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Published on Thursday, October 21, 2010 by Center for Responsive Politics
'Super PAC' American Crossroads Continues Amassing and Utilizing Hefty War Chest Ahead of Election
In just seven months, American Crossroads, the highest profile conservative "Super PAC," has raised more than $24.17 million* in the hopes of tilting the November midterm elections in favor of the Republican Party. Thanks to changes in campaign finance rules this year, the group is allowed to collect unlimited contributions from individuals and corporations to fuel overt messages supporting and opposing federal candidates.
v>During September, the conservative outfit raised more than $6.9 million, according to a Center for Responsive Politics
review of campaign finance documents filed Wednesday. Between Oct. 1
and Oct. 13, American Crossroads raised an additional $7.9 million,
according to the Center's review of the group's "pre-general" campaign
finance report, which was also filed Wednesday.
With
this money, American Crossroads invested $3.1 million in independent
expenditures designed to assist its favored candidates -- nearly a
quarter-million dollars per day, on average -- during the first 13 days
of October, the Center found. Through Oct. 20, the group has spent more
than $16 million on political advertisements and other communications, targeting some of the most competitive races in the country.
Donations from more than a dozen companies helped pad the committee's bank account to make such expenditures.
Corporate contributors detailed in these two new filings include the following organizations:
- Alliance Resources GP, of Okla., which gave $2 million
- TRT Holdings of Texas, which gave $1.5 million
- Stephens Investments Holdings of Ark., which gave $1 million
- Universal Health Care Group, of Fla., which gave $250,000
- Weaver Popcorn Company of Ind., which gave $250,000
- Rooney Holdings of Okla., which gave $50,000
- New Prime Inc., of Mo., which gave $30,000
- Harris Farms, of Calif., which gave $20,000
- San Joaquin Brokerage Inc., of Calif., which gave $10,000
- Silver Creek Almond Co., of Calif., which gave $10,000
- Wawona Packing Co., of Calif., which gave $10,000
- Overly Hautz Motor Base Company of Ohio, which gave $1,000
- Tate Enterprises of Fla., which gave $1,000
- Linn, Campe and Rizzo, Ltd., of Ill., which gave $500
TRT Holdings' giving to American Crossroads now totals $2.5 million* since the group's launch earlier this year.
Furthermore,
the total personal giving of Robert Rowling, the chief executive
officer of TRT Holdings, also matches what has been given from his
company's treasury. Within the past month, he contributed an additional
$1.5 million to American Crossroads, making his year-to-date donation
$2.5 million.
Rowling isn't the only
billionaire being tapped by American Crossroads for additional support.
B. Wayne Hughes, chairman of Public Storage Inc., made a new $1 million
donation in September, bringing his year-to-date support of American
Crossroads to $2.55 million*.
Texas home builder Bob Perry, famous for his financial support of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth,
which produced ads critical of Democrat John Kerry's Vietnam military
service during the 2004 election, also made a series of hefty
investments in American Crossroads since early September.
The
recently filed documents show four separate donations from Perry
totaling $7 million -- or 47 percent of the group's total haul.
Among other notable donors?
- Donald Trump, the New York real estate developer and star of the reality TV series The Apprentice, who gave the group $50,000 on Oct. 13.
- Entrepreneur James Gagan, who founded DirectBuy, contributed $100,000 on Oct. 4.
- Peter F. Herschend, the owner of Herschend Family Entertainment -- which operates attractions including Dollywood, Stone Mountain Park and the Adventure Aquarium in Camden, N.J. -- donated $40,000 on Oct. 11.
- Richard Baxter Gilliam, the founder of Cumberland Resources, a Virginia-based coal mining company, made two contributions totalling $250,000 during September and October.
American Crossroads is headed by top GOP operative Steven Law. It has also been aggressively pitched to donors by Karl Rove, President George W. Bush's political strategist, and former Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie.
American
Crossroads is also affiliated with a 501(c)4 nonprofit group known as
Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies. Unlike American Crossroads,
Crossroads GPS is not required to detail any information about its
donors, as it is registered with the Internal Revenue Service as a
nonprofit group that primarily engages in the promotion of social
welfare.
Some Democrats have criticized the
flurry of politically related spending by 501(c) nonprofit groups this
year, and asked the IRS to probe the groups to determine whether they
are violating the law. Groups in the crosshairs, including Crossroads
GPS, have denied any wrongdoing.
American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS have pledged to spent more than $65 million on influencing the election, a goal they are reportedly on pace to reach. On Oct. 13, it reported still having nearly $7.9 million cash on hand.
You can read previous dispatches on OpenSecrets Blog about American Crossroads' fund-raising and spending here, here and here.
*Methodological note: From March until July, American Crossroads was registered as a 527 organization
and reporting to the Internal Revenue Service. At the end of July, it
registered with the Federal Election Commission as a "Super PAC" --
officially an "independent expenditure-only committee" -- and began
reporting to them. The move came after the commission issued guidance to
groups in light of federal court rulings in cases that loosened prior
restrictions on fund-raising from corporations for use in political
messages, including SpeechNow.org v. Federal Election Commission and Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.
Between the time American Crossroads first registered with the IRS and
the time it first began reporting to the FEC, it raised and spent $1.4
million that it only reported to the IRS. The numbers in this article
include contributions reported to the IRS as well as the FEC.
