Independent Expenditures: April 17
While outside spending this week was far from a deluge, a steady sprinkle of disclosures marked this third week of April. Outside spending aside, it was a big week for elections and the independent political expenditure world. Hillary Clinton announced her candidacy for the Office of the President. Then Ms. Clinton said she would back an constitutional amendment roll back some of the recent campaign finance law changes (this is despite her campaign being willing to take money from all comers - super PAC, 501c4 dark money groups alike). Not to be outdone by Hills, a daredevil of a man landed a flying machine on the capital lawn to draw attention to the wonders of aviation, I mean campaign finance reform. Throughout it all, outside spenders started to file some outside spending with the FEC. Here are the quick hits from yesterday’s disclosures.
The roundup: Two groups disclosed $60K targeting two candidates in two elections.
Hey big spender: The Republican National Committee (RNC) and the American Dental Association Independent Expenditure Committee (IEC) dropped cash on Friday.
The RNC disbursed $33.4K on printing expenses opposing Hillary Clinton. While it is impossible to ascertain what this ‘printing’ expense actually purchased, they used a company with offices in Cleveland and Chicago, Stuart & Associates, for the job. As we’ve covered in previous entires, the RNC was dormant in 2014 but dropped $43 million during the 2012 cycle - all supporting Mitt Romney or opposing Barack Obama. With this disclosure, the RNC is the current 2016 election disclosure amount leader with a total of $145K.
The American Dental Association IEC allocated nearly $26K on direct mail products supporting Mississippi 1st Congressional District special election candidate, Ed Holliday (R). In the 2014 cycle, this super PAC was a small outside spender, disclosing only $386K. All of their cash supported two victorious Republican candidates for the House, Mike Simpson (ID) and Brian Babin (TX).
Who’s on top? So far, 6 groups have disclosed a total of $246K. All the groups are supporting Republican or opposing Democratic candidates. Pro-Democratic Party groups have yet to file any outside expenditures.
As always, thanks for reading CBMG! Check back soon for another outside spending digest.