivial things, why not for political action committee names? It must be done.
For excellence in leadership PAC names, ChutzPAC, the committee of Representative Howard L. Berman, Democrat of California.
The Unapologetic Robo Call
Usually automated campaign telephone calls - known as “robo-calls” - are as popular as any other form of telemarketing, so you often see them described in filings as “voter contact” or “telephone calls” or something other slightly less, well, robotic. A quick search of 3.4 million campaign expenditures since 2009 found less than 1,000 expenditures labeled as...
Regulate This
Complying with Federal Election Commission regulations can make some committees cranky, but rare is the one that threatens legal action if the FEC doesn’t acknowledge that its non-filing is, in fact, a proper filing. Let me introduce you to the American Promise PAC’s “April Quarterly report” (emphasis mine):
April Quarterly Report-
No Contributions
No Expenditures
...
