Wolf-PAC Indiana

Getting Money Out Of Politics, One Step At a Time.

[wolfpacindy]

State legislatures taking aim at dark money, disclosure

"Though "dark money" has become a household term thanks to the role it has played in federal elections, the influence of political spending funded by anonymous donors is becoming just as pernicious in state and local politics. In response, lawmakers in nine states have put forth proposals to shed more light on the unknown interests influencing local elections.

An analysis of recent bills collected by Sunlight's Open States tool finds 125 pieces of legislation addressing campaign finance reform in states' most recent sessions. Legislators in several states proposed bills aimed at outing the largest donors of politically active dark money operations."

[wolfpacindy]

OPINION: The rich own our democracy, new evidence suggests | Al Jazeera America

The donor class opposes policies that favor the middle class and poor and they have sway over our representatives

"Barber’s study is the first to directly examine the policy preferences of the donor class. Barber sent 20,500 letters to people who contributed to 22 Senate elections in 2012 and asked about various policy questions. This allowed Barber to examine the differences in representation between donors and non-donors. His finding: Donors’ preferences tend to be far better represented than non-donors’.... In fact, politicians are almost perfectly aligned with donors, but less aligned with partisans (people who voted for the Senator and share party affiliation), supporters (people who voted for the Senator) and voters in general. Barber also finds that donors tend to be far more extreme in their views. For instance, while about sixty percent of non-donor Republicans oppose the Affordable Care Act, opposition among donors is 'almost unanimous.' Barber also notes that donors tend to be far more extreme than non-donors."

[wolfpacindy]

Calling your legislatures?

Have you been calling your legislatures? Make sure you're getting in touch with them! Remember: We currently have six prospective legislators who will be contacted regularly on a schedule in the coming weeks. The schedule and the legislatures are listed here

[wolfpacindy]

Wolf Pac Indy's new approach

WolfPAC Indiana will now be using a new approach to get sponsorship for our resolution in 2016. We currently have six prospective legislators who will be contacted regularly on a schedule in the coming weeks. You can view the call schedule at this page: http://tinyurl.com/HoosierWolfPAC

[wolfpacindy]

Some Unfortunate News.......

We have some unfortunate news to share with you. Wolf PAC's resolution will *not* be heard or voted on in the 2015 legislative session. There seems to have been a miscommunication with our Senate sponsor. SJR 13 is not Wolf PAC's resolution. We're now working to get new sponsors for the 2016 session. We are not giving up and we WILL come back next year stronger than ever!

The struggle continues....

[wolfpacindy]

Some of our members have been moving quickly! Much thanks to Jordan Lee, Bradford Bohanon and James Cole. Remember, get in touch with those on the Judiciary Committee sometime this week if you haven't yet!

[wolfpacindy]

Hey Political People! (SJR 13 Related)

Hey political people! In order to help out and support SJR 13, there's a few things we're going to need from you all. First, we're going to need to concentrate on getting in touch with the Indiana General Assembly Judiciary Committee. These are the players involved on the Committee: Brent Steele (Chair) Michael Young Rodric Bray Michael Delph Susan Glick Randall Head  Joseph Zakas

Lonnie Randolph

John Broden Greg Taylor  The main phone numbers for the committee are: 800-382-9467 or 317-232-9400. Some of them have also provided their emails in the links above. Check them out when you can. Let them know that the SJR 13 resolution is definitely something to think about and support! Here's the judiciary website if you want to take a look at it: https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2015/committees/judiciary_4200 Another way to help us out is by heading down to the Indiana Statehouse and seeing if you can talk with some of the committee members personally. If you're the shy, cautious type and you'd rather join up with a few folks, we got you covered! A few of our members will be visiting the Statehouse all day from Monday, February 9th through Friday the 13th. Come and join them if you can! The location of the statehouse is: 200 West Washington Street #220, Indianapolis, IN 46204 If you can, spread this information to your loved ones, friends, family, you name it. This will be a tremendous help for Wolf Pac Indy!

[wolfpacindy]

Liberal ‘dark money’ group could face IRS fine

Union-backed Pennsylvanians for Accountability could face IRS fine after failing to file a mandatory tax return.

Well, well, well.... "For failing to file returns with the IRS on time, the secretive, Pittsburgh-based Pennsylvanians for Accountability could be fined up to $50,000. The IRS confirmed the agency had not received the group's tax filing — the kind of document that provides a key window into the inner workings of politically active nonprofit groups like Pennsylvanians for Accountability, which are becoming increasingly influential in state and national elections."

[wolfpacindy]

WOLF PAC RESOLUTION INTRODUCED IN THE INDIANA STATE SENATE!

It's now official! Wolf PAC's resolution SJR 13 has been introduced in the Indiana State Senate! It has yet to go before the Judiciary Committee and there's still a substantial amount of work that needs to be done, but we're in the position of having this monumentally important resolution pass! For those not in the know, SJR 13 calls for an Article V convention of the state's aimed towards proposing a 28th Amendment to the Constitution to end the corrupting influence of money in politics. We're getting closer and closer. Let's keep moving forward!

