NewsTrust - Campaign Reform - Most Recent Stories

Campaigns Play Loose With Truth in a Fact-Check Age

Sat, 01 Sep 2012 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Michael Cooper - Sep. 01 (News Analysis) - Every four years there are lies in campaigns, and at times a blurry line between acceptable political argument and outright sophistry. But recent events have raised new questions about whether the political culture still holds any penalty for falsehood. Brooks Jackson, the director of FactCheck.org said that both sides have blithely gone on repeating statements that were found false.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.0 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

New Evidence of Scott Walker Lying to Congress

Sun, 27 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

The Nation - By John Nichols - May. 27 (News Report) - there is new evidence to suggest that Walker’s testimony to Congress about when he began preparing his anti-labor legislation—which sparked mass demonstrations and a recall movement that will culminate with a June 5 vote on whether to recall the governor—was not truthful.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.0 average - 8 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Money Unlimited

Mon, 21 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

New Yorker - By Jeffrey Toobin - May. 21 (Special Report) - When Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission was first argued before the Supreme Court, on March 24, 2009, it seemed like a case of modest importance. The issue before the Justices was a narrow one. The McCain-Feingold campaign-finance law prohibi

NewsTrust Rating: 4.0 average - 18 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Take the Money and Run for Office

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

This American Life - By Ira Glass - Apr. 22 (Editorial) - For anyone who has ever heard the term "Washington insider" and felt outside — we are with you. So this week, we go inside the rooms where the deals get made, to the actual moment that the checks change hands — and we ask the people writing and receiving the checks what, exactly, is the money buying?

NewsTrust Rating: 3.9 average - 3 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Fund-raising game upended in 2012 race

Sun, 08 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Boston Globe - By Brian C. Mooney - Apr. 08 (News Report) - As the general election for president unofficially begins, its funding will be marked by two firsts: For the first time in the post-Watergate era, neither candidate will use public funds, and the super PACs created as a result of a 2010 Supreme Court ruling will have their first chance to wield their unlimited contributions from wealthy individuals, corporations, and labor unions as the nation selects a president. The vast majority of seven-figure checks is gushing into Republican coffers, making some Democrats nervous. On the plus side for the Democrats, their expenditures have been a fraction of what Republicans have shelled out during the contentious primary season. Under the old campaign finance rules four years ago, Democrats had a rare lopsided money advantage over the GOP, as Barack Obama’s campaign obliterated all fund-raising records, taking in nearly $750 million.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.8 average - 10 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Buddy Roemer: GOP Pres. Candidate Who Backs Occupy, Campaign Finance Reform, Excluded From Debates

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman, Juan Gonzalez - Jan. 06 (Interview) - We speak with Buddy Roemer, a candidate who is on the Republican ballot in New Hampshire, but has not been invited to this weekend’s two Republican debates — or any of the past 16 debates — even though he is a former governor of Louisiana and four-term member of Congress. Roemer's campaign is unusual in the Republican field: He has refused to accept campaign contributions more than $100, rejected all donations from political action committees, and has made campaign finance the key plank in his platform. He has also endorsed the Occupy Wall Street movement. "[President Obama] gets elected and he says he wants change, but he takes all his money from these same corporations who don't want change," Roemer says. "Special interests control Washington -- I've been there." [Rush transcript to come. Check back soon.]

NewsTrust Rating: 4.8 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

So You Want to Buy an Election?

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Mother Jones - By Tim Murphy - Dec. 06 (Opinion) - A short, shady history of how American elections are bought and paid for. The red giants and blue dwarfs spending millions to influence the 2012 election. Americans Elect says it wants to reform the political system. Campaign watchdogs say it should star

NewsTrust Rating: 3.4 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Half the members of Congress are millionaires

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

iWatch News - By Amy Biegelsen - Nov. 16 (News Report) - Half the members of Congress enjoys “1 percent” status as millionaires, according to a new study by the Center for Responsive Politics. While the economy at home and abroad has limped along since 2008, Congress’ estimated median net worth remains robust—up about 7.6 percent from 2009 and about 13 percent from 2008.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.3 average - 4 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

CNN Poll: Time to clean house in Congress?

