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For Immediate Release
October, 04 2011, 01:09pm EDT
Contact:
Erin Kesler, Democracy 21: 202-355-9600 or ekesler@democracy21.org
David Vance, Campaign Legal Center: 240-605-8600 or dvance@campaignlegalcenter.org
Michael Beckel, Center for Responsive Politics: 202-354-0108 or press@crp.org
Elite Donors Do Double Duty: Presidential Super PACs Attract Wealthy Donors Who Have Maxed Out to Candidates
During the second quarter of 2011, more than 50 individuals donated the legal maximum to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and also dug deeper into their pockets and made additional contributions to Restore Our Future, a candidate-specific Super PAC formed to promote Romney's campaign for president.
WASHINGTON
During the second quarter of 2011, more than 50 individuals donated the legal maximum to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and also dug deeper into their pockets and made additional contributions to Restore Our Future, a candidate-specific Super PAC formed to promote Romney's campaign for president.
A new analysis by Democracy 21, the Campaign Legal Center and the Center for Responsive Politics shows that 55 of the 75 individuals that donated to Restore Our Future also contributed to Romney's presidential campaign committee. These double-dipping donors represent almost three-quarters (73 percent) of all of Restore Our Future's individual donors.
Their contributions to Restore Our Future ranged in size from as little as $3,500 to as much as $100,000, $500,000 and even $1 million. These contributions are far in excess of the $2,500 limit per individual, per election, that applies to contributions made to Romney or any other federal candidate.
Overall, these 55 donors to Romney's presidential campaign contributed a combined total of $6.4 million to the Super PAC supporting Romney -- a majority (52 percent) of all the money Restore Our Future raised as of June 30, the joint analysis shows.
Super PACs report semi-annually in an off election year, so there is no information available, for example, on the principal candidate Super PAC supporting Texas Gov. Rick Perry, which was formed after the June 2011 reporting deadline.
In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruling last year, Super PACs are allowed to raise unlimited amounts of money from donors -- individuals, corporations and unions -- which they can use to fund political advertisements for or against federal candidates and to otherwise support or oppose candidates. They cannot donate the money they raise directly to candidates, nor are they allowed to coordinate with candidates' campaigns, although FEC coordination rules are weak and ineffective.
"The information in the study being released today provides further evidence to confirm that presidential campaigns and presidential candidate Super PACs are deeply intertwined and are, in reality, one entity to which the contribution limits applicable to a single federal candidate should be applied," said Fred Wertheimer, president of Democracy 21, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that promotes campaign finance reform. "The presidential candidate Super PAC exists for one reason: to serve as an arm of the presidential campaign for big-money donors to launder unlimited contributions to support the presidential candidate and thereby evade and eviscerate the contribution limits for a presidential candidate enacted to prevent corruption."
"This analysis offers yet more proof that these candidate-specific Super PACs are nothing more than an end-around existing contribution limits," said Paul S. Ryan, FEC Program Director at the Campaign Legal Center. "The revolving door of staff between candidates and the Super PACs supporting them makes clear the close relationships between the two. The Super PACs are simply shadow candidate committees. Million-dollar contributions to the Super PACs pose just as big a threat of corruption as would million-dollar contributions directly to candidates."
"The data set reported so far is still small," added Sheila Krumholz, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics, "but it demonstrates the largely uniform donor base shared by these ostensibly 'independent' Super PACs and the candidates they support. We will have a much better sense of this relationship after we can review the year-end reports that Super PACs must file on January 31, 2012."
This is the first presidential election in which Super PACs have existed -- and the first where candidate-specific Super PACs are being used by donors to contribute far more money than the candidate contribution limits allow to directly support the candidate.
And Romney's supporters are not the only ones to be milking the new campaign finance landscape for all it's worth. >> Read More
Nonpartisan, independent and nonprofit, the Center for Responsive Politics is the nation's premier research group tracking money in U.S. politics and its effect on elections and public policy.
(202) 857-0044LATEST NEWS
IAEA Chief Calls for 'Military Restraint' After Reported Strike on Iran's Natanz Nuclear Facility
After Israel's military suggested that the United States bombed the enrichment complex, Iran launched a ballistic missile attack on an Israeli city that's home to a nuclear research center.
