From “Charity PACs” to soft money, Donald Trump and his GOP allies are just getting started on their campaign to roll back restrictions on moneyed interests.
Eliza Newlin Carney
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Will Trump’s Administration Be an Ethics-Free Zone?
Donald Trump vowed to “send the special interests packing,” but his lobbyist-stacked transition and business conflicts of interest may rile the very voters who elected him.
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Defending Democracy Just Got a Whole Lot Harder
This election exposed multiple threats to democracy and civic institutions that go well beyond traditional progressive concerns over big money and voter suppression.
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Time for an ACLU Shift on Campaign Finance?
The American Civil Liberties Union’s selection of David Cole as its new national legal director creates an opening for the group to revisit a campaign-finance stance that is increasingly out of step with its members and the nation.
Posted inCivil Rights in America
The Election is Rigged After All — Against African Americans
Voting rights advocates have won a string of court battles, but state election officials have found ways to restrict early voting anyway—often at the behest of GOP leaders.
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Is 2016 Another “Year of the Woman?”
Twenty-five years after Anita Hill’s allegations against Clarence Thomas transfixed the nation, another sexual assault controversy is driving cash and volunteers to women’s political groups.
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Could Clinton Tame Congress?
How a Democratic Senate might shift the legislative dynamics.
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Big Money May Not Save GOP Senators
Conservative super PACs have poured hundreds of millions into this year’s Senate contests, but even their massive war chests may not be enough to save Republicans this year.
Posted inCivil Rights in America
Trump’s Voter Fraud Fantasy
Donald Trump’s exhortations to supporters to monitor polling places in “certain areas” recycles voter fraud myths that increasingly are being rejected by scholars and federal courts.
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Republicans Would Rather Impeach Than Disclose
The GOP campaign to ensure total secrecy for politically active tax-exempt groups is getting harder to justify amid court rulings and document leaks that condemn “dark” money.