527’s are BAD
Posted by Moonage on 02 Aug 2004 | Tagged as: 2004 Presidential Election, Government
From the Federal Election Committee, notably adjusted for the purpose of the McCain-Feingold campaign reform legislation:
(C) Initial notification. Not later than 24 hours after a candidate described in subparagraph (B) makes or obligates to make an aggregate amount of expenditures from personal funds in excess of $350,000 in connection with any election, the candidate shall file a notification.
(D) Additional notification. After a candidate files an initial notification under subparagraph (C), the candidate shall file an additional notification each time expenditures from personal funds are made or obligated to be made in an aggregate amount that exceeds $10,000. Such notification shall be filed not later than 24 hours after the expenditure is made.
As interpreted by the Internal Revenue Service:
Legislation adopted in 2002 altered filing requirements for certain political organizations that seek tax?exempt status under section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code. The new law generally reduces filing requirements for certain state/local political organizations that already disclose certain information to state agencies. In addition, the law relieves some political organizations from filing an annual income tax return or an annual information return.
As interpreted by John McCain, co-author of the McCain-Feingold legislation:
“They’re political operatives running outfits that are engaged in partisan political activities. There’s no doubt about it, any objective observer would tell you that so therefore they should fall under federal campaign laws,” said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.
As of now, they still don’t.
opensecrets.org tracks the money side of politics, and does it extremely well. They now have a special section dedicated solely to 527’s. They think as well as I do that these “political organizations” are nothing more than tools of candidates that enable them to skirt campaign finance laws.
Now to the meat. George Soros has pledged his entire fortune to defeating George Bush. How can he do that with existing campaign finance laws limiting donations to $2,000 for a person and not a lot more for a corporation? 527’s, that’s how.
Here’s the list for the Top 25 or so donors to 527’s this year so far:
#2 on the list, George Soros. Who’s he giving $12.6 million to?
| Recipient | TOTAL CONTRIBUTIONS |
| America Coming Together | $5,000,000 |
| Joint Victory Campaign 2004 | $4,550,000 |
| MoveOn.org | $2,500,000 |
| Campaign for America’s Future | $300,000 |
| Democracy for America | $250,000 |
The sole purpose of America Coming Together is One of the leading Democratic interest groups dedicated to defeating President Bush in November. Run by longtime Democratic operatives and financed in part by wealthy Democratic donors, the group plans a massive voter mobilization effort in 17 battleground states. They have raised $26 million, spend $24 million.
The sole purpose of Joint Victory Campaign 2004 “supports an aggressive national strategy that is attacking the right-wing on the ground and on the air. We are combining an innovative grassroots program ( America Coming Together ) with a sophisticated and powerful media operation ( The Media Fund ), which, together will expose the real Bush Republican record and deliver progressive victories at all levels in 2004.”
Moveon.org is even more radical, “MoveOn is working to bring ordinary people back into politics. With a system that today revolves around big money and big media, most citizens are left out. When it becomes clear that our “representatives” don’t represent the public, the foundations of democracy are in peril. MoveOn is a catalyst for a new kind of grassroots involvement, supporting busy but concerned citizens in finding their political voice. Our nationwide network of more than 2,000,000 online activists is one of the most effective and responsive outlets for democratic participation available today. ”
Campaign for America’s Future, although stating another policy, most recently did this:
BOSTON, MASS. - Campaign for America’s Future Co-director Robert Borosage is available tonight to provide media representatives with the liberal perspective to John Kerry’s nomination at the Democratic convention in Boston.” They don’t like conservatives, they REALLY don’t like Bush. They are the ones that sponsored Michael Moore at the DNC.
Democracy for America’s stated mission: ”
Inspired by the presidential campaign of Howard Dean, Democracy for America (DFA) is a political action committee dedicated to supporting fiscally conservative, socially progressive candidates at all levels of government — from school board to the presidency. DFA fights against the influence of the far right-wing and their radical, divisive policies and the selfish special interests that for too long have dominated our politics.”
I mean, come on, these people aren’t even faking it.
Everyone keeps talking about how much money Bush is spending, let’s take a little more realistic look at things here.
http://www.opensecrets.org/presidential/index.asp
As of this printing,
Bush has raised $228,743,338.
Kerry has raised $186,593,248
Bush looks good huh? Let’s look at how 527’s skew the picture:
http://www.opensecrets.org/527s/527indus.asp?code=Q02&cycle=2004&format=
Democrats have raised $130,990,663
http://www.opensecrets.org/527s/527indus.asp?code=Q01&cycle=2004&format=
Republicans have raised $17,886,891
OK, now the picture is:
Bush, approximately $246,000,000
Kerry: approximately $311,000,000
Changes the picture a bit don’t it?
http://www.publicintegrity.org/527/search.aspx?act=con&sec=indiv&sub=topindiv
The leading donors to 527’s are:
| DONOR | AMOUNT | PURPOSE |
| Peter Lewis | $14,000,000 | defeat Bush |
| George Soros | $13,000,000 | defeat Bush |
| Jane Fonda | $13,000,000 | defeat Bush |
| Stephen Bing | $9,900,000 | defeat Bush |
| John Harris IV | $4,000,000 | defeat Bush |
| Alida Messinger | $3,500,000 | defeat Bush |
| Andrew Rappaport | $2,700,000 | defeat Bush |
That right there is your $60,000,000 in funds to defeat Bush through these 527’s. That’s 7 very wealthy people. Not only do they not have to worry about campaign finance law, they don’t even have to worry about campaign laws.
Because of their wealth, they have rights you and I don’t. Hell, they have rights even the candidates don’t have.
And that just ain’t right.
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