Mar 21, 2026
The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog issued a fresh demand for restraint on Saturday after the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran announced that the Shahid Ahmadi-Roshan uranium enrichment complex in Natanz "was subjected to a renewed attack" as the United States and Israel continue to bomb the Middle Eastern country.
The Iranian agency said that "technical assessments indicate that no radioactive material leakage has occurred and there is no danger to residents of the surrounding areas," but the attack was a "violation of international laws and commitments," including the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
The International Atomic Energy Agency "has been informed by Iran that the Natanz nuclear site was attacked today," the UN watchdog confirmed on social media. "No increase in off-site radiation levels reported. IAEA is looking into the report."
"IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi reiterates call for military restraint to avoid any risk of a nuclear accident," the agency added.
The Times of Israel reported that "in response to a query... the Israel Defense Forces said that it did not conduct any strikes in the area and that it could not comment on American activities."
The Israeli newspaper also noted that "Israel’s Kan news reported that the US had indeed struck the facility, using 'bunker buster' bombs to target the site. It cited unspecified sources."
Later Saturday, The Times of Israel reported that at least 20 people were wounded in an Iranian ballistic missile attack on the Israeli city of Dimona, home to Shimon Peres Negev Nuclear Research Center.
The United States previously bombed Iran's Natanz facility last June. The Associated Press highlighted Saturday that satellite images also suggest the site was damaged during the first week of the current war, which President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched on February 28.
Condemning the Saturday strike on Iran's complex, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said that "this is a brazen violation of international law, the charters of the UN and the International Atomic Energy Agency, as well as relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council and the agency's General Conference."
Russia has notably also generated fears of a nuclear accident with its ongoing invasion of Ukraine, launched in February 2022.
Trump has sent mixed messages about the US-Israeli war on Iran, both sending thousands more troops to the region this week while also saying on his Truth Social platform Friday that "we are getting very close to meeting our objectives as we consider winding down our great Military efforts in the Middle East with respect to the Terrorist Regime of Iran."
According to the AP: "Iran's capital saw heavy airstrikes overnight and into the morning, residents said, as thousands of worshippers converged on Tehran's grand mosque for prayers marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said attacks would 'increase significantly' next week."
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Sanders to Headline Flagship Minnesota Rally During 3,000+ 'No Kings' Protests
"From Trump's authoritarianism, to the war in Iran, a corrupt campaign system owned by billionaires, attacks on voting rights, and an AI revolution with no guardrails, we are living in dangerous times."
Mar 21, 2026
US Sen. Bernie Sanders announced Saturday that he is set to headline two major rallies next weekend "as part of a growing national movement challenging oligarchy and economic inequality," including the flagship "No Kings" rally at the Minnesota State Capitol.
The Vermont Independent plans to join other progressive elected officials, labor leaders, and organizers in Minneapolis on the afternoon of Saturday, March 28, as Americans hold more than 3,000 related No Kings events across the United States.
President Donald Trump's authoritarian agenda previously sparked more than 2,100 No Kings demonstrations last June, followed by over 2,700 in October. Organizers announced the third round of protests in January, as the administration flooded the Twin Cities with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents who took the lives of two US citizens and violated the rights of many more Minnesotans.
It’s official: There are now 3,000 protests planned for No Kings Day. That means there will be more protests on March 28 than any previous day in American history.Please join us: www.nokings.org?SQF_SOURCE=i... #NoKings
[image or embed]
— Indivisible ❌👑 (@indivisible.org) March 18, 2026 at 12:57 PM
"The next No Kings protest will mark the largest collective exercise of free speech in American history—an undeniable indicator that Americans of all backgrounds support democracy and the Constitution," GLAAD president and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis, who LGBTQ+ rights advocacy group is part of the coalition behind the protests, said in a statement earlier this week.
"The administration's attacks on LGBTQ people, especially transgender Americans, spanning from healthcare to military service to accessing accurate IDs, are a threat to freedom for everyone and out of step with what millions of Americans care about," she declared. "The power of our voices to oppose authoritarianism and recent gross government overreaches can never be overstated. America is for all of us, not some of us."
