The Center for Public Integrity

The origin story of the secretive nonprofit that is leading efforts to invalidate Montana’s campaign finance laws keeps getting murkier.

In a document filed with the Internal Revenue Service, the group claimed Jacob Jabs as its “primary donor” who had “agreed to provide $300,000” to get the group rolling in 2008.

It appears the group was referring to Jacob Jabs, the president and CEO of American Furniture Warehouse, based in Colorado, where ATP was created.

But a spokeswoman for Jabs said he's never heard of the group. ATP’s current executive director says he wasn’t with the organization at the time. The woman who signed the document would not return calls from the Center for Public Integrity.

“Someone is not coming clean,” said Marcus Owens, the former director of the division that handles nonprofit corporations at the IRS. “A knowing effort to mislead the IRS is a crime and people go to jail for that.”

Jabs has been a major supporter of Republican candidates and causes. He gave heavily to an anti-union ballot initiative in Colorado in 2008, and is a donor to Mitt Romney.

As for the gift to ATP, Jabs claims it didn’t happen.

“Mr. Jabs has not heard of this group, nor did he give them money,” said Charlie Saulis, Jabs’ spokeswoman.

Athena Dalton signed the September 2008 letter to the IRS which referenced a communication with the furniture magnate, during which Jabs “assured us that he will no longer contribute” if ATP did not receive its exempt status in the next two weeks.

The dearth of large contributions being made by big corporations to super PACs so far this election has ended.

Chevron Corp., ranked No. 3 on the Fortune 500 list of largest U.S. companies, made a $2.5 million contribution on Oct. 7 to the conservative Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC dedicated to electing Republicans to the House and Senate.

Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision in 2010, which allowed corporate money to be spent on elections, there were predictions that companies would tap their treasuries and flood races with unlimited cash.

Instead, the bulk of the giving has come from individuals — like casino magnate Sheldon Adelson. Adelson and wife Miriam gave at least $14.5 million in the first 17 days of October, boosting his total giving to the controversial political organizations to a remarkable $53 million. It would take 10,600 contributions of $5,000, the maxiumum allowed to candidates, for Adleson to reach that amount were he giving directly to campaigns.

Super PACs filed their final reports before the Nov. 6 election on Thursday with the Federal Election Commission. Adelson is far and away the biggest donor to the organizations this election cycle.

Chevron, the No. 2 oil and gas company in the U.S. with 2011 revenue of nearly a quarter-trillion dollars, is active in nearly every aspect of the energy business, including the highly controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” a means of extracting natural gas from shale deposits.

Big outside money is pouring into the race for U.S. Senate in Virginia, and for one super PAC, “outside” means from across the country.

Independence Virginia, a super PAC supporting former U.S. Senator and Gov. George Allen, the Republican candidate, reported Wednesday spending $1.5 million on ads opposing the Democratic candidate, former Gov. Tim Kaine.

Two weeks ago, casino magnate and super donor Sheldon Adelson, who lives in Las Vegas, gave Independence Virginia $1.5 million, according to the super PAC’s most recent donor disclosure report to the Federal Election Commission.

Adelson and has family have topped $40 million in giving to conservative super PACs this election, making them No. 1.

But Adelson’s Las Vegas money isn’t the only contribution to have traveled a long way to Virginia. Texas homebuilder Bob Perry, another top super PAC donor, gave $1 million to Independence Virginia in August and September, which was just disclosed last week.

Perry, who has given $20.5 million to conservative super PACs this election, is the third-biggest super PAC donor.

Wyoming investor Foster Friess, another prolific donor gave the group $10,000.

Independence Virginia has spent $3.9 million this election, entirely on anti-Kaine ads.

While President Barack Obama and his Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, heartily disagree about the role of money in politics, campaign finance reform was never breached in any of the three presidential debates this month.

But the issue was front and center during a debate Tuesday in Chicago sponsored by the nonprofit Free and Equal Elections Foundation that featured four dark-horse presidential candidates.

During the debate, which was moderated by former CNN host Larry King, Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein advocated for a constitutional amendment to “clarify that money is not speech and corporations are not people.”

Rocky Anderson, the former Democratic mayor of Salt Lake City Mayor now running for president under the banner of the Justice Party, assailed the “corrupting influence” of money and alleged that both Obama and Romney have been “bought and paid for.”

Former Virginia Congressman Virgil Goode, the nominee of the conservative Constitution Party, called for the elimination of all political action committees, including super PACs, saying the nation should sever ties with the groups just as we “threw off” King George during the American Revolution.

Even Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson, the former two-term GOP governor of New Mexico, suggested that politicians be required to wear NASCAR-like jackets with the logos of their sponsors.

Stein, Anderson, Goode and Johnson were barred from participating in the three presidential debates between Obama and Romney, but their names will appear on the ballot across the country.

The Libertarian Party is qualified for the ballot in nearly all 50 states, and both the Green Party and Constitution Party will appear on the ballot in dozens of states. The Justice Party will appear on the ballot in 16 states, including the swing states of Colorado and Florida.

Joe Ricketts, a billionaire who pioneered online stock trading by founding TD Ameritrade Inc., was far and away the biggest donor to super PACs last month, having given $11.4 million to the Ending Spending Action Fund.

The donations rocket Ricketts to No. 4 on the list of top donors to super PACs, according to data provided by the Center for Responsive Politics and analyzed by Center for Public Integrity.

