An Unusual $1.6 Billion Donation Bolsters Conservatives

An Unusual $1.6 Billion Donation Bolsters Conservatives A low-profile Republican financier donated his company to a new group run by the influential operative Leonard A. Leo. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/22/us/politics/republican-dark-money.html Republicans block bill requiring dark money groups to reveal donors Senate Republicans voted Thursday to block the consideration of a bill to promptly require organizations that spend money on elections to promptly disclose the identities of donors who give $10,000 or more during an election cycle. The body failed to invoke cloture on the measure, in a 49-49 vote. Every Republican present voted against the measure, while every Democrat voted for it. Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) were not present for the decision. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) brought the bill to the floor to highlight the reliance of Senate Republican candidates on huge cash inflows from GOP dark-money groups, such as the Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC linked to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), according to Democratic senators familiar with Schumer’s thinking. The legislation, sponsored by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), has been a top Democratic priority since the Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United in 2010 that enabled corporations and other outside special interest groups to spend unlimited amounts of money on federal elections. https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/3656002-republicans-block-bill-requiring-dark-money-groups-to-reveal-donors/ The Mormon church in Canada: Where did more than $1 billion go? - The Fifth Estate Our investigation reveals more than $1 billion raised by the Mormon church in Canada has been funnelled to the U.S. rather than going to charitable works in this country. We hear from former members in Canada and elsewhere who say concerns about how money is spent have led them to leave the church. https://youtu.be/NgxGYUyvJio Donors, key findings, and profiles of the top 15 dark money groups The top 15 dark money groups examined by Issue One’s new “Dark Money Illuminated” report have been spending millions of dollars in our elections since Citizens United without publicly disclosing their donors. Dark money groups frequently operate as attack dogs during campaigns, criticizing candidates from the shadows. Dark money groups also often push the envelope in terms of how much political spending they can engage in without running afoul of rules that prohibit them from existing primarily to influence elections. By masquerading as a trade association or “social welfare” nonprofit, dark money groups avoid the mandatory donor disclosure rules that would come with registering as a political committee whose primary purpose is to influence elections. The 45Committee Here’s what Issue One’s year-long “Dark Money Illuminated” investigation revealed: The 45Committee raised $49 million between April 2015 and March 2017 Issue One identified 3 donors to this dark money group These donors collectively accounted for 2% of its funding. Issue One found 3 donors that gave any amount since April 2015: Wellspring Committee: $750,000 Judicial Crisis Network: $250,000 Ending Spending: $75,000 Note: These numbers have been rounded to two significant figures. Click here to see more details about these contributions — and all identified donors to this group — in Issue One’s exclusive database of dark money donors, and click here to learn more about how these contributors were identified. https://issueone.org/donors-key-findings-and-profiles-of-the-top-15-dark-money-groups/