The No Kings coalition also includes the ACLU, American Federation of Teachers, Common Defense, Human Rights Campaign, Indivisible, League of Conservation Voters, National Education Association (NEA), National Nurses United, Public Citizen, Service Employees International Union, United We Dream, 50501, and more.
"Across the country, educators and parents are standing up to the extreme overreach of Donald Trump," said NEA president Becky Pringle. "His administration has attacked our students, undermined public schools, and used tactics like deploying ICE to intimidate and traumatize our communities."
"In rural, suburban, and urban communities alike, people of all races and backgrounds are coming together to say, 'Enough!'" Pringle added. "With more than 3,000 events already planned and new volunteers signing up every day, this growing, nonviolent movement will continue to protect our students, our communities, and our democracy from Trump's authoritarianism and abuses of power."
After the Minnesota event, Sanders plans to travel to New York, to headline a "Tax the Rich" rally at Lehman College in the Bronx.
During Trump's first year back in the White House, Sanders led events throughout the nation, including in New York City, as part of his Fighting Oligarchy Tour. More recently, the two-time Democratic presidential primary candidate has visited California to meet with artificial intelligence leaders and to support a billionaire tax opposed by the ultrarich and Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat expected to run for president in 2028.
In the Bronx next Sunday afternoon, Sanders intends to call on New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, another rising star in the Democratic Party, to impose higher taxes on the wealthiest Americans. The rally is scheduled just before the state's April 1 budget deadline.
"From Trump's authoritarianism, to the war in Iran, a corrupt campaign system owned by billionaires, attacks on voting rights, and an AI revolution with no guardrails, we are living in dangerous times," Sanders said in a Saturday statement. "From Minnesota to New York, working people are standing up to demand a government that represents all of us—not just the 1%."
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'One Person Cannot Tear Our Movement Down,' Farmworkers Say of César Chávez Revelations
"The labor movement was organized not only to protect workers' paychecks and benefits, but also to ensure they are safe from any form of harassment, inappropriate conduct, or assault."
Mar 21, 2026
"Our collective power is what defines us and is our movement, and one person cannot tear our movement down," Alianza Nacional De Campesinas said in the wake of The New York Times reporting Wednesday on multiple sexual abuse allegations against late Mexican-American labor leader César Chávez.
"As a farmworker women's organization, many of us have experienced or witnessed the sexual abuse and silence women endure in many aspects of our lives," the group continued, adding that "we are deeply troubled and devastated" to learn about the reporting, and "we stand with Dolores Huerta, Ana Murguía, and Debra Rojas, who have bravely shared their painful stories."
Huerta, cofounded with Chávez a group that went on to become the labor union United Farm Workers (UFW). In her comments to the Times and a separate statement, the 95-year-old described two separate encounters with Chávez that led to pregnancies: "The first time I was manipulated and pressured into having sex with him... The second time I was forced, against my will, and in an environment where I felt trapped."
Murguía told the Times that Chávez molested her for four years, beginning when she was 13. Rojas said she was 12 when Chávez first groped her breasts in the same office where abused Murguía. When Rojas was 15, the newspaper reported, "he arranged to have her stay at a motel during a weekslong march through California, she said, and had sexual intercourse with her—rape, under state law, because she was not old enough to consent."
The reporting has sparked a wave of responses from labor groups, elected officials, and others who have expressed support for survivors and stressed, as Guardian US columnist Moira Donegan wrote Friday, that "the rightness of the movement for the dignity of workers, for the rights and respect of Latinos, and for a future in which there is more freedom and possibility for poor people... cannot be tarnished by Chávez's behavior."
UFW Foundation said this week that "as a women-led organization that exists to empower communities, the allegations about abusive behavior by César Chávez go against everything that we stand for."
Describing the alleged abuse as "shocking, indefensible and something we are taking seriously," the UFW Foundation also announced that it "has cancelled all César Chávez Day activities this month."
California lawmakers are planning to rename César Chávez Day, a state holiday celebrated on March 31, Farmworkers Day. Artists and officials have begun removing plaques, murals, and other memorials.
American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations president Liz Shuler and secretary-treasurer Fred Redmond said Wednesday that in light of "these horrific, disturbing allegations," the AFL-CIO "will not participate or endorse any upcoming activities for César Chávez Day."