[wolfpacindy]

New IRS Rules on Dark Money Likely Won’t Be Ready Before 2016 Election

The IRS faces a number of hurdles before its new regulations for social welfare nonprofits can be finalized, including potential opposition from Congress.

"The IRS originally issued a draft version of the rules for dark money groups more than a year ago, but withdrew them for revisions after receiving intense criticism from both ends of the political spectrum.... Under the current IRS rules, social welfare nonprofits are allowed to spend money on politics as long as they are 'primarily engaged in promoting in some way the common good and general welfare of the people of the community.' But it's unclear exactly how much revenue groups can put toward politics, and which activities count as political."

[wolfpacindy]

Why big spending on political campaigns makes racial inequality worse

As the power of money in politics rises, the power of people without it declines.

"For the most part, we think that such barriers have been receding with time. But the left-leaning think tank Demos argues that another factor is further restraining the political power of minorities today: our system of big-money spending in elections. Why? Winning candidates today for all kinds of offices are largely backed by big sums from a small number of people. And because minorities are underrepresented in that high-spending group — and among the very high-income in general — their interests tend to be unrepresented as well by candidates overwhelmingly funded by wealthy white donors."

[wolfpacindy]

The fight to get money out of politics shatters party lines

The fight to get money out of politics shatters party lines and unites individuals from all political backgrounds. Let's remind everyone in the Indiana Legislature of this:  House GOP: in.gov/legislative/house_republicans/members.html House Dems: indianahousedemocrats.org/members Senate GOP: indianasenaterepublicans.com/senators/ Senate Dems: indianasenatedemocrats.org/senators/

[wolfpacindy]

An Interactive Map of the Dark-Money Universe

Click your way through the final frontier of unlimited political money.

"An Interactive Map of the Dark-Money Universe"

[wolfpacindy]

Happy Holidays!

Hope you all have a happy holidays! Stay safe and stay warm

[wolfpacindy]

Fundraising expansion slipped into spending deal could power financial bonanza for parties

The measure would increase the amount individuals could donate to national parties tenfold.

"Under the language of the bill, the Democratic National Committee and the Republican National Committee would each be able to raise money into three additional accounts, while the congressional campaign committees would have two new accounts. .......But some of the language of the bill leaves room for the parties to liberally interpret where they can direct the funds. Donations to recount committees could be used for 'other legal proceedings,' a generic phrase that could encompass many activities. And the creation of separate building fund committees could give parties leeway to spend contributions directed there on a variety of infrastructure-related purposes, as they did before McCain-Feingold."

[wolfpacindy]

How Newt Gingrich's language guru helped rebrand the Kochs' message

The dark-money network has been turning to spinmeister Frank Luntz.

"Luntz cut his teeth in the early 1990s as a pollster for Pat Buchanan and Ross Perot, but he became a household name later in the decade, when he advised Republicans to "talk like Newt" by describing Democrats with terms like "corrupt," "devour," "greed," "hypocrisy," "liberal," "sick," and "traitors." He also worked with Republican donors who would later become some of the Koch network's biggest check writers, such as Minnesota broadcasting billionaire Stan Hubbard and Pennsylvania-based philanthropist Jack Templeton Jr. Hubbard says he used Luntz on a research project on inheritance taxes (Luntz has taken credit for reframing the estate tax as a "death tax"). "We put quite lot of money into it," Hubbard told me. "I think he's one smart guy, and I pay close attention to him......." ......Focus groups, he [Luntz] told National Review, showed that emotional appeals worked better than ideological ones, and that women were more effective anti-Obamacare spokespeople than men. "Women are more focused on quality of life and peace of mind," he said. Sure enough, in this past election cycle Americans for Prosperity spent at least $50 million on a big ad blitz attacking Democrats in tight races, often featuring women talking about problems they claim to have encountered with Obamacare. (Several of these AFP ads have come under fire by independent groups for factual inaccuracies; one woman who appeared in an AFP ad attacking Alaska Sen. Mark Begich was an actress, and from Maryland to boot.)"

[wolfpacindy]

It's go time in Indiana! State Representative Randy Truitt has agreed to introduce the Wolf PAC Resolution to restore Free and Fair Elections in America!  We need you to make one super important, yet very easy call to Rep. Truitt starting next week. You will only have to leave a voicemail or a short 'thank you' message with a very nice staff person. Make sure to say you are an Indiana citizen.  It's extremely important that we let our Representatives know that we are appreciative when they stand up for us.  Say something simple like, "I'm a citizen of Indiana and I just wanted to thank Rep. Truitt for introducing the Wolf PAC Resolution to restore Free and Fair Elections in the United States." (You will only have to leave a short voicemail or message with a very nice staffer, make sure they know you're with Wolf PAC.)  Call Rep. Randy Truitt and thank him starting sometime next week: 317-232-9619