© 2010 Center for Responsive Politics
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20 Comments so far
Show AllBeckel sez: "Through Oct. 20, the group has spent more than $16 million on political advertisements and other communications ..."
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Huh.
Are those ads running over the public airwaves?
Wonder who gets all that coin.
Those bad ol Rs, I'll be sure and vote for the wonderful progressive Ds. I am just overjoyed at the range and scope of democratic choice and policy options in our democratic process.
It's awful, of course, but what did the Democrats do last winter when public outrage was over 70%? Why nothing, of course. The best they could propose was a few weak kneed disclosure rules that would have required nothing more than a small note by these groups on their ads. Fact is, they don't seem that opposed to it, so how can they complain?
Bought and sold for 12 pieces of silver. Bye Bye USA prime colony of Israel.
Would all of you duopoly people please let Karl Rove and his ultra-wealthy contributors know that there isn't any difference between the Republicans and Democrats?
Apparently they haven't got word and are throwing away millions of dollars due to the false perception that Republicans will treat them better.
Karl Rove's long had the memo, and you completely misunderstand the argument by duopolists.
If your implication was true that Dems really were trying to be the "voice of the people", then you'd have an equally hard time explaining that sizeable existence of business cash in their coffers, too.
This is a vote herding piece, so it's only focusing on right wing money for the GOP, not right wing money for the Dems, and the reality is, business interests pour more cash into the party they see as most likely to win the cycle in order to maintain their power. The rhetoric is illusion. In 2006 and 2008, Dems had a fundraising edge because the masters understood it was time to change the letters of the managers. Now they're doing the opposite. They will reverse again when teh GOP inevitably wears out its welcome doing the same things. Rinse and repeat.
I will concede that there is a hardcore of donors who ONLY do GOP politics, but that's because the GOP is the primary engine of radical right wing politics in the US and also the primary driver for corporate policy as well, so that makes sense. Furhter, there is still a noticeable difference in social views between individual oligarchic enterprise like Koch and organizational corporate enterprise like any hedge fund. This is probably the only way that you can make a case for a difference in the policies of the two parties, but that case is still very weak when you measure it against legislative outcomes. In short, the country isn't yet ideal ground for the mega billionaires yet.
But by all means keep believing that voting Dem will matter, in spite of the fact that it really hasn't in over 4 decades.
More importantly--and this is lost with all the scare pieces about the Kochs--is that if forced to choose, Kochs would choose oligarchy over theocracy and fascism any day of the week. Their cash always comes first, regardless of their other beliefs.
Equally obvious is that if they can have their little brownshirted thug state AND make even more money, that would be fine by them. But no doubt which one they'd choose in a pinch.
I like the way you and yours rationalize the facts to wring your foregone conclusion out of them.
So, which election did the uber-rich conservatives give more to the Democrats? The elections you cite were not examples of this.
The fact is the top 1% know the Republicans will give them a better deal. That is why they consistently contribute much more to Republicans.
Anything else is sophistry.
Obama's speeches are attacking the oligarchy at their heart, their vast amounts of secret money. There is NO WAY the oligarchy wants the guy in the bully pulpit revealing that to the masses.
Because once the public understands how the oligarchy dupes them, it's game over.
This is a straight up the hill assault on their castle. They arranged the Citizens United decision because they knew they'd need to spend a ton of money from a few people on this election.
http://assets0.pubget.com/pdf/pgtmp_185f0f36-a4ae-b94a-5d2a-05d586d0c157.pdf
here, ctrl-z. get an education on your own dime. I'll give you a head start.
drone - The link you showed is inconclusive as it concentrates on a single issue (health care) and then shows a chart of all 2008 campaign contributions with no differentiation between individual and corporate contributions. It simply shows Obama raised more.
It does however contain a link to its source data at opensecrets.org, and the source data is far more supportive of your assertion.
http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/sectorallc.php?cycle=2008
I stand corrected. In 2008 Obama did get substantially more corporate/individuals in corporate sectors funding than McCain.
I hope you all have your passports and exit visas ready when these Neo-Fascists overthrow our Republic and establish a Fascist Police State in it's place.
Would a fascist state let dissidents emigrate? I have wondered about that.
The democracy is already largely lost. A police state is already largely here. Perhaps just start thinking about whether or not this place matters enough for you to defend it at some possible cost to yourself.
I love this place. I have no intention of abandoning it to cretins.
One thing to note. Most of these people wouldn't be running these organizations or be able to fund them if Pelosi hadn't taken impeachment "off the table", or Obama wasn't so concerned about "looking forwarded, not backwards".
In short if these criminals would have been prosecuted for the crimes committed during the Bush years, they wouldn't be doing this today.
Exactly! Both the Republican and Democratic wings of the Corporate/War Party are backed by the criminals who have turned Amerikkka into a fascist police-state.
Both are complicit. Republicans cater to the super rich while churning a reactionary and ignorant base who can barely read with racism and fear. Democrats cater to the super rich while churning a reactionary base who can read with high-sounding progressive rhetoric.
Both are owned by the military-infotainment industrial complex.
Spend, spend, spend, because I've already voted.
This is the real reason for tax cuts for the rich, and the real reason Republicans want them extended indefinitely.