"The AFL-CIO will always stand in solidarity with farmworkers who have fought for and won critical rights over generations through collective action, resilience, and extraordinary determination—a history that cannot be erased by the horrific actions of one person." said the pair. "The labor movement was organized not only to protect workers' paychecks and benefits, but also to ensure they are safe from any form of harassment, inappropriate conduct, or assault. Our commitment to safety and justice for farmworkers, immigrant workers, and all in our workplaces will never waver."
Advocacy and labor leaders also emphasized the importance of ensuring movements are save for their members. GreenLatinos founding president and CEO Mark Magaña told the survivors that "we stand with you and take this opportunity to recommit to our work supporting the farmworker community who toil in dangerous conditions, including extended exposure to extreme heat and deadly pesticides, while women farmworkers also continue to suffer from disturbingly high rates of sexual assault."
"To our community, the movement for justice and dignity for farmworkers is much bigger than one person," Magaña continued. "At a time when our communities are under serious attack, GreenLatinos remains committed to that movement. ¡Sí, Se Puede!"
Monica Simpson, executive director of SisterSong: Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective, said that "Dolores Huerta, Ana Murguía, and Debra Rojas are showing us what real courage looks like. For decades, they kept secret the sexual abuse they experienced because of the power César Chávez held and his legacy within the labor and civil rights movements."
"That kind of silence doesn't just come from one person, it comes from systems and people in power who make women feel like speaking out will cost too much or threaten the very movement they helped build," Simpson argued. "We stand with Dolores Huerta, Ana Murguía, Debra Rojas, and all survivors. We're committed to building movements where no one has to carry harm or abuse in silence just to keep the work going. Our movements are bigger than one person, they belong to the people who build and sustain them. We have a responsibility to protect each other so everyone can be safe within them. That means choosing people over power and legacy, and creating spaces where safety, care, accountability, and dignity are the foundation of the work."
The revelations about Chávez come as President Donald Trump's administration pursues its mass deportation agenda and amid a fight for justice for survivors of Trump's former friend, convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Members in Congress continue to call out the US Department of Justice for the Epstein files it has withheld or heavily redacted.
US Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) said that the reports on Chávez "are shocking and disappointing about a leader that I for many years had looked up to, like so many Latinos growing up in the US. But as I have said many times this year—no one, no matter how powerful, is above accountability, especially when it comes to abusing young women."
"The farmworkers' movement has always been bigger than any one man," declared Gallego, who represents the state where Chávez was born. "It belongs to the thousands of hardworking people who have spent decades on the front lines fighting for the dignity of agricultural workers. We have to keep that fight going, especially now, when our community is under constant attack."
Gallego also recognized "the incredible bravery of the women who came forward," as did Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), who asserted that "there must be zero tolerance for abuse, exploitation, and the silencing of victims, no matter who is involved."
"Confronting painful truths and ensuring accountability is essential to honoring the very values the greater farmworker movement stands for—values rooted in dignity and justice for all," added Padilla.
Democratic Women's Caucus Chair Teresa Leger Fernández (D-NM) said that "the farmworker and civil rights movement was built by countless people—especially women and families who sacrificed everything for a better future. That history is bigger than any one person. Honoring that legacy means facing painful truths and continuing the work for justice with honesty and humanity."
The Congressional Hispanic Caucus said that "while it's heartbreaking when leaders are exposed as flawed beyond absolution, a just society has a duty to hold abusers accountable without exception."
"A movement stands on its values, not the misconduct of an individual.The strength of a movement is defined by its constituency, by its achievements and, yes, by its willingness to hold its leaders accountable," the CHC said. "We will always support the farmworkers who feed this nation, enrich our culture, and elevate our values. We commend the UFW's courage in standing by its constituency."
"We stand committed to work toward renaming streets, post offices, vessels, and holidays that bear Chávez’s name to instead honor our community and the farmworkers whose struggle defined the movement," the caucus added, noting that this March 31, it will "recognize and honor farmworkers and their arduous, essential work, and reaffirm our unequivocal commitment to survivor."
The US National Domestic Violence Hotline can be reached at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233), by texting "START" to 88788, or through chat at thehotline.org. It offers 24/7, free, and confidential support. DomesticShelters.org has a list of global and national resources.
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