The Center for Public Integrity

A nonprofit college says it has asked for a refund of a $5,000 donation to a conservative super PAC after an inquiry by the Center for Public Integrity.

Colorado Christian University gave the money last month to “Jan PAC,” the super PAC of Arizona’s Republican Gov. Jan Brewer, according to records filed with the Federal Election Commission on Monday. The college is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, meaning it is legally prohibited from making political contributions.

After being contacted by the Center on Tuesday, John Andrews, director of the university-affiliated Centennial Institute, said the payment was a bookkeeping error. Andrews said that Jan PAC promised to refund the amount within 24 hours.

This past summer, Brewer spoke at the Western Conservative Summit, hosted by the institute and the university. According to Andrews, the college wanted to thank the governor for her appearance and her representatives requested a donation to the PAC.

“It goes down as the stupidest mistake I’ve made in a while,” Andrews said.

Super PACs were made possible following the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court's Citizens United decision which allowed corporations and unions to spend unlimited amounts on political advertising. Super PACs are banned from coordinating their activities with federal candidates.

FEC records show Brewer's super PAC has paid for a mailing opposing Arizona Democrat Kyrsten Sinema, who is running for a new U.S. House seat in the state. 

A new batch of super PAC donor information arrived at the Federal Election Commission Monday, and among the top contributors was the nonprofit Americans for Limited Government, profiled by the Daily Disclosure Monday.

The organization, which released a Web video implying that Vice President Joe Biden was on drugs during last week’s vice presidential debate, gave 86 percent of the $1.7 million received by Now or Never PAC, which has spent most of its money opposing the candidacy of Democrat Tammy Duckworth.

Duckworth is running for U.S. House in Illinois’ 8th District. Super PACs report donors to the FEC monthly or quarterly. Quarterly reports were due  by the end of the day Monday.

Super PACs that file quarterly are generally less well-known. For example, Restore Our Future, which favors Mitt Romney, brought in $9.4 million in August alone. American Bridge 21st Century, a liberal super PAC that acts as a sort of opposition research arm for Democrats and produces anti-Romney Web videos, for the third quarter brought in $2.1 million.

Notable contributors include the American Bridge 21st Century Foundation, a nonprofit that does not disclose donors, the National Education Association and top Democratic donor Barbara Stiefel.

America’s Next Generation, primarily an anti-President Barack Obama super PAC, was funded mostly by small donors, who helped contribute to its $1.1 million take in the third quarter.

Americans for Limited Government, a well-funded, shadowy nonprofit that has released a series of videos attacking the administration of President Barack Obama, released a new one that implies Vice President Joe Biden was on drugs during last week’s vice presidential debate.

The video has gotten few views on YouTube, but the group behind it, Americans for Limited Government, has considerable resources. The 501(c)(4) “social welfare” nonprofit is not required to publicly disclose its donors but in its 2010 tax filing, the most recent available, it reported revenue of $9.1 million. The group has also spent at least $1.4 million on election expenditures, according to the filing.

Democrats praised Biden’s aggressiveness in the debate with GOP vice presidential nominee Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. Republicans have played his interruptions and derisive laughs as an inability to take the country’s problems seriously.

A spokesman for Americans for Limited Government says the ad was intended as satire. "There's no evidence Joe Biden was on anything," he said.

The group calls itself a nonpartisan advocacy organization that works against the expansion of government. All of the videos on its YouTube channel oppose Democrats and support Republicans.

Communications director Rick Manning said that ALG consider itself to have several functions, including providing news content. He declined to reveal the organization's donors. He asked if the Center reveals its donors, which are available here.

Last night’s debate between Vice President Joe Biden and GOP vice presidential nominee Rep. Paul Ryan has already produced at least two ads from outside spenders criticizing both the style and substance of the debate.

American Bridge 21st Century, a liberal super PAC, released a web video called “VP Debate Fact Check,” which takes issue with many of Ryan’s statements.

The Republican National Committee responded to the debate with “Laughing at the Issues,” portraying Biden as not serious about the country’s problems.

The debate, which was feistier and livelier than the first presidential debate, saw Biden laughing and sometimes shaking his head as Ryan, of Wisconsin, argued his points. Biden was particularly aggressive in calling Ryan out when he seemed to bend the facts.

Republicans, as seen in the RNC ad, are portraying Biden’s behavior as condescending and as evidence of a lack of gravitas on important national issues.

Democrats are concentrating on factual errors in Ryan’s arguments, including what Politifact once named the “Lie of the Year” — that the Affordable Care Act is a “government takeover” of health care and mischaracterizing the effects of the Obama administration’s sanctions on Iran.

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: