Super PAC

The rules on corporate contributions to Super PACs were made clearer today when the Federal Election Commission (FEC) released its finding that Chevron Corporation’s $2.5 million contribution in 2012 to the Congressional Leadership Fund (a Super PAC) had not violated the bar on government contractors making contributions in federal elections.
Continue Reading In Chevron Case, FEC Brings Clarity to the Federal Contractor Ban and Super PACs

The Supreme Court is expected to rule soon, in McCutcheon v. FEC, on whether the Federal Election Campaign Act’s biennial aggregate limits on individual political contributions are constitutionality permissible.  Many have argued that, if the Supreme Court strikes down the federal limits, aggregate limits imposed by state law will…
Continue Reading Will States Ignore the Supreme Court’s Coming McCutcheon Decision?

The press and comedians have recently focused on campaigns loading “B-roll” footage onto Internet sites where Super PACs and other outside spending groups can download the footage to use in political ads.  Senator McConnell’s campaign’s use of this tactic has drawn the most attention, but it is far from the…
Continue Reading Super PACs Using Candidates’ B-roll Footage and the FEC’s “Own Message” Cases

On Monday, a federal court granted a preliminary injunction preventing Pennsylvania from enforcing its ban on corporate contributions and expenditures insofar as the challenged statute forbids corporations from contributing to political committees that exclusively make independent expenditures.

In General Majority PAC v. Aichele, No. 1:14-cv-00332 (M.D. Pa. 2014), a…
Continue Reading Federal Court Enjoins Enforcement of Pennsylvania Ban on Corporate Contributions to Super PACs

At the federal level, it is generally illegal for an outside group like a Super PAC or a 501(c)(4) organization to coordinate its independent expenditures with the candidate it supports.  The same is true in many states.  As we recently reported in our 2013 FEC Year in Review, however,…
Continue Reading State Action, Federal Inaction on Coordination Enforcement Cases

With the New Jersey gubernatorial primary election fast approaching, we have been tracking a legal challenge to the State’s treatment of contributions to Super PACs.  Back in March, the Election Law Enforcement Commission issued an advisory opinion to the Fund for Jobs and Growth, explaining that the group would need…
Continue Reading New Jersey to Allow Unrestricted Super PAC Contributions

Despite seemingly widespread agreement between and among Vermont state legislators and Governor Shumlin that contributions to Vermont Super PACs should be capped in principle, it now appears unlikely that Senate Bill 82 will make it to the Governor’s desk in 2013.  The two chambers of the state legislature were unable …
Continue Reading Vermont Super PAC Contribution Limit Bill Stalls

Yesterday the Vermont House of Representatives moved the State one step closer to imposing contribution limits on independent-expenditure only committees, more commonly known as Super PACs.

As we reported here, the Senate has passed a bill (S. 82) that would limit contributions to Super PACs to $3,000, but only…
Continue Reading Vermont Moves Closer to Imposing Contribution Limits on Super PACs

Although over the last year many states have exempted Super PACs—i.e., groups that only make independent expenditures—from the strictures of contributions limits, Vermont may be headed in another direction.

This is not the first chapter in the Vermont Super PAC story.  As we noted last July, the Vermont…
Continue Reading Vermont Bill Proposes Cap on Contributions to State Super PACs

Earlier this year we predicted that battles over the definition of “coordination” and Super PAC “independence” would play a significant role in the development of campaign finance law in the coming years.   In keeping with that forecast, last week, the California Fair Political Practices Commission for the first time fined…
Continue Reading Fine Levied Against California Super PAC a Possible Signal of Things to Come