The Center for Public Integrity

By now most folks know that the U.S. Supreme Court did something that changed how money can be spent in elections and by whom, but what happened and why should you care?

The Citizens United ruling, released in January 2010, tossed out the corporate and union ban on making independent expenditures and financing electioneering communications. It gave corporations and unions the green light to spend unlimited sums on ads and other political tools, calling for the election or defeat of individual candidates.

In a nutshell, the high court’s 5-4 decision said that it is OK for corporations and labor unions to spend as much as they want to convince people to vote for or against a candidate.

The decision did not affect contributions. It is still illegal for companies and labor unions to give money directly to candidates for federal office. The court said that because these funds were not being spent in coordination with a campaign, they “do not give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption.”

So if the decision was about spending, why has so much been written about contributions? Like seven and eight-figure donations from people like casino magnate and billionaire Sheldon Adelson who, with his family, has given about $40 million to so-called “super PACs,” formed in the wake of the decision?

For that, we need to look at another court case — SpeechNow.org v. FEC. The lower-court case used the Citizens United case as precedent when it said that limits on contributions to groups that make independent expenditures are unconstitutional.

And that’s what led to the creation of the super PACs, which act as shadow political parties. They accept unlimited donations from billionaires, corporations and unions and use it to buy advertising, most of it negative.

Secretive nonprofits affiliated with oil and coal companies, including Koch Industries, are hitting Obama hard for what they call his “war on coal.”

Yesterday, for example, the nonprofit American Energy Alliance reported that its new ad “Stand with Coal,” cost more than a half-million dollars and is running for two weeks in the coal-producing states of Ohio and Virginia.

The ad accuses President Barack Obama of wanting to bankrupt the coal industry, alleging that his plan is to “kill affordable energy.”

The American Energy Alliance is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, which means its donors remain unknown to the public. Its president, Thomas Pyle, is the former director of federal affairs for Koch Industries and former lobbyist for the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association. He also served as a policy analyst for Rep. Tom Delay, R-Texas, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

The American Energy Alliance is affiliated with the Institute for Energy Research, a free-market energy nonprofit that has received backing from the Koch-run Claude R. Lambe Foundation. Pyle is also the institute’s president.

Robert Bradley, the CEO of the institute called those who are concerned about global warming “climate alarmists” in an op-ed in The Washington Times.

At a campaign stop near Philadelphia early in his 2010 bid for governor, Republican Tom Corbett announced “we’ve got to raise money,” that it was the “number-one” priority. In an answer to his prayers, that same July day, a $1.5 million contribution arrived from — Wisconsin?

Officially, the donation was from the Wisconsin affiliate of a D.C.-based political organization called the Republican Governors Association.  

The $1.5 million could not travel directly from the RGA to Corbett. Pennsylvania law bans candidates from accepting corporate money and the RGA accepts millions of dollars from some of the nation’s largest businesses.  

Also, state law requires all non-individuals to establish PACs in Pennsylvania.  

In a single day, the $1.5 million gift traveled from the D.C.-based parent organization to the RGA Wisconsin PAC, to the RGA Pennsylvania PAC and finally to Corbett’s campaign account.

By the time the donation reached Corbett, it was impossible to identify the original source of the cash or whether the donation was permissible under state law.

The well-traveled donation is a prime example of “an elaborate money-laundering scheme, which is legal,” used by the RGA with success in a number of races for governor in 2010, according to Pennsylvania Common Cause Executive Director Barry Kauffman.

The RGA’s funding played a central role in Corbett’s victory. By Election Day he had received a total of $6 million from the RGA — 21 percent of his total fundraising, easily the top donor to the campaign, according to the National Institute on Money in State Politics.

Corbett’s campaign office did not return calls for comment for this story.

It was no secret in the 2010 race for governor of Pennsylvania that Republican Tom Corbett, the state’s attorney general, was the favorite of the burgeoning natural gas industry.

Corbett collected almost $1.3 million from donors with oil and gas interests, according to the National Institute on Money in State Politics.

Aubrey McClendon, the CEO of Chesapeake Energy, the nation’s No. 2 natural gas producer and the top driller in the lucrative Marcellus Shale region of Pennsylvania, gave the campaign $5,000 while his company’s political action committee contributed $12,000.

But that’s a small fraction of what Chesapeake gave to Corbett’s top donor.

McClendon’s company gave a little over $300,000 in 2010 to a so-called “527” organization called the Republican Governors Association, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The RGA gave Corbett’s campaign more than $6 million, 21 percent of the $28.7 million he raised, according to the National Institute on Money in State Politics.

The RGA acts as a central depository and distributor of funds from wealthy individuals and corporate treasuries that are used to underwrite governors’ races in the states.

The organization routinely accepts six- and seven-figure contributions and deals out the funds to state candidates and parties. In states like Pennsylvania, where corporate contributions are banned, the group appears to be skirting the law.

But the RGA says it keeps track of where the money comes from and adheres to all state laws and regulations. Corporate and non-corporate funds are segregated. Critics say, however, that such segregation is meaningless thanks to the wide variation in state campaign finance laws.

“It’s time to put the adults back in charge,” says the narrator of a new attack ad from a conservative political action committee.

“Sometimes Barack Obama seems to confuse being president with being on spring break,” he continues. “It’s time to retire the beer-summit, spring-break presidency.”

The Campaign to Defeat Barack Obama released this new advertisement just after the end second presidential debate Tuesday night, which saw Obama continue his campaign’s theme of painting GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney as out-of-touch and elitist.

The ad takes the out-of-touch theme and turns it against Obama.

The PAC’s ad notes that Obama has played more than 100 rounds of golf during his tenure. It also features clips of his “slow jamming the news” on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" and other talk show appearances. This is contrasted with criticisms of rising gas prices, unemployment and foreclosures.

The ad also attempts to flip what is considered one of Obama’s biggest victories — the killing of Osama bin Laden — by saying he was on the golf course when the operation got underway, which stretches the truth. Obama was on the golf course until 20 minutes before the operation to take down bin Laden began, according to a book “SEAL Target Geronimo,” published by a former Navy SEAL commander.

During the operation, Obama was gathered with his national security team in the Situation Room, a scene depicted in a famous photo released by the White House.

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.