The Center for Public Integrity

Super PACs file expenditure reports

January 31st was the deadline for super PACs to file their latest expenditure reports. The Center dug into the numbers quickly to identify the major donors – and their special interests. These are the people who, in many respects, are attempting to buy the 2012 election. One thing is obvious: Most of these donors aren’t part of the 99 percent.

The Supreme Court Citizen’s United decision has made it possible for individuals, labor unions and corporations to spend unlimited amounts of money on advertising for or against specific candidates. Worse, that money can now come from anonymous sources. The Center has dedicated itself to tracking this special interest money in a new project called Consider the Source. Please bookmark the page and visit often. --Bill Buzenberg, executive director

Pro-Romney PAC surges with $30M - mostly from investors
Restore our future, the super PAC backing presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, received nearly $30 million in donations in 2011. The investment industry was far and away the most generous donor to the group. Supporters included several buddies from Romney’s old employer, Bain Capital, who gave a combined $750,000. Restore our Future has spent $17.5 million so far in the primary races, just about double that of pro-Gingrich PAC Winning Our Future. The super PAC has poured millions of dollars into advertising criticizing the former House Speaker as the Republican presidential nomination race heats up.

Free-for-all in southern Pacific decimates fish stocks

Asian, European and Latin American fleets have devastated fish stocks in the southern Pacific, once among the world’s richest waters, a new investigation by the Center’s International Consortium of Investigative Journalists has found. Governments with the power to stop the plunder have stalled for years, and no binding rules are in place. The result: Stocks of jack mackerel are down 90 percent to less than 3 million metric tons in just two decades. The oily fish is a staple in Africa, but people elsewhere are unaware that it is in their forkfuls of farmed salmon. Jack mackerel is a vital component of fishmeal for aquaculture. Today, industrial fleets bound only by voluntary restraints compete in what amounts to a free-for-all in open waters from the west coast of South America across much of the southern Pacific. The investigation also found that in Peru, at least 630,000 metric tons of anchoveta have vanished over the past two and a half years between the holds of boats and factory scales. That is more than all the fish British fleets land in a year.

The defense cuts that aren’t

The Center's International Consortium of Investigative Journalists has added 41 new members to its roster, expanding the network’s reach to 158 news professionals working on an array of media platforms in 61 countries. ICIJ is a global network of reporters who collaborate on in-depth, cross-border stories and is a project of the Center for Public Integrity.

The new members are reporters, editors and journalism entrepreneurs in 28 countries on five continents. They bring a new wave of talent to the world’s oldest global network of investigative journalists — from cutting-edge computer-assisted reporting to multi-media skills. They also represent new business models and non-profit investigative centers that today are diversifying the media landscape from South Africa to Latvia.

“These additions to ICIJ mark the ambitious expansion of an already stellar team of journalists,” said ICIJ Director Gerard Ryle. “It is notable that in this group of dedicated professionals are courageous women and men who’ve helped investigate and explain some of the most important events and issues of our time, from the repressive regimes that led to the Arab Spring uprisings to the inner-workings of multi-national drug cartels. This is experience and ability that will invigorate our plans for cross-border investigations with global impact.”

The new ICIJ members are: