Eliza Newlin Carney
Eliza Newlin Carney is a weekly columnist at The American Prospect. Her email is ecarney@prospect.org.
Recent Articles
Big GOP Senate Spending May Fall Short
Mar 31, 2016
rules-logo-109.jpeg “Money doesn’t matter” has emerged as a popular catchphrase in this turbulent and unpredictable presidential campaign, and the same refrain may soon take hold in the fight for control of the Senate. Money does matter , of course, in setting policy agendas, winning special access, and especially in swaying elections down the ballot. Still, this year’s Senate races pit Republicans flush with fresh cash against Democrats whose donors aren’t giving as much to super PACs—and Democrats still look favored to win. Democrats are hardly penniless, of course. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has outraised its GOP counterpart so far, and Democrats in some closely watched Senate races, including those in Colorado and Florida, have outraised their GOP opponents. The Senate Majority PAC, a pro-Democrat super PAC, had netted $5.8 million as of the latest public filings. And Democrats say the likelihood of a Republican ticket topped...
Will Trump Finally Join the Money Chase?
Mar 17, 2016
rules-logo-109.jpeg One of the most extraordinary moments in Donald Trump’s characteristically hyperbolic primary victory speech in Florida this week was his riff on the “vicious” and “horrible” barrage of “mostly false” TV ads attacking him, which he said carried a price tag of “over $40 million.” The actual total spent by the half-dozen conservative groups assailing Trump was closer to $35.5 million , but Trump was right about one thing: Amidst the ad blitz, his poll numbers went up. Even as he described the “disaster” of presiding over a golf awards ceremony as anti-Trump ads blared in the background, Trump marveled at the ads’ reverse effect: “I don’t understand it.” Neither do many of the GOP leaders, operatives and donors now casting about for a Plan B in their thus-far futile and costly campaign to stop Trump. Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who came close to beating Trump in Missouri but fell...
The Campaign-Finance Reform Wish List
Mar 10, 2016
Public cynicism about money in politics has become so reflexive and deeply ingrained that the stock refrain from voters, candidates, political experts, election lawyers, and even many reform advocates is “Nothing will ever change.” Public financing? It will never happen. Disclosure for secretive political nonprofits? Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will never allow it. A reversal of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruling? Pie in the sky. And don’t even dream of expecting the Internal Revenue Service or the Federal Election Commission to actually enforce the rules. Both agencies have decisively demonstrated their utter impotence to police campaign violations. But what if the 2016 election created a surprise opening for democracy advocates? Sky-high voter outrage over campaign financing has already made attacks on Wall Street special interests a standard applause line for candidates on both sides of the aisle. For Donald...
Big Money Turned Upside Down
Mar 03, 2016
rules-logo-109.jpeg When it comes to political money, the 2016 presidential general election campaign appears likely to become a contest between convention and chaos—between a consummate establishment fundraiser and a party renegade who thumbs his nose at big donors and at the consultant class. The rule-breaker, of course, is billionaire businessman Donald Trump, who as a largely-self financed candidate has trumpeted his independence from special interest donors and Wall Street-backed super PACs. Trump’s $25 million campaign account is far smaller than those of his GOP rivals, yet wall-to-wall media coverage has helped him win one primary after another, including seven on Super Tuesday that make him look increasingly unstoppable as his party’s nominee. Hillary Clinton, by contrast, has followed a predictable fundraising playbook perfected over decades as a Democratic rainmaker—cultivating top drawer donors at hundreds of fundraisers around the country; decrying...
When Super PACs Go Dark: LLCs Fuel Secret Spending
Feb 25, 2016
rules-logo-109.jpeg A hallmark of super PACs, the political action committees that may raise unlimited contributions if they act independently from candidates, is that they must publicly disclose their donors. But in this election, super PACs and their backers are proving increasingly adept at skirting the federal disclosure rules, particularly through the use of limited liability companies, or LLCs—a type of business entity that leaves no paper trail and gives political players cover to hide their identities. “The supposed transparency of super PACs is completely undermined to the extent that they receive untraceable contributions from LLCs and other business entities,” says Paul S. Ryan, deputy executive director of the Campaign Legal Center (CLC). The CLC and another watchdog group, Democracy 21, filed two complaints Wednesday with the Federal Election Commission alleging that six- and seven-figure donors funneled money through secretive shell corporations to...
