The Center for Public Integrity

It's tough to be a Republican in the District of Columbia, even when armed with a sizable campaign war chest and auxiliary support from super PACs during a low-turnout special election.

Despite his own fundraising prowess and support from two independent political action committees, Republican Patrick Mara failed to oust incumbent Democrat Anita Bonds in today's at-large D.C. Council race.

With 100 percent of precincts reporting, Mara ranked third in the race behind Bonds and Democratic challenger Elissa Silverman. Bonds carried 32.2 percent of the vote, while Silverman won 27.6 percent and Mara earned 22.8 percent.

Mara — a former lobbyist whom the Washington Post, D.C. Chamber of Commerce and Sierra Club's D.C. chapter all endorsed — was the election season's sole beneficiary of super PAC cash, indicating that these committees best known for raising and spending massive amounts of cash at the federal level aren't above local races.

D.C. Office of Campaign Finance spokesman Wesley Williams told the Center for Public Integrity that there are just two independent expenditure-only committees registered with the city government. Both were active on Mara's behalf.

The National Association of Realtors' super PAC spent $20,200 touting Mara, city records indicate. And a super PAC called the D.C. Action Fund spent more than $13,500.

The D.C. Action Fund is headed by Nicholas Jeffress, a former executive director of the District of Columbia Republican Committee. Brett McMahon, the president of the construction firm Miller & Long D.C., Inc., ranked as the group's top donor — giving $10,000 of the $35,000 it reported raising through mid-April. 

Gun groups, defense contractors, oil companies and the world’s largest social network increased their spending on lobbying last quarter, bucking an overall downward trend, newly filed congressional disclosures show.

As debate over gun control raged in the Senate, the National Rifle Association, the National Shooting Sports Foundation and Mayors Against Illegal Guns each spent more on federal-level lobbying during the year’s first three months than in any previous quarter.

Raytheon, United Technologies and General Dynamics also fired up their lobbying machines from January to March, easily surpassing their spending from the same period one year ago as budget sequestration forced them to face down deep cuts to their bottom lines.

Northrop Grumman, at $5.8 million, posted its third biggest lobbying quarter in company history.

And Facebook’s $2.45 million in first-quarter lobbying expenses obliterated its previous quarterly record — $1.4 million during the final three months of 2012 — as it pressed lawmakers and governmental agencies on a variety of issues, from online advertising and privacy concerns to taxation and supporting visas and permanent residency for highly skilled foreign workers.

But those are exceptions.

About three-fifths of the nation’s 100 top lobbying organizations spent less on lobbying during the year’s first quarter than during the first quarter of 2012, a Center for Public Integrity analysis of congressional disclosure reports and Center for Responsive Politics data indicates.

Eight retiring U.S. senators are collectively sitting on $10.5 million in campaign funds, according to a Center for Public Integrity analysis of campaign finance records filed last week.

And while federal law prohibits lawmakers from using campaign funds for personal use, they have a variety of options for leftover campaign cash.

The man with the most money still in the bank is Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., who the Washington Post today reported will retire at the end of his sixth term in January 2015. The chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee still has nearly $5 million in his campaign account.

At the other end of the financial spectrum are Sens. Carl Levin, D-Mich., and Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., who each had less than $200,000 in cash on hand through March, records indicate.

To date, six Democrats and two Republicans have announced plans to retire at the end of the 113th Congress.

With the exception of Baucus, most posted tepid fundraising numbers during the first quarter of 2013. Baucus raised nearly $1.6 million during the first three months of the year, records indicate.

The senators may give their surplus money away to other candidates, subject to the normal contribution limits, or transferred to a state or national party committee, which have no limits.

Corporations, unions and special interest groups fueled President Barack Obama's second inauguration ceremonies with more than $18 million — money the commander in chief generally rejected during his first inaugural.

The total represents more than 40 percent of the nearly $44.6 million the Presidential Inaugural Committee 2013 collected, according to a disclosure document filed Saturday night with the Federal Election Commission.

Many of the companies and unions that donated to the president's 2013 inauguration rank among the most powerful government lobbying forces in the nation, collectively spending hundreds of millions of dollars attempting to influence federal policy since Obama first took office.

The Presidential Inaugural Committee 2013's seven-figure donors include some of the nation's most notable corporate names, the FEC filing reveals.

Among them are telecommunications giant AT&T ($4.6 million), software maker Microsoft ($2.1 million), aviation and defense firm Boeing ($1 million) and oil company Chevron ($1 million).

Those that gave $250,000 to $750,000 include:

As gun control debates raged in Congress early this year, the National Rifle Association increased its federal government lobbying expenditures to record levels, new filings with the U.S. Senate indicate.

The NRA and affiliated National Rifle Association of America Institute for Legislative Action together spent at least $800,000 lobbying the federal government during the first quarter — more than any year covering the same period, according to federal records.

Such aggressive advocacy preceded a major legislative victory Wednesday for gun advocates, as the U.S. Senate defeated a proposal to expand background checks on guy buyers.

And it came as gun control advocates  — from President Barack Obama and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg to former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and the families of children killed last year in Newtown, Conn. — pressured lawmakers to pass laws limiting purchases of firearms.

The NRA groups' first-quarter lobbying expenditures have been steadily increasing in recent years, but never cracked the $700,000 mark.

During the first three months of 2012, they spent $695,000. That follows $675,000 in 2011 and $615,000 in 2010.

This year, the NRA's lobbying efforts were exclusively directed at the House and Senate, according to federal disclosures. The group lobbied on numerous U.S. House and Senate bills proposed by federal legislators.

Among them:

The terrorist bombing in Boston and the subsequent manhunt there provided tragic bookends to a horrific week also marred by a massive industrial explosion in Texas, a tornado outbreak in Oklahoma, flooding in Illinois and attempted ricin attacks in Washington, D.C.

All of that wasn't enough, however, to keep several prominent politicians, political parties and special interest groups from attending to other business: fundraising.

"Giant thorn in Boehner's side" is the title of one fundraising message Thursday from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee to supporters, which warns them: "Tomorrow is our ad buy deadline in the South Carolina special election. Elizabeth Colbert Busch (yeah, Stephen’s sister!) has a real chance to become the first Democrat to represent this ruby-red district in 30 years."

But it continues, ominously: "Right now, Elizabeth is in danger of getting drowned out by misleading Republican attacks. We can’t let that happen — especially in a tough district like this. We need $200,000 by midnight tomorrow for our Democratic Rapid Response Fund to fight Republican attacks like these and set the record straight."

It followed a Wednesday morning e-mail in which DCCC Executive Director Kelly Ward writes on Colbert Busch's behalf: "Look, stand with us right now and chip in $3 or more today" before providing a hyperlink to a contribution form.

(Updated April 20, 2013, 11:30 a.m.: This story has been updated to reflect that Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, electronically filed his first-quarter campaign finance report today.)

A small but increasing number of U.S. senators — the only federal politicians still allowed to submit campaign finance reports on paper — are opting to voluntarily file their disclosures electronically.

Fifteen current senators chose to e-file their first-quarter campaign finance reports, which were due Monday, according to a Center for Public Integrity analysis of Federal Election Commission records.

For Senate campaigns filing on paper, it can take weeks, if not months, to get detailed information about who is bankrolling senators and Senate hopefuls.

The FEC pays to manually key in the information contained on paper reports before uploading it into its publicly accessible online databases.

Similar information is available online immediately for House candidates, members of the U.S. House of Representative, presidential candidates and political action committees once those groups e-file their reports.

The cigarette, a product so politically passé that even the wiliest of Mad Men stopped selling it, is looking for second shot on Capitol Hill.

But like Don Draper, the maligned cancer stick has assumed a sleek new identity — the electronic cigarette — that capitalizes on societal pressure to quit smoking yet faces increased governmental scrutiny.

NJOY, the leading e-cigarette manufacturer, has hired a team of congressional staffers-turned-lobbyists to do its bidding on Capitol Hill, according to records filed with U.S. Senate.

Jeff Shockey and John Scofield — formerly senior staffers on the House Appropriations Committee — lead Alexandria, Va.-based firm Shockey Scofield Solutions LLC that will lobby Congress and the Food and Drug Administration on behalf of NJOY. Scofield also worked as an aide to former Sen. Mark Hatfield, R-Ore., and Rep. Frank LoBiondo, R-N.J., while Shockey once worked for former Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Calif.

Mike Ference, who until late 2012 served as policy director to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., is also a partner at the firm and will lobby for NJOY. Ference also formerly worked at lobbying powerhouse Podesta Group and served as an aide to Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla.

A cool $4.7 million could buy you Dodgers pitcher Zack Greinke's new compound.

Or this cyclotron.

Or — yes — the original Batmobile.

For ex-Rep. Marty Meehan, such a cash stash ($4,661,671, to be exact, according to a new federal campaign disclosure report) sits quietly in a congressional campaign account the Massachusetts Democrat hasn't had much need for since he resigned from Congress in 2007 to become chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Lowell.

But Meehan may yet use the money for its intended purpose: seeking elected office.

"I have no immediate plans, but I'm only 56 years old," he told the Center for Public Integrity by phone. "I haven't made a firm decision, I haven't decided I could never be a candidate for office again."

Any run for higher office, if one ever occurred, would likely come years from now, Meehan said.

"If you're trying to have a transformative impact on a university, that usually takes about 10 years," he said. "I'm very happy doing what I'm doing."

During the three years since Rep. Eric Massa resigned his congressional seat after male staffers accused him of sexual harassment, the Upstate New York Democrat has paid his wife — and campaign treasurer — a monthly salary from his dormant re-election account. 

Apparently, no longer.

Beverly Massa received no money from the Massa for Congress campaign committee between Jan. 1 and March 31, according to its latest Federal Election Commission disclosure report, filed Monday evening.

It's an abrupt change: Since Eric Massa quit Congress in March 2010, Beverly Massa consistently earned up to $2,404 per month to keep the books for a candidate committee with no active candidate, disclosure documents indicate.

Beverly Massa's monthly salary dropped to $1,694 per month in December 2010, then $1,292 in October 2011, before creeping back up to $1,294 in January 2012. In July 2012, it fell again to $692 per month.

For most cases, Beverly Massa's salary payments were earmarked for work performed during Eric Massa's 2010 primary, although a January 2012 payment of $1,294 went toward a "2012 primary" in which Eric Massa never ran.