The Center for Public Integrity

Conservative foundations, multinational oil companies and a prescription drug maker were the most frequent sponsors of more than 100 expenses-paid educational seminars attended by federal judges over a 4 1/2-year period, according to a Center for Public Integrity investigation months in the making.

The Center identified instances where judges who attended seminars underwritten by certain firms and trade groups later issued rulings in the funders’ favor.

And the Koch Foundation and The Searle Freedom Trust, both major supporters of conservative causes, were sponsors for most of the conferences organized at George Mason University and Northwestern University.

Both schools conducted more judicial seminars than any other university or organization between mid-2008 and 2012, the Center's analysis found. 

The project's main investigation, written by Center for Public Integrity reporters Chris Young, Reity O'Brien and Andrea Fuller, is found here.

Other components include:

The Democratic Party hasn't officially settled on a nominee to fill the seat of Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., who resigned earlier this year to become the country's new secretary of state. But it's already hitting up donors in preparation for the special election this summer.

"Our efforts to retain and expand our control of the Senate must start now," wrote Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., in a Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee fundrasing appeal to previous donors that the Center for Public Integrity obtained.

In the letter, dated March 4, Baldwin said the DSCC was soliciting cash "to get an early start in the upcoming races," including the Massachusetts special election, in which Democratic Reps. Ed Markey and Steve Lynch are vying for the chance to run against a yet-undetermined GOP opponent.

The DSCC has endorsed Markey over Lynch in the April 30 Democratic primary. The general election is June 25.

Last month, the two Democrats signed a pledge encouraging third-party groups, such as the DSCC, to abstain from making independent expenditures during the Democratic primary. If outside groups spend money on advertisements that violate the pledge, the candidates agreed to dip into their own campaign coffers and donate to charity an amount equal to half the cost of those ads.

The Family Research Council, which filed briefs opposing same-sex marriage ahead of this week's high-profile U.S. Supreme Court cases, has become an increasingly popular source of campaign cash for conservative politicians.

During the 2012 election cycle, the Family Research Council's political action committee donated a combined $208,000 to 80 federal candidates, according to a Center for Public Integrity analysis of Federal Election Commission records maintained by the Center for Responsive Politics.

That's a roughly a two-and-a-half-fold increase from the group's giving during the 2010 election cycle, when it contributed $84,500 to a combined 33 federal candidates.

During 2008, when the PAC was created, it doled out a combined $13,000 to just eight candidates.

None of the candidates supported by the Family Research Council's PAC have been Democrats. 

On its website, the group says the money it collects will be "strategically used to support pro-family candidates and pro-family issues in elections and ballot initiatives around the country."

At the end of February, the PAC had about $56,000 in the bank, according to its most recent FEC filings. It has not yet made any political donations this year.

The Family Research Council is headed by former Louisiana state Rep. Tony Perkins. The PAC's president is Connie Mackey, a former lobbyist for the organization.

Party like a rockstar? Try lobby like a rockstar.

Rockstar, Inc., maker of the eponymous beverage, has hired a well-connected team of Podesta Group lobbyists — nine in all — to press federal lawmakers on "legislation and oversight regarding energy drinks," a new filing with the U.S. Senate indicates.

This is the first foray into federal lobbying for the Las Vegas-based company, which offers a caffeine- and additive-filled product line with brands such as "Rockstar Juiced" and "Rockstar Punched."

And it comes as the Food and Drug Administration is investigating the safety of energy drinks. Lawmakers, including Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Dick Durbin, D-Ill., have also expressed concern about the beverages.

As the U.S. Supreme Court hears oral arguments this week in two cases concerning gay rights, advocacy powerhouse Human Rights Campaign has been rallying its base by word — and by dollar.

"This is our moment," Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin wrote Sunday in an email to supporters. "Tuesday is the culmination of years of work. The millions like you who have pitched in, spoken out and recruited friends to our cause have helped bring us to this point, but we're not at the end of this journey yet."

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the Human Rights Campaign spent $1.37 million on federal lobbying last year — more than any other group focused on LGBT issues.

The Washington, D.C.-based Human Rights Campaign, which is the largest advocacy group focused on the rights of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people, also operates a political action committee.

In February, its PAC doled out a combined $7,000 to five members of Congress, according to records filed last week with the Federal Election Commission.

Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska; Rep. Bill Foster, D-Ill.; Rep. Raul Ruiz, D-Calif.; and Dirigo PAC, the leadership PAC of Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, each received $1,000, records indicate.

Count at least two reasons why the newly formed "Stand With Rand PAC" is notable.

First, it's a hybrid PAC — a relatively rare, but increasingly popular vehicle that combines the advantages of a traditional political action committee and a super PAC. Under one roof, a hybrid PAC may raise limited amounts of money in one account to donate directly to politicians and unlimited amounts in another to advocate for politicians (or against their opponents) through independent advertisements.

Secondly, the committee, the name for which salutes Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., form via the "MyPAC" ready-made hybrid PAC service offered by DB Capitol Strategies — a campaign law and consulting firm that in 2011 prompted the creation of hybrid PACs in federal court case Carey v. Federal Election Commission.

DB Capitol Strategies is charging clients $695 through its MyPAC service to form hybrid PACs, which includes $100 deposited in each of a hybrid PAC's two accounts for immediate use. It heavily promoted its service this month at the Conservative Political Action Conference at National Harbor, Md., in part enticing Chantilly,Va.-based accountant Bill Willenbrock to sign up and operate the Stand With Rand PAC.

Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., has this evening introduced an amendment to the Senate budget bill that would require senators to electronically file campaign finance reports, the Center for Public Integrity has learned.

The move comes a month after Tester re-introduced legislation toward the same goal.

Senate campaign committees are the only federal political committees not required to file their financial disclosure reports electronically with the Federal Election Commission. As a result, it can take weeks, if not months, to get detailed information about who is bankrolling senators and Senate hopefuls.

"This is one other way to tackle this problem, trying to get senators and Senate candidates to file online," Tester spokeswoman Andrea Helling told the Center for Public Integrity. "We are pushing for a vote but whether or not we get one is to be determined."

Tester's e-filing amendment is one of more than 600 amendments have been filed as part of the budget bill's "vote-o-rama," though few will ultimately receive an up-or-down vote on the Senate floor.

With numerous amendments of all sorts being offered, it’s difficult to know at this juncture which ones will receive consideration, said Matt McAlvanah, communications director for Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., chairman of the Senate Budget Committee.

“In general, she’s been supportive of transparency,” McAlvanah said of Murray.

Representatives for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., could not be immediately reached for comment.

A recently released advertisement from the American Petroleum Institute says "new energy taxes" are "not a good idea," "short-sighted" and "definitely going to kill some jobs."

The trade group has spent $76,700 touting this message on the Washington, D.C., Fox affiliate during the past two weeks, according to records filed by the station with the Federal Communications Commission.

That sum has purchased 61 television spots, the documents indicate — all during morning, evening or late-night news programs.

The two advertisements on Fox News Sunday alone set the American Petroleum Institute back $10,000 a piece.

The ads hit as lawmakers on Capitol Hill have been debating fiscal measures, including the tax incentives given to the oil and gas industry. This week, the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives both passed a short-term budget deal, but budgetary fights remain in Congress' future.

He may not be nicknamed the "Big Unit" or able to throw a baseball 100 mph, but Randy Johnson is pitching campaign finance disclosure in ways few Republicans do.

“I don’t see anything inconsistent with full, prompt disclosure and being a Republican,” Johnson, who served as the assistant general counsel at the Federal Election Commission for a year in the 1970s, told the Center for Public Integrity.

“I don’t feel out of place,” added Johnson, now a commissioner in Hennepin County, Minn. “The people who are opposing fuller, more open disclosure are the ones who ought to be feeling out of place.”

First elected in 1978 and re-elected 10 times since, Johnson holds the distinction of being the longest-serving commissioner in the Minnesota county since it was founded in 1852.

In Washington, D.C., Republican lawmakers, led by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., have repeatedly blocked Democratic-sponsored legislation that would add new reporting requirements for those that fund political ads. McConnell has argued that the plan is a tactic to intimidate Democrats’ political opponents.

And the FEC, where Johnson used to work, often deadlocks on the most contentious campaign finance issues before it, with Republican commissioners typically allied against expanding disclosure requirements. The six-member commission — five today because of a vacancy — is structured to be evenly divided between Republican and Democratic appointees.

President Barack Obama's new nonprofit advocacy group wants to know what its donors do professionally and for whom they work.

But don't expect to ever see the information.

Organizing for Action, launched by former Obama campaign officials earlier this year, confirms it will not publicly release donors' employer and occupation data despite collecting it through its online donation form.

"Our voluntary disclosure will be posted on our website with the exact dollar donation, name and city and state of the donor," Organizing for Action spokeswoman Katie Hogan told the Center for Public Integrity.

As a practical matter, a lack of employer and occupation information makes it more difficult for the public to determine the corporate, union or special interest ties donors may have.

It also complicates confirming their identities, particularly when they have common names. A similar issue arose when Obama's inauguration committee released the names of its donors, but no other identifying information.  

For contributions by standard mail, Organizing for Action asks donors include their "full name, address, phone number and email address" with their checks, according to the group's website.