Meet the New Mudslingers
Forget Swift Boat Veterans and 527s; this election's sneaky operators are nonprofits
David Corn
Mother Jones
February 25, 2008
Forget Swift Boats; this election year could become the battle of the armadas. Thanks to the success of misleading ads against John Kerry in 2004—as well as recent Supreme Court and Federal Election Commission actions—the current presidential contest promises to be more cacophonous and mud strewn than any in recent history, with a record number of down-and-dirty ads financed on the sly by big-money interests. Attacks bankrolled by "independent" groups—businesses, unions, and millionaires—and amplified by YouTube and reporters starved for news "will play a much greater role than ever before," predicts a top gop strategist.
There's just one catch: Groups that make it their express aim to influence federal elections—campaign and party committees, for example—are limited to $5,000 contributions from individuals and can't take money from corporations or unions. But recruiting enough $5,000 donors to underwrite a multimillion-dollar ad buy is a chore. So for those hoping to destroy a candidate with a clever spot or a cheap shot, the key question is which campaign-finance loophole to use.
In 2004, the answer was 527 committees, named after the tax-code provision covering them. These groups can take unlimited donations. Billionaire George Soros alone gave nearly $24 million to 527s that year, including America Coming Together and the Media Fund, which together netted about $140 million in support of John Kerry. On the gop side, the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and the Progress for America Voter Fund raised about $58 million, of which T. Boone Pickens pitched in $4.5 million.
The Federal Election Commission recently ruled that these four 527s had violated campaign-finance law—that they essentially were campaign groups in disguise and should have abided by the $5,000 limit. Yet for what amounted to nearly $200 million in illegal spending, the groups were fined, in total, only $2.4 million, three years after the fact—a punishment easy to dismiss as "the cost of doing business," in the words of Fred Wertheimer, president of the clean-campaign advocacy group Democracy 21.
(Continued here.)
David Corn
Mother Jones
February 25, 2008
Forget Swift Boats; this election year could become the battle of the armadas. Thanks to the success of misleading ads against John Kerry in 2004—as well as recent Supreme Court and Federal Election Commission actions—the current presidential contest promises to be more cacophonous and mud strewn than any in recent history, with a record number of down-and-dirty ads financed on the sly by big-money interests. Attacks bankrolled by "independent" groups—businesses, unions, and millionaires—and amplified by YouTube and reporters starved for news "will play a much greater role than ever before," predicts a top gop strategist.
There's just one catch: Groups that make it their express aim to influence federal elections—campaign and party committees, for example—are limited to $5,000 contributions from individuals and can't take money from corporations or unions. But recruiting enough $5,000 donors to underwrite a multimillion-dollar ad buy is a chore. So for those hoping to destroy a candidate with a clever spot or a cheap shot, the key question is which campaign-finance loophole to use.
In 2004, the answer was 527 committees, named after the tax-code provision covering them. These groups can take unlimited donations. Billionaire George Soros alone gave nearly $24 million to 527s that year, including America Coming Together and the Media Fund, which together netted about $140 million in support of John Kerry. On the gop side, the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and the Progress for America Voter Fund raised about $58 million, of which T. Boone Pickens pitched in $4.5 million.
The Federal Election Commission recently ruled that these four 527s had violated campaign-finance law—that they essentially were campaign groups in disguise and should have abided by the $5,000 limit. Yet for what amounted to nearly $200 million in illegal spending, the groups were fined, in total, only $2.4 million, three years after the fact—a punishment easy to dismiss as "the cost of doing business," in the words of Fred Wertheimer, president of the clean-campaign advocacy group Democracy 21.
(Continued here.)
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