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Reuters General/ ­- Article, Sáb, 14 de Abril de 2012
CLIPPING INTERNACIONAL (Supreme Court)
Democratic Super PACs off to modest
2012 start
By Alina Selyukh and Alexander Cohen
WASHINGTON (Reuters) ­- Fundraising by Democratic
"Super PACs" is off to a slow start for the 2012
campaign season, compared with aggressive efforts
by Republican groups that plan to spend hundreds of
millions of dollars in fights for congressional seats and
the White House.
Three major Democratic groups said on Friday they
raised a total of about $5.7 million in the first three
months of the year, buoyed largely by donations from
labor unions and hedge fund managers but far behind
rival Republican groups.
Majority PAC, focused on preserving Democratic
control of the U.S. Senate, received $1.6 million in
contributions in the first quarter of 2012, according to
financial filings with the Federal Election Commission.
House Majority PAC, which aims to help Democrats
regain control of the House of Representatives that
they lost in 2010, received $1.5 million. American
Bridge, a group that does research on rival
Republicans, raised $2.6 million together with its
non­-profit arm.
The Democratic groups are working in tandem against
several behemoth Republican groups such as
American Crossroads, run by Karl Rove, a former top
aide to President George W. Bush.
American Crossroads alone plans to spend more than
$250 million on congressional and presidential
campaigns for the November 6 election. Such
independent Super PACs ­- which unlike campaigns
have no limits on individual donations ­- will allow very
wealthy donors to have a big say in shaping this year's
elections.
Republican Super PACs, inspired by the emergence of
the conservative Tea Party movement, led to painful
losses for Democrats in 2010, when Republicans took
control of the House.
The American Crossroads Super PAC reported having
$23.6 million on hand at the end of February, its FEC
filings show.
American Crossroads also has a non­-profit arm that is
not legally required to disclose its fundraising to the
FEC. According to tax forms cited on Friday by The
Washington Post, the non­-profit group had raised more
than $76 million by the end of 2011 after launching in
May 2010.
The three Democratic Super PACs had a total of $5.4
million in cash on hand at the end of March, their FEC
filings showed.
"As the presidential primary and races up and down
the ballot have unfolded, one thing is clear:
Republicans and their outside groups are going to
spend an unprecedented amount of money to advance
their right wing ideology," the Democratic groups said
in a joint statement on Friday. "We are confident we
will provide a countervailing force to these extreme
agendas."
UNIONS, HEDGE FUNDS STEP UP
The largest share of contributions to the three
Democratic PACs in the first three months of this year about $1.4 million ­- came from labor unions, a
traditional source of support for the party.
The biggest union donation was $500,000 from the
Committee on Letter Carriers, which represents Postal
Service workers, to the House Majority PAC. The PAC
also received $125,000 from the Laborers'
International Union and $100,000 from the American
Federation of Teachers.
American Bridge received $100,000 each from the
Service Employees International Union (SEIU); the
National Education Association (NEA), the biggest
educators' union; and public sector union the American
Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
(AFSCME).
AFSCME and SEIU gave another $10,000 and
$20,000 to House Majority, respectively.
The biggest individual donor was James Simons, a
billionaire hedge fund manager, who gave $1 million to
Majority PAC.
Another hedge fund manager, S. Donald Sussman,
who is married to Democratic Representative Chellie
Pingree of Maine, became the biggest donor to House
Majority with his $250,000 donation.
American Bridge's top contributor was Anne Earhart,
who gave $400,000 to the Super PAC. Earhart is the
granddaughter of J. Paul Getty, the oil baron and
founder of Getty Oil.
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