The Center for Public Integrity

U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg cost taxpayers in his constituency more than $20,000 when he and his wife sued the city of Billings, Mont., and its fire department in 2010 for damage caused to their property during a fire. Two new ads from Democratic outside spending groups are making sure voters don’t forget.

Rehberg, a Republican who is challenging Democratic Sen. Jon Tester, ultimately dropped the suit, but he was nonetheless hit over the Columbus Day weekend with the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee’s “Only Out for Himself” and Majority PAC’s “Always There.”

Rehberg and his wife sued the City of Billings and the Billings Fire Department for equipment and property damage during a 2008 fire on Rehberg Ranch Estates. Two days after the fire was contained, it flared up again. The Rehbergs alleged breach of duty and negligence on the part of the fire department, according to the Associated Press.

Majority PAC spent $339,000 on the ad and mailers. It is unknown how much the DSCC spent.

The lawsuit became fodder for his 2010 re-election campaign against Democrat Dennis McDonald, who told the Billings Gazette the lawsuit was “embarrassing for the congressman, who is suing the taxpayers.”

The focus on billionaires’ and corporations’ contributions to Super PACs this year has highlighted the impact of the rich and powerful on the presidential campaigns.

The U.S. House race between Republican Rep. Dan Lungren and physician Ami Bera in central California has already seen more outside money than any other House race, and with a new campaign from the nonprofit League of Conservation Voters Inc., the money continues to pour in.

The League of Conservation Voters Inc. reported spending nearly $382,000 opposing Lungren in California’s rejiggered 7th District this week as part of its “Flat Earth Five” campaign, which targets five Republican representatives for their denial of global warming.

The $2 million campaign includes telephone calls to voters, direct mail and television ads in an effort to unseat Lungren and Republican Reps. Dan Benishek of Michigan, Ann Marie Buerkle of New York, Francisco Canseco of Texas and Joe Walsh of Illinois.

California’s 7th District has seen in $4.3 million in outside spending so far, and $3.1 million of that has been spent opposing Lungren, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The race has attracted many the big hitters, including the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the Service Employees International Union, House Majority PAC and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

A million-dollar donation by a foreign-owned corporation to a Republican super PAC has raised legal concerns and opened up the controversial Citizens United Supreme Court decision to new criticism.

Restore Our Future, the super PAC supporting Republican Mitt Romney’s run for president, received a $1 million donation in mid-August from reinsurance company OdysseyRe of Connecticut, a “wholly-owned subsidiary” of Canadian insurance and investment management giant Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited.

Fairfax Financial’s founder is Indian-born V. Prem Watsa. Watsa serves as CEO and chairman and owns or controls 45 percent of the company’s shares. He is also the chairman of the board of OdysseyRe, the American subsidiary.

The law says that any foreign national is prohibited from “directly or indirectly” contributing money to influence U.S. elections. That means no campaign donations, no donations to super PACs and no funding of political advertisements.

But campaign finance law is not as clear for U.S. subsidiaries of foreign companies as it is for individuals.

Most of the regulations on political spending by subsidiaries of foreign companies were written before corporations were legally allowed to fund political advertisements or donate to super PACs. And Republican members of the Federal Election Commission have thwarted the implementation of new rules regarding the practice.

Within hours of the close of the first presidential debate Wednesday night, the liberal super PAC American Bridge 21st Century and the Republican National Committee fired off spin reports.

The RNC’s “Smirk” shows clips edited together of GOP nominee Mitt Romney criticizing President Barack Obama on the deficit, middle class income, health care and other issues while the camera zooms in on Obama looking down at his notes with his lips pursed and the corners of his mouth slightly turned up.

Obama was accused of smugness during a 2008 debate against his then-opponent, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and the Romney team alluded to The New York Times last week that Romney’s strategy included “luring the president into appearing smug.”

American Bridge 21st Century got two Web videos out after the debate: “Not So Fast: Romney’s Own Solyndra” and “I Left My Heart in Grand Cayman.”

The first shows a clip from the debate of Romney criticizing Obama for providing solar and wind energy companies with $90 billion in tax “breaks,” which came as Department of Energy loans. The failure of one loan recipient, solar company Solyndra*, caused a scandal when it was reported that the company’s investors were shown to have connections to the agency and the Obama campaign.

The health insurance industry presented itself as a key ally of President Barack Obama’s health care law while at the same time making hefty contributions to members of Congress who are trying to get rid of it, according to contribution records.

Between January of 2007 and August of 2012, the political action committees of the 11 largest health insurance companies and their primary trade group gave $10.2 million to federal politicians with nearly two-thirds of the total going to Republicans who oppose the law or support its repeal, according to the Center for Public Integrity’s analysis of Federal Election Commission filings.

The 11 top companies, according to the Fortune 500 list, controlled 35 percent of the industry in 2011, according to data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. The top industry trade group is America’s Health Insurance Plans.

Much of the money rolled in as health insurance industry leaders lauded the Democrats’ reform efforts.

“We are ready to be accountable to these [new] rules,” Karen Ignagni, AHIP’s president and CEO told the Senate Finance Committee in May 2009, almost a year before Obama’s landmark legislation was signed into law. And a month after Obama’s Affordable Care Act became law in March 2010, Ignagni said her organization was “strongly committed” to [its] “successful implementation.”

Likewise, Ron Williams, then chairman and CEO of Aetna, the country’s fifth-largest health insurance company, also spoke favorably about the bill — at first.

“I believe that President Obama and this Congress have charted a course of change,” Williams said in a June 2009 statement. “I want to make clear that we too are committed to expanding access, controlling costs and improving the quality and value of care people receive.”

Type of organization: Super PAC

Supports candidate: Republican

Founded: October 21, 2011

Website: congressionalleadershipfund.org

Social media: YouTube channel, Twitter profile

Principals:

Type of organization: 501(c)(4)

Employer Identification Number: 52-1733698

Supports: Pro-environment candidates, mostly Democrats

Founded: 1969

Website: LCV.org

Social media: YouTube channel, Facebook page, Twitter profile

Finances:

For the group's activities during calendar year 2010:

• Total revenue: $19.5 million
• Total expenses: $19 million
• Net assets: $6.4 million

IRS Form 990 filing: 2010

Principals:

Type of organization: Super PAC

Supports: Republican candidates

Founded: Oct. 27, 2011

Website: ygaction.com

Social Media: YouTube channel, Facebook page, Twitter profile

Principals:

• John Murray (president, founder and treasurer): President and founder of YG Action Network, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit and YG Policy Center, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit; previously served as d

  ">eputy chief of staff to Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va.
• Brad Dayspring (adviser): Served as aide in the second President George W. Bush administration; former deputy chief of staff to Cantor.

Profile:

YG Action Fund — the super PAC of the conservative “Young Guns” movement — spent more than $4.7 million on independent expenditures boosting Republicans in congressional races during the 2012 election cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Las Vegas casino magnate Sheldon Adelson and his wife, Miriam, are the group’s primary financial backers. The Adelsons accounted for $5 million of the $5.9 million that the group raised.

The group also received $250,000 in donations from billionaire New York hedge fund manager Bruce Kovner and his wife, Suzanne.

Liberal super PAC End the Gridlock spent more than $534,000 opposing Republican state Sen. Deb Fischer, who is favored to win the U.S. Senate seat in Nebraska.

Fischer faces former U.S. Sen. Bob Kerrey in the race to replace retiring Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson in the Republican-leaning state.

End the Gridlock was established in April in Washington, D.C., and has spent all its funds on ads opposing Fischer.  The group's website says it plans to focus on “high impact races” but only names Nebraska.

Its most recent quarterly filing shows the super PAC took in $229,000 through the end of June. The top donor, Hollywood producer Sidney Kimmel, gave $100,000. Kimmel earned his fortune as founder of the Jones Apparel Group, known for such brands as Jones New York and 9 West. Majority PAC, a super PAC whose goal is helping Democrats maintain control of the U.S. Senate, show transfers to End the Gridlock totaling more than $257,000.

The only Nebraska-based donor currently on record is Richard Holland, who helped build one of Omaha’s largest ad agencies. As of the end of June, he contributed $25,000.