The amount is equal to about 90 percent of his total giving to the controversial political organizations.

Also entering the top 10 this month is the United Auto Workers union, which, in September, contributed $5.4 million to its super PAC, the new UAW Education Fund. The donations rank it at No. 9.

The top 10 super PAC “super donors” have collectively given about $135 million to these unlimited spending groups so far this election cycle, about 25 percent of the $546 million that all super PACs have raised, according to CRP.

Ricketts and his super PAC pledged to spend $12 million this election with $10 million opposing Obama and $2 million helping Republicans in Congress.

The UAW backs Democrats, especially President Barack Obama, who authorized an $81 billion bailout of Chrysler and GM in 2008. Obama will no doubt enjoy UAW support in Ohio, which once again has emerged as the pivotal swing state in the presidential election.

The UAW super PAC gave $1 million to Priorities USA Action, a super PAC supporting the president.

Mitt Romney hasn't talked much about his charitable work in public, and with outside spending focused on attack ads, even Republicans have been concerned that the GOP presidential nominee appears too aloof.

Two new ads from outside spenders are hoping to change that. “Genuinely Cares” from the pro-Romney super PAC Restore Our Future and “Mitt and David” from the conservative nonprofit Crossroads GPS tell the stories of two individuals who received support from Romney.

They are a sharp departure from both groups’ standard attack ads. Restore Our Future has spent a little more than $99 million thus far this election, with 86 percent going toward negative advertising and other campaign materials.

“Genuinely Cares” features Army National Guard Sgt. Peter Damon, an Iraq War veteran, telling about how Gov. Romney took an interest in him when they met while Damon was recovering from an accident in the Army’s Walter Reed Medical Center that left him a double amputee.

Damon discusses Romney’s work with a charity called Homes for Troops that builds houses for seriously wounded veterans. Damon says he received one of the homes.

"The Mitt Romney I know cares deeply about people who are struggling," Damon tells the camera. "Mitt Romney helped make a huge difference in my life."

The ad, along with the anti-Obama “Better” are part of a $17.7 million ad blitz in 10 swing states.

Online brokerage billionaire Joe Ricketts became a top 10 super donor thanks to a major September spending spree. Ricketts dumped more than $12 million into Ending Spending Action Fund — the super PAC he created to back fiscally conservative candidates.

Ranking: 7

Total contributions to super PACs: $11.8 million*

• $11.4 million to UAW Education Fund (pro-Democratic)
• $200,000 to Priorities USA Action (pro-Barack Obama)
• $108,000 to Working for Us PAC (pro-Democratic)
• $100,000 to Majority PAC (pro-Democratic)
• $15,000 to American Votes Action Fund (pro-Democratic)

Federal hard money and 527 contributions:

• Has donated more than $1.4 million to federal candidates through its political action committee so far this cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. All but $4,000 has gone to Democrats.

Total spent on federal lobbying (2007-2012): $11.4 million

Lobbying issues: Medicare and Medicaid, banking, appropriations, automotive industry, defense, defense, retirement savings, taxes, trade, unemployment and numerous other legislative issues.

Background:

The United Auto Workers has become a major backer of President Barack Obama and the $81.3 billion federal bailout, which was credited with saving Chrysler and General Motors.

The bailout was a key 2012 campaign issue for Obama and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, especially in the Midwest, where hundreds of thousands of auto workers live.

President Barack Obama has the dictator vote, at least according to a super PAC run by evangelical leader Gary Bauer.

Hours before Obama and GOP nominee Mitt Romney began a debate on foreign policy, Bauer’s super PAC released an ad with quotes from Cuba’s Fidel Castro, Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez and Russia’s Vladimir Putin, expressing their admiration for the president.

“Obama secured the dictator vote,” the narrator says. “Does he have yours?”

Bauer’s Campaign for American Values PAC has spent more than a half-million dollars on ads supporting Romney and opposing Obama.

An August ad said Obama is “forcing gay marriage on the country.” Another accused the president of “bowing to Islam.” And a third asked, “Why was God booed by Obama’s delegates” at the Democratic National Convention?

Bauer, a former adviser to the Reagan administration, is also president of American Values, a nonprofit, and president of Campaign for Working Families, a political action committee. All oppose abortion and gay marriage.

The Campaign for American Values PAC has received $892,000 in contributions this election cycle. A full $600,000 has come from an obscure corporation called Corporate Land Management.

Restore Our Future, a super PAC supporting Mitt Romney’s candidacy, doubled its fundraising total in September taking in $14.8 million, but was still outraised by the pro-President Barack Obama Priorities USA Action, which raised $15.3 million for the month.

The totals show a reversal of a trend — Republicans to date have fared better at raising money for outside groups, though Romney still has American Crossroads, a well-funded super PAC, and Crossroads GPS, a nonprofit, in his corner.

Restore Our Future brought in $7 million in August.

Most of the major super PACs had until Saturday at midnight to file monthly reports with the Federal Election Commission on September’s fundraising activities.

Meanwhile, J. Joe Ricketts, whose conservative Ending Spending Action Fund super PAC said it would launch a $12 million ad campaign this fall, gave a whopping $11.5 million to the group. Ricketts, the founder of TD Ameritrade, was the only donor to the PAC, which finished the month with $5.9 million in the bank.

Anti-Obama "Ending Spending" ads have just recently begun airing. Of the $12 million, $10 million will be directed toward helping Romney, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal last month.