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0700

CNN - Aug. 09 (Poll) - Need more evidence that Americans are extremely angry at Congress? Well, here you go: According to a new national survey, for the first time ever most Americans don't believe their own member of Congress deserves re-election.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.9 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

O'Donnell: Spending accusations are 'thug' tactics

Wed, 29 Dec 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Associated Press - By Matthew Barakat, Ben Nuckols, Randall Chase - Dec. 29 (News Report) - Failed U.S. Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell said Thursday that accusations she misspent campaign funds are politically motivated and stoked by disgruntled former campaign workers.

NewsTrust Rating: 2.9 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Will Stealth Spending Decide the 2012 GOP Presidential Primaries?

Fri, 12 Nov 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Politics Daily - By Walter Shapiro - Nov. 12 (News Analysis) - After a GOP wave election that put the "tsu" in tsunami, Republicans have reason to feel smug as they look toward 2012. High on the GOP's gloating list is the way that wealthy conservatives and right-wing business groups exploited the new permissive

NewsTrust Rating: 3.8 average - 7 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Actually, Americans do care about corporate campaign cash

Wed, 10 Nov 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Washington Post - By Katrina vanden Heuvel - Nov. 10 (Opinion) - In Sunday's Post, former congressman and head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Martin Frost said that corporate campaign money is "something the average voter couldn't care less about" and that Congress should "leave campaign finance reform to the wine-and-cheese crowd." That's an obscene and false statement. It's exactly the "wine-and-cheese crowd" that the American people are concerned about -- wealthy Washington special interests that get to buy access and influence with politicians, drowning out the voice of everyday Americans.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.3 average - 4 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

When Campaigns Manipulate Social Media

Wed, 10 Nov 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Atlantic Monthly - Nov. 10 (Investigative Report) - Politicians and tech evangelists alike see social media as the key to a new type of politics: Campaigns and candidates can better engage citizens, facilitate grassroots organization, and craft legislation with the direct input of a Tweeting electorate. The inevitable results, optimists argue, will be a sort of "digital democracy," defined by a closer, more coherent relationship between the elected officials and their constituents. But social media, like any tool, can be used to erode democratic practices as well.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.9 average - 3 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

The 2010 FactCheck Awards

Tue, 02 Nov 2010 00:00:00 -0700

FactCheck - By Jess Henig - Nov. 02 (News Analysis) - Election Day has arrived; every voter has made up his or her mind (or should have, by now). So — just as we’ve done on Election Days past — we offer here some of the ads that we thought deserved special attention, not for the facts they present but for sheer style points (or lack thereof).

NewsTrust Rating: 3.9 average - 5 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Corporate campaign ads haven't followed Supreme Court's prediction

Wed, 27 Oct 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Los Angeles Times - By David G. Savage - Oct. 27 (News Report) - Companies and unions have been able to avoid the transparency called for in the court's landmark ruling. Spending on next week's midterm election has been exorbitant.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.0 average - 14 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Obama's Focus On Election Funding Spurs Guarded Optimism Among Campaign Finance Reformers

Wed, 20 Oct 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Sam Stein - Oct. 20 (News Analysis) - The intense focus placed on the money being spent in the 2010 elections has had an unexpected impact within the small the world of campaign finance reformers. While the delicate system of fundraising constraints born in the wake of Watergate has crumbled -- allowing for the unprecedented flow of corporate and even anonymous funds -- the chaos has also created a modicum of opportunity. The current climate, campaign finance reformers say, may be one of the most opportune moments to spur the reform of the system.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.9 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Return of the Secret Donors

Sun, 17 Oct 2010 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Jill Abramson - Oct. 17 (Special Report) - In this year’s midterm elections, there is no talk of satchels of cash from donors. Nor is there any hint of illegal actions reaching Watergate-like proportions. But the fund-raising practices that earned people convictions in Watergate — giving direct corporate money to a campaign and doing so secretly — are back in a different form in 2010.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.1 average - 9 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Making Campaign Ads More Honest

Thu, 07 Oct 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Ron Howard - Oct. 07 (Editorial) - Instead of candidates hiring people like yours truly, to create campaign media that works on both conscious and subconscious levels to sway the voting public, what if all TV ads were, by law, only allowed to feature the candidate, with, say, the American flag as the backdrop, alone, speaking directly to the camera?

