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Corrupt Government Title: Secret donors fuel American Crossroads media buy Secret donors fuel American Crossroads media buy A massive $4.2 million ad buy announced Tuesday by American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS erases any doubts that the groups, conceived by veteran GOP operatives Karl Rove and Ed Gillespie, have the cash to be major players in next month's election. And with nearly 75 percent of the buy paid for by undisclosed donors, the expenditure highlights a trend that has shaped the midterm campaigns and could have far-reaching consequences in American politics: the shift to anonymous political activity. The combined media buy targets hotly contested Senate races in eight states — Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Washington — where either the Democratic incumbent is viewed as vulnerable or there is an open seat considered attainable for Republicans. The buy brings the total ad spending of Crossroads groups, which were formed this year to counter what had been a major advantage for Democrats in political infrastructure outside of the official party groups, to around $18 million. And with a month to go until the critical midterm elections, the groups appear to have the cash in the bank to continue spending heavily right through Election Day. Their emergence places them at the leading edge of a significant shift in American campaign finance. “What we see this election cycle are large pots of money getting bigger as organizations offer to accept the money and use an entity that will allow the donor not to own up to their political activity,” said Gerry Herbert, president of the Campaign Legal Center, a nonprofit that pushes to limit the role of money in politics. Herbert’s group, along with another nonprofit, asked the Internal Revenue Service on Tuesday to investigate whether Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies (Crossroads GPS, for short) is abusing its tax-exempt status to influence elections while “allow[ing] its donors to evade the public disclosure requirements.” Their letter is part of a growing drumbeat by Democrats, who have struggled to match the spending by GOP-allied outside groups, and advocates for stricter campaign finance rules to compel the IRS and the Federal Election Commission to tamp down the explosion of political spending, primarily by Republican-allied outside groups, including Crossroads GPS, that are registered under Section 501(c)4 of the tax code. That section allows so-called social welfare nonprofit organizations to keep their donors’ identities secret but requires the groups to limit their campaign-related activity to less than half of their total spending. Last week, Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) sent a letter to the IRS suggesting that Crossroads GPS and two other GOP-leaning 501(c)4 groups with links to GPS — American Action Network and Americans for Job Security — may be violating the requirements of their tax-exempt status. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
#1. To: Skip Intro (#0)
(laughing) Ain't this a bitch? rotflmao
Obama's first all-by-his-lonesome budget, btw, calls for a $1.17 trillion deficit.
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