The Center for Public Integrity

Three labor unions have teamed up to try to thwart the election prospects of former Sen. George Allen, the Republican running for U.S. Senate in Virginia.

The political action committees of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the Service Employees International Union and the National Education Association launched “Better” on Wednesday, attacking Allen on Medicare and women’s health.

“That’s George Allen,” the narrators say. “Cuts Medicare. Reduces care for women. More power for insurance companies.”

Allen supports vice presidential nominee and Republican Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget, which proposes a voucher-type system for Medicare that Democrats argue would result in deep cuts. When speaking of women’s health, the ad refers to Allen’s support of a failed amendment to the Affordable Care Act that would allow employers to refuse to cover contraceptives for “moral reasons.”

Allen faces former Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, a Democrat, in the race to replace retiring Democratic Sen. Jim Webb, to whom Allen lost in 2006.

“Tim Kaine’s friends have reached a new level of desperation,” Allen spokeswoman Emily Davis said in an emailed response to the Washington Post. “Virginians know scare tactics when they see them, and they know George Allen has a record of fighting to strengthen and expand Medicare coverage and women’s access to quality health care.”

“Environmentalists punish companies without protecting people” is the headline of a column that appeared on the website of the American Action Forum a year ago.

The group has called for increased domestic production of oil, coal and natural gas. Officials there have criticized President Barack Obama’s “eagerness to speed our progression to a low-carbon economy” and argued that the administration is “regulating coal out of existence.”

The American Action Forum is also connected with a nonprofit and a super PAC that have spent millions of dollars on ads backing anti-regulation Republican candidates since 2010.

So why did the Energy Foundation, a San Francisco-based organization that funds the Sierra Club, the National Resources Defense Council, the Environmental Defense Fund and Earthjustice give the conservative nonprofit a six-figure donation last year?

Records obtained by the Center for Public Integrity show that the Energy Foundation, touted as the “leading funder of projects that address climate change,” awarded the American Action Forum a $125,000 grant in 2011 for “high-level outreach and communications around carbon policy.”

Jenny Coyle, a spokeswoman for the Energy Foundation, says her organization is “proud to fund a wide variety of organizations whether they are viewed as progressive or conservative.”

“Clean energy is not a partisan issue,” Coyle continued. “We believe that all demographics and groups will see the benefits of a prosperous and healthy clean energy economy.”

Since Labor Day, the once-unofficial start of the election season, 70 percent of outside spending on the presidential race made possible by the Citizens United  Supreme Court decision has benefited Mitt Romney, according to a Center for Public Integrity analysis.

More than $106 million of the $117 million spent on the Obama-Romney matchup since Sept. 3 has been on negative ads, with President Barack Obama absorbing more than $80 million in attacks, according to the analysis of Federal Election Commission data.

By way of comparison, the Obama campaign has spent $346 million over the entire election and Romney has spent $288 million, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

American Crossroads, a conservative super PAC co-founded by Republican strategist Karl Rove, is the top anti-Obama spender as well as the top overall spender among outside groups in the presidential election. Priorities USA Action, a pro-Obama super PAC, is the second-biggest outside spender in the race and the primary source of anti-Romney ads.

Overall, since Labor Day, super PACs, nonprofits and other Citizens United spenders have spent $217 million on “independent expenditures,” ads and campaign activities that urge voters to support or oppose a candidate and are reported to the FEC. The total does not include regulated political action committees and party spending.

Super PACs, which can receive and spend unlimited amounts from individuals, corporations and unions, are responsible for 55 percent of the spending. Nonprofits, which can act in the same way as super PACs but need not publicly disclose their donors, make up 44 percent of the total.

The rest comes from union treasuries, 527 committees not organized as PACs or super PACs, individuals and corporations.

Redistricting in the Chicago metro area has endangered Republicans that hold House seats in the already Democrat-dominated region and attracted some major spending by a labor union and a liberal super PAC.

Republican Reps. Joe Walsh, Bob Dold and Judy Biggert are targeted in a new ad from House Majority PAC and SEIU COPE, the political action committee of the Service Employees International Union, as part of a $2.4 million campaign in the region.

The ad shows what appears to be an angry tirade from Walsh and a list of housing and health care votes House Majority PAC calls “extreme.”

Walsh is running in the redrawn 8th District and faces the well-liked Iraq war veteran Tammy Duckworth. Duckworth has the backing of the Now or Never super PAC, which has spent $1.8 million supporting her, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Walsh is considered one of the most conservative freshman members of Congress and has the backing of tea party-aligned super PACs including FreedomWorks for America.

Type of organization: 501(c)(4)

Employer Identification Number: 26-2495846

Supports: Democratic candidates

Location: Washington, D.C.

Founded: 2010

Web site: patriotmajority.org

Social media: YouTube channel, Twitter profile, Facebook page

Finances:

For the group's activities during calendar year 2010:

• Total Revenue: $5.2 million
• Total Expenses: $5.3 million
• Net assets: $25,800

IRS Form 990 filing: 2010

Principals:

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.