independent expenditures
August 14, 2014 -
The 60 Plus Association shelled out $11 million in independent expenditures in the 2010 and 2012 election cycles but didn't account for the spending in reports to the IRS. The nonprofit, funded by the billionaire Koch brothers and the oil and gas industry, is spending heavily to defeat Democratic U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan of North Carolina in her race against Republican state House Speaker Thom Tillis.
November 1, 2013 -
As spending on state judicial races skyrockets, so does voters' belief that all that money is influencing judges' decisions -- and that judges need to step aside from cases where a party has spent on their behalf.
October 18, 2013 -
The special election for Louisiana's impoverished 5th congressional district is set for Oct. 19, and Democrats are trying to turn it into the Democratic district it appears to be on paper -- and save the Affordable Care Act from continued assault from the right.
October 18, 2013 -
A redistricting lawsuit has landed in the N.C. Supreme Court, where plaintiffs are seeking the recusal of Justice Paul Newby because his 2012 re-election campaign got much of its support from the same GOP group involved in drawing the new political maps. They cite a similar case out of West Virginia that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled for recusal.
October 9, 2013 -
Under fire for using his personal fortune to buy elections, North Carolina's leading conservative financier denies giving money to super PACs -- but campaign finance watchdogs say his denial amounts to playing word games while he's building a "government of the obscenely rich, by the obscenely rich, and for the obscenely rich."
September 12, 2013 -
The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments next month in McCutcheon v. FEC, a case that has social justice advocates worried about how looser campaign finance limits worsen America's growing wealth gap.
August 29, 2013 -
The conservative mega-donor, now the state budget director, played important but behind-the-scenes roles in the passage of one of the nation's most restrictive voting laws, from ginning up fear of voter fraud to backing politicians who fought for voting restrictions.
