Campaign Finance

Dent and Bennett go toe-to-toe in 2Q fundraising

July 16th, 2008, posted by RobHop

U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent, R-15th District, slightly outraised Democratic challenger Sam Bennett with a haul of $244,000 during the second quarter of the year as the candidates padded their war chests for the campaign stretch run.

Bennett’s $222,000 tally from April through June was her best quarterly take since she jumped into the race in early 2007, bringing her overall fundraising to $534,000, her campaign said.

Tuesday was the deadline for candidates to disclose their fundraising numbers to the Federal Election Commission. Their next filing won’t come until mid-October, just weeks before the Nov. 4 election.  read more »

Philly union loses suit on election money

July 11th, 2008, posted by RobHop

A federal judge this week threw out a lawsuit filed by the electricians union, seeking to keep secret details of how it spent $2.4 million in last year’s elections.

A political action committee for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 98, claimed that state and local laws requiring the disclosure violated its constitutional rights.

Chief Judge Harvey Bartle III rejected that claim as “patently inconsistent” with previous federal rulings on requirements for political action committee reporting.

Local 98 is led by John Dougherty, a well-known player in city politics who failed in April in a bid to win the Democratic primary election for the First State Senatorial District seat being vacated by state Sen. Vince Fumo.  read more »

Freeman Pushes Small Campaign Finance Reforms

May 5th, 2008, posted by Greg Palmer

For the past year and a half, lawmakers have batted around ambitious proposals to rein in Pennsylvania’s largely unfettered campaign financing system.

Many people believe there is something fundamentally unfair about a system in which donors have to write checks of five figures or more if they want to be noticed.

Yet the appetite for tangible reform appears meager, and the prospects are not encouraging for those seeking to reform the system…  read more »

Trouble in Slotsylvania

January 31st, 2008, posted by Greg Palmer

The real question to be asked now is whether any of the state’s top officials, prosecutors, judges and political parties will give back the more than $1 million contributed by slots parlor owner Louis DeNaples, who was indicted today for lying about his mob ties?

Will Pennsylvania’s top officials give back the more than $1 million Louis DeNaples contributed to their campaigns now that he’s been indicted?Louis DeNaples, the owner of one of only two free standing slots parlors in Pennsylvania, was indicted today by a Dauphin County grand jury for allegedly lying to the state Gaming Control Board about his mob ties during a prelicensing background check.  read more »

Taxpayers Foot the Bill for Bonusgate Legal Fees

January 22nd, 2008, posted by Greg Palmer

Taxpayers are underwriting hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal and consultants’ fees as a grand jury investigation into legislative bonuses unfolds.

Republicans and Democrats in the Senate and the House have hired outside law firms to represent them in the investigation by the state attorney general over whether bonuses were paid to staffers as compensation for campaign work.

The House Democrats have run up the largest bills so far — almost $500,000 in legal and consulting costs. It is unclear from House records what portion of that expenditure was strictly legal costs.  read more »

Reformers Urge Action on PA's Integrity Issues

January 15th, 2008, posted by Greg Palmer

A coalition of government reform groups wants Gov. Ed Rendell to call a special session of the Legislature to act on what it calls “integrity issues,” such as campaign finance limits, reducing the size of the Legislature, imposing term limits for legislators, banning lobbyists from taking lawmakers to dinner and giving them gifts, and ending lame-duck sessions in November.

“Today is Day 921 since the pay raise of July 2005, and our government has done virtually nothing in law or [changes to the] constitution to improve integrity and prevent more of the scandals on parade that we have seen since the pay raise,” complained Tim Potts, co-founder of Democracy Rising PA.  read more »

FEC Finds Specter Campaign Mis-Reported Over $1 Million in Contributions

January 2nd, 2008, posted by Greg Palmer

U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter’s 2004 reelection campaign misreported more than $1 million in contributions, failed to properly disclose hundreds of thousands of dollars in receipts from political party committees and political action committees and missed the final reporting deadline before the primary election, according to a Federal Election Commission audit.  read more »

Bill calls for ownership of political ads

December 13th, 2007, posted by CindySnyder

The election code bill approved Wednesday by the state Senate also requires electronic and telephone campaign ads and messages include identifying information.

Advertisements sent via e-mail, Web, fax, an automatic dialing device or an automated telephone call must have a clear and conspicuous announcement if they are authorized by a candidate.

If the ads are not approved by a candidate, they must provide the authorized name of the person or, in the case of a political committee, the name of any affiliated or connected organization that made or financed ads.  read more »

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Bill would ban robocalls in state

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