NewsTrust Rating: 4.1 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Disappointed Supporters Question Obama

Mon, 20 Sep 2010 15:39:57 -0700

New York Times - By Sheryl Gay Stolberg - Sep. 20 (Special Report) - It was billed as “Investing In America,” a live televised conversation between President Obama and American workers, students, business people and retirees on the state of the economy, a kind of Wall Street to Main Street reality check. But it sounded like a therapy session for disillusioned Obama supporters. In question after question in Monday’s one-hour session, which took place at the Newseum here and was televised on CNBC, Mr. Obama was confronted by people who said, in short, that they had expected more from him. People from Main Street wanted to know if the American dream still lived for them. People from Wall Street complained that he was treating them like a piñata, “whacking us with the stick,” in the words of a former law school classmate of Mr. Obama’s who now runs a hedge fund

NewsTrust Rating: 3.7 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Liberals becoming more disenchanted with Democrats, USA Today/Gallup poll finds

Mon, 20 Sep 2010 11:20:47 -0700

Los Angeles Times - By Michael Muskal - Sep. 20 (News Report) - Liberals becoming more disenchanted with Democrats, USA Today/Gallup poll findsLos Angeles TimesThe latest USA Today/Gallup poll shows that fewer than one in five of those surveyed approve of the job Congress is doing, statistically the same as the ...Now that the Democratic Congress is back in session, its approval decline ...Los Angeles Times (blog)Poll Shows Approval Rating For Congress At Historically Low LevelsRTT NewsCongress Only Growing Less Popular With AmericansGallup.comall 12 news articles??

NewsTrust Rating: 3.9 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

An Antidote to Corporate Lies: How to still pass the DISCLOSE Act

Tue, 03 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Paul Loeb - Aug. 03 (Opinion) - persuasion or even bending-backwards compromise gets little traction with the Party of No. Even those who decried Citizens United, like Snowe, seem more intent on bringing the Democrats down than preventing American democracy from becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of Exxon, Massey, BP, Goldman Sachs, and every other corporate interest willing to pay the cost.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.8 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Maintaining the Undue Influence of Wealth

Sat, 31 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0700

sensen-no-sen.blogspot.com - By Paul Belle Isle - Jul. 31 (Opinion) - One of the fundamental aims of campaign finance reform is to encourage large numbers of small donations from a broad spectrum of donors, while diminishing the undue influence of wealth. This is not - or at least it shouldn't be - an ideological proposition.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.0 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

The Influence Industry: Groups say time is now for public financing push

Thu, 08 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Post - By Dan Eggen - Jul. 08 (News Report) - Two interest groups plan to spend as much as $15 million this year on a nationwide campaign in favor of new public-financing legislation aimed at limiting the influence of wealthy donors and large corporations in congressional races.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.3 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

NRA Remains The King On The Hill

Wed, 16 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Sam Stein, Arthur Delaney - Jun. 16 (News Report) - Democrats on Monday touted a major breakthrough in campaign finance reform legislation that could drastically alter the shape and course of the 2010 elections. But in the process of securing the necessary concessions, the party confirmed the widespread assumption that special interests can literally write legislation if they have enough clout.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.0 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Ride Along with Mitch

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Weekly Standard - By Andrew Ferguson - Jun. 10 (Special Report) - He treats waste in government as a moral offense. “Government isn’t a business, and it shouldn’t be run as a business,” he said. “But it can be more like business. It has a lot to learn from businessmen.” Government operates without the market pressures that produce efficiency and increase quality. The challenge for government leaders is to produce those pressures to economize internally, through an act of will. “Never take a dollar from a free citizen through the coercion of taxation without a very legitimate purpose,” he said in an interview last year. “We have a solemn duty to spend that dollar as carefully as possible, because when we took it we diminished that person’s freedom.” When you put it like that, overspending by government seems un-American. When Daniels took office, in 2004, the state faced a $200 million deficit and hadn’t balanced its budget in seven years. Four years later, all outstanding debts had been paid off; after four balanced budgets, the state was running a surplus of $1.3 billion, which has cushioned the blows from a steady decline in revenues caused by the recession. “That’s what saved us when the recession hit,” one official said. “If we didn’t have the cash reserves and the debts paid off, we would have been toast.” The state today is spending roughly the same amount that it was when Daniels took office, largely because he resisted the budget increases other states were indulging in the past decade.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.4 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer