E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSIn the campaign's closing weekend, President Obama and Governor raced across several battleground states to rally supporters as voters get ready to head to the polls in less than 24 hours. NBC's Peter Alexander reports.
Updated 5:20 p.m. ET -- The biggest corporate contributor in the 2012 election so far doesn’t appear to make anything — other than very large contributions to a conservative super PAC.
Specialty Group Inc., of Knoxville, Tenn., donated nearly $5.3 million between Oct. 1 and Oct. 11 to FreedomWorks for America, which is affiliated with former GOP House Majority Leader Dick Armey.
FreedomWorks’ super PAC has spent more than $19 million on political advertising, including $1.7 million on Oct. 29 opposing Tammy Duckworth, a Democrat running for Congress in Illinois against Tea Party favorite Joe Walsh, a first-term incumbent.
The buy was more than four times greater than the group’s previous largest single expenditure.
Specialty was formed only a month ago. Its “principal office” is a private home in Knoxville. It has no website. And the only name associated with it is that of its registered agent, William S. Rose Jr., a lawyer whose phone number, listed in a legal directory, is disconnected.
Rose released a press release Monday saying the company was created to "buy, sell, develop and invest in a variety of real estate ventures and investments."
In the six-page statement, Rose said he was a "disappointed, yet staunchly patriotic, baby boomer" with concerns about the administration's handling of the terrorist attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, as well as the Department of Justice's botched "Operation Fast and Furious" gun-walking program.
Specialty is the biggest and most mysterious corporate donor to super PACs, but it is not unique.
A new analysis by the Center for Public Integrity and the Center for Responsive Politics shows that companies have contributed roughly $75 million to super PACs in the 2012 election cycle.
Super PACs, which were created in the wake of the controversial U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision in 2010, can accept donations of unlimited size from corporations, unions and individuals. They spend the funds mostly on negative advertising.
The centers’ analysis found that 85 percent of money from companies flowed to GOP-aligned groups, 11 percent went to Democratic groups and the remainder went to organizations not aligned with either party.
First Read: Full coverage on the campaign trail
Prior to Citizens United, corporate spending on candidate advertising was not allowed. The decision raised fears that massive donations from corporate treasuries would flood the election in 2012.
In fact, the largest amounts have come from wealthy businessmen. However, about 11 percent of the $660 million raised by all super PACs through mid-October has come from company treasuries — mostly privately held businesses, sometimes organized as limited partnerships or limited liability companies.
High-profile donors
Yet a few high-profile companies haven’t been afraid to jump into the partisan fray.
In mid-October, oil and gas giant Chevron donated $2.5 million to a super PAC close to House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, called the Congressional Leadership Fund, which has aired a bevy of ads attacking Democratic House candidates.
Oxbow Carbon, the energy company owned by billionaire William Koch, the lesser-known brother of conservative industrialists David and Charles Koch, and Contran Corp., the business of Republican super donor Harold Simmons of Texas, have both steered significant sums to the coffers of super PACs.
With polls showing a neck-and-neck presidential race, NBC's Chuck Todd runs through some potential paths to presidential victory, including how it might go if President Obama won the Electoral College vote and Governor Romney won the popular vote.
Oxbow Carbon has donated $4.25 million to GOP super PACs, making it the No. 2 corporate donor to super PACs, while Contran, No. 3, has donated more than $3 million to Republican-aligned groups.
Another top corporate donor is a retirement community in central Florida known as The Villages — a Republican stronghold where Paul Ryan held his first campaign rally the day after GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney named him as his running mate.
Developer H. Gary Morse created The Villages more than 50 years ago, and this election cycle, more than a dozen companies connected to Morse and The Villages have collectively steered $1.6 million to GOP super PACs. That’s in addition to the $450,000 that Morse and his wife, Renee, have donated from their personal funds.
Notably, Morse is also the Florida co-chairman of the Romney campaign, and during the Republican National Convention, Morse’s Cayman Island-flagged yacht, named “Cracker Bay,” was the site of a soiree for some of Romney’s top donors and fundraisers.
Other high-profile corporate donors include:
- The Apollo Group, a for-profit education company, which gave $75,000 to the pro-Romney Restore Our Future and another $5,000 to JAN PAC, the super PAC of Arizona’s Republican Gov. Jan Brewer;
- Convenience store giant 7-Eleven, which donated $25,000 to Hoosiers for Jobs, a super PAC that supported Sen. Dick Lugar, R-Ind., during his failed primary campaign;
- Hamburger chain White Castle, which gave $25,000 to the Congressional Leadership Fund;
- Defense contractor B/E Aerospace, which gave $50,000 to Restore Our Future;
- Payday lender QC Holdings, which gave $25,000 to Restore Our Future; and
- Weaver Holdings, the parent company of the Indiana-popcorn company known for its brands “Pop Weaver” and “Trail’s End,” sold by Boy Scouts across the country, which has donated $2.4 million to American Crossroads, the super PAC founded by GOP strategists Karl Rove and Ed Gillespie.
Only a few other Fortune 500 companies have joined Chevron, which ranks third on the elite list behind only Exxon Mobil and Walmart, in making contributions to super PACs, and none has given as much as the energy giant.
Caesar’s Entertainment Corp., for instance, ranked by Fortune at No. 288, has given $150,000 to Majority PAC, a group that is spending to help Democrats retain the majority in the U.S. Senate.
“Fortune 500 companies are the least likely to be the ones who will be out in front giving publicly,” said Rick Hasen, a law professor at the University of California-Irvine. “They want to have influence over elections and elected officials, but they don't want to alienate customers.”
By category, companies in the finance, insurance and real estate sector donated more than $15 million, “general business sector” firms gave about $14 million and energy sector companies contributed more than $11 million, according to the analysis.
Unions, by contrast, have donated about $60 million to super PACs, from their treasuries or political action committees.
The top union donors include the National Education Association ($9 million), the United Auto Workers ($8.6 million) and the AFL-CIO ($6.4 million). All of these groups have spent heavily on Democratic candidates.
Money 'hiding in plain sight'
Additional corporate money may be flowing through politically active nonprofits that don’t disclose their funders.
“I strongly suspect that most of the corporate money is hiding in plain sight in trade associations like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce,” said Ciara Torres-Spelliscy, a professor at the Stetson University College of Law.
For its part, the Chamber — which collects dues from companies such as Aetna, Chevron, Dow Chemical and Microsoft — has reported spending more than $35 million on political ads, which have overwhelmingly favored Republican politicians.
Facts about Specialty Group Inc. are scant.
Records filed with the Tennessee Secretary of State’s office show it registered on Sept. 26, listing 61-year-old attorney William S. Rose, Jr., as its agent. Rose’s $634,000 home — about a 30-minute drive from downtown Knoxville — is listed as its “principal office.”
Yet the company’s money has made a huge impact.
TODAY's Matt Lauer speaks with Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen and Republican strategist Mike Murphy on Ohio's influence on the presidential race. They also offer opinions on what each candidate can do to seal the deal.
After the cash infusion from Specialty, FreedomWorks produced numerous advertisements, including one that blasts Duckworth as a crony of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who was impeached and sentenced to 14 years in federal prison following a corruption scandal.
Duckworth is a double amputee and Iraq War veteran. She headed Illinois’ Department of Veteran Affairs and later served in President Barack Obama’s U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
FreedomWorks’ new ad features grainy footage of Duckworth and audio of her saying, “Gov. Blagojevich has charged me with the mission of taking care of my buddies, and that is what I’m doing.” But it leaves out the fact that when she said “buddies,” she was referring to other veterans and members of the military.
FreedomWorks for America treasurer and legal counsel Ryan Hecker says the organization only supports candidates who are “ethically right.”
Anton Becker, Duckworth's campaign press secretary, says it’s conservative outside groups who are peddling "lies."
When asked for details about Specialty Group and the source of its contributions, Hecker expressed ignorance, and doubted that voters care about where the money came from.
“We are in compliance with the law, and we are doing what we can to report to the Federal Election Commission,” he said. “If there’s an issue with Specialty, it’s their issue. It’s not our issue.”
Andrea Fuller of the Center for Public Integrity contributed to this report.
This story is a collaboration between the Center for Public Integrity and the Center for Responsive Politics. For up-to-date news on outside spending in the 2012 election, follow our Source2012 Tumblr and the hashtag #Source2012 on Twitter.
More from Open Channel:
Follow Open Channel from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook
Leave a Comment:
An INSANE amount of money that ultimately ends up in the hands of the MEDIA.
When they're not busy making it difficult for Americans to vote, they're busy trying to buy the election -- secretively. How can Republicans sleep at night?
except its been the dems that get caught doing that. ...ACORN anyone?? black panthers, anyone??
thor - enough Acorn was what the Republicans went after - why because they registered more monorities and the Republicans couldn't deal with it
This whole Acorn bit has been totally proven to be untrue - and that little pimpy boy of Brietbart's wannabee James O'Keefe was a total set up of lies - and that little pimply faced boy is now on probation for trying to prove voter fraud by doing voter fraud
Aside from breaking into a Louisiana office of Mary Landrieu - yes there is a god
If the GOP would try to work with the President instead of trying to take over his Presidency; they could get a lot more done for the country! Obama was elected President of the USA the Tea GOP are trying to act as if they won and He the President; should govern as they think !
guess you havent noticed it has been obama who wont work across the isle.. the house has voted on several jobs bills, but reid, says 'DEAD ON ARRIVAL" when it gets to the senate.. obama ignored the repubs during ALL the 2 1/2 years he had majority.. its been his admin that wants it ALL his way, .. he does not work With the repubs. he expects them to conform to him.. he is not a king! the reason clinton did well, was because he WORKED with the repub. majority..and moved to the political middle.. obama is far left, and is staying there... bush had to work with a dem majority.. (that explains all his errors....they DID vote to ignore any problems with fannie and freddie, and they voted to GO TO WAR!.) so, obama has himself to blame for our fiscal disaster...off with the old, on with the new
thor - every one of those so called job bills had a poison pill in them - deregulation - eliminating abortion - and probably lets kill your dog
The Republicans knew they would never pass the smell test - actually the bulk of them had to do with women's rights
My suggestion - maybe we should put Saltpeter in the Republicans drinking water they are obsessed with women's vaginas
Thor, Obama or any Democrat could get ant thing accomplished the first to years because the Republicans always went to Filibuster. Oh you quit conviently forget about Bonher and his Conies? I am so sick and tired of this Republican BS. Than Romney on TV this morning telling people it is not about voting for this country and that they should be voting for politics! Disgustimg!!
First of all When they busted the banks loose that was done with a 51-50 vote, Vheney cast the 1 vote since he chaired the assembly. There is a term they use and they can pass this with out the Majority vote of 61. Bush illigally invaded Iraq and did so against the UN. As for Afghanistan that is another story. I'm personally am getting tired of Republicans Starting Wars and never having a Plan and the Democrats have to clean up the mess the Republicans make and than catching the Crap for it. You need to do a little history searching here. Everytime the Republicans are in office they screw up the country and the Democrats have to put it togather Every Time Do some research for yourself and quit being led around by that Ring in Your Nose!!!!
Hmm.. I wonder how many jobs could have been "created" with the billions that the "job creators" have wasted on their futile attempt to elect Romney over the wishes of the majority of Americans?!!
And, one has to wonder.. does corporate America really want to be seen as a political enemy of the people??
Doesn't Chevron and all the other corporations realize that their actions can be met with boycotts (I, for one, will never again buy anything from them!)??
When this election is over - and Romney is defeated in spite of the 1%'s outrageous "donations" - corporate America had better ready itself for an intense societal, political and economic backlash. Especially towards the "Citizens United" (an insultingly misleading oxymoron if ever there was one!) decision! The massive amounts of money we've seen grotesquely spent in this election by corporations will be its ultimate undoing. They might as well of spent it on the upcoming campaign to amend the Constitution in order to redefine what a corporation is, and what it is not - and overturn Citizens United.
Obama/Biden 2012!! For Peace, prosperity and SANITY for 100% of Americans!!
I'd agree... And Obama will prosecute those scum bag investment bankers too, I'm sure.. He's waited for his second term, and that's when it happens..
I'm hoping for major sentences for the PIG investement bankers of 2008.
I am a veteran, too. And the money problem isn't just on the Republican side. It is in ALL political parties. And it's got to stop.
There is only one way to stop the 1%. Stop buying from them. It is YOUR money. Decide where you want it to go.
the MAJORITY will vote.. it may come as a surprise, but there are MANY who are for romney.. you are delusional if you think everyone thinks like YOU! how dumb is that!.
you know whats wrong with you people? You don't investigate both parties. Obama receive the same or more political contribution from major corporation. Just Google it and you will find it. back in 2008 senator Obama received large amount of contribution for corporation including wall street.This MSN will only tell you what they want you to hear. if you guys feel that Obama has done well to your economy and your family you have no choice but to continue Voting for him.
Thor (lol), I usually don't resond to people who just throw out insults and mindlessly YELLS with all-caps, but, since you seem to be in a lot of distress, I'll make an exception this time.
Now please put down your hammer and listen to me carefully, you're either in complete denial, or, you have no clue as to how the election works. Or both. And, I never said, "everyone thinks like me". I think it was "dumb" of you to assert I did.
Son, Mitt Romney's "path to victory" at this point is a hill that is just too far to climb. It's just not going to happen. For your own good, get over it and move *forward*!!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Gregorio, I don't know where you get you faux facts but Obama does not get the same amount of corporate "donations" as Romney. That's absurd. But, yes, I do "feel that Obama has done well to our economy and our families have no choice but to continue voting for him".
The facts behind what the candidates are receiving for campaign contributions is readily available online to all...
Proud American it seem that you haven look at your neighbors how they doing. But I've seen so many people on the street and it remind me of the seventies. God Bless you and your family if you are doing so good. But there are many out there that are barely making it.Obama does not have the experience of Business.He good with language and charisma but we need someone that know how to deal with people creating business and hiring people.
Do you speak English? I'm wondering, because you speak pigeon english for the Republicans..
Who are you, YOU FAKE IDIOT!????
I don't give a damn which side got the money or who gave the most. I don't give a damn if it is a Oil Company, a teacher's Union, or some big Church. It is corruption. It is unethical. And it is all about buying political favor by bypassing the real voters. It's about making their vote 'bigger' than everyone else. And in the end, it WILL be YOU and I who foot the bill - one way or the other.
I'm not so naive as to think campaigns don't require funding. Yet, we now have corporations having conversations about how to buy political favor and do it in a way to hide it from customers. We now have big business wedged deep into legislation that impacts the real people of this country. And we now have a host of barons who have successfully turned our entire voting system into a secret bet through a bookie to back the right horse.
I see a civil war coming between the People and the Companies. I see a civil war coming - not to topple our government - but to restore its integrity by eliminating the money laundering of those who want to own it.
silverton-2953905
Every time the Republican and Tea Party members of Congress blocked President Obama, they were blocking the Americans that voted for him as well.
dems had full power for 2 years.. dems and repubs voted AGAINST obamas plan 100%.. and the republicans are represented by voters, as well!!! WE dont like to see 4 years with no budget, even tho it is the LAW,, and it was REID who famously said DEAD ON ARRIVAL to ALL house jobs plans!! spending has gone crazy, there is no fiscal responsibility in govt anymore, and the new jobs created?? that would be GOVT JOBS, paid for by.......TAXPAYERS!!!!!!!
BS @thor119345
GOP/TP refused to work with Obama, pure and simple. Efforts to engage, even publicly broadcasted did little to change their minds. Attempts at bi-partisanship FAILED because of these clowns.
Did you elect your representative to NOT work in a bi-partisan fashion? I doubt it.
SuperPAC top union donors include the National Education Association ($9 million), the United Auto Workers ($8.6 million) and the AFL-CIO ($6.4 million). All of these groups have spent heavily on Democratic candidates.
Wow, I thought teachers were underpaid. They have all these taxpayers dollars to give away then stop complaining.
First thing I would do if I was President would be to make it illegal for anyone paid with TAXPAYER's dollars to be in a UNION.
At least the people that contribute to the super pacs agree with the super pac's views. Many union workers see their dues contributed to the democrat party when they don't agree with the democrat party views. They have to pay the dues so they can have a job.
Nothing worse than to see a sign that your local police or firefighters support candidate A or candidate B. What are you talking about unless candidate A or candidate B is going to pay your salary then I suggest you take that sign down. Taxpayer's pay for a service and that service is not some some FAT CAT can get fatter. It is time for a change.
tracy - Where do you get your ideas from - most of what you post is pure garbage - if garbage can be pure
Grow up - you can't substantiate anything you spew!
Pro-Obama media are interested only in donors of Romney. Leftist and Arabo-fascist donors of Obama are not mentioned.
Obama’s record is that of a mind-numbingly
incompetent, anti-American, lying weasel.
4 Americans dead and he goes to vegas
millions under water and he goes to vegas
he goes to vegas a place that was destroyed because Obama slammed them in 2009
Bigots don't last long here.. Without true intelligence, you're just an idiot abroad that doesn't have a show.
Glad you had a drink before you left... We're actually talking politics here in a factual vein, not drunken vein...
Where are the sober Republicans? Is it hooker night with foregiveness in the morning??
Republicans like to drink... Nobody ready to reveal their shortcomings now?
Where's Mitt? He with you? Or did Ryan ruin it all for the gang again....
wow you are truely brainwashed
Stating facts is the definition of a bigot? I think you might be late for your bus.
@tracy-957476
Verify your "facts" if you want to be taken seriously here. Repeating GOP/TP talking points will get you laughed off the "boards".
Tracy change the channel!!! Everyone can tell you only watch Fox! Please be a channel flipper, and find out what everyone else thinks!
The social experiment will soon be over.
Glub, glub, glub.. drink until you're Democratic.. Everything else is just a lie!
Now we know why the Dem's took back control... tomorrow.
Really, is this how democratic election should be run?
The Supreme Court has an obligation to revisit its Citizens United decision, and the problems that decision has created. It has created the most expensive election in history and one of the most dishonest. Basically, the Media has profitted greatly at the expense of the system. I've never seen so many talking heads on the cable "news" channels.
The best thing would be for the Electorate to be better informed and ignore these ads. That would make them irrelevant, then maybe they would go away on their own. Because if not, the next election will cost a trillion dollars, money that could be useful elsewhere, even paying down the Debt!
WE have an obligation to amend the Constitution to protect this country and it's elections from the consequences of the SCOTUS and the CU madness.
Isn't it sad that one party has to spend all that money that could help others, just to keep up with the support ABC, NBC and CBS gives the other for free?
Armey was unprincipled slime long before CU. Wednesday he'll be able to go back to his trained seals and tell them Duckworth gave Walsh the whipping he deserves, and they wasted their money. (Not that they'll probably care.)
Come on Julian Assange. We need you here to tell us who they people really are and what's really going on so we can boycott their businesses. (Naturally, the right wing will hate you for it, as they already do. Who cares?)
All I can say is that this is the best Democracy that money can buy!
Just using the numbers in this story (which are a little suspect), if $75 million comes from companies and 85% is GOP, that's 63.75 million for the GOP, and 11.25 million for the Democrats. Add to that the $60 million from Unions, which (as noted by the reporter) is all Democrats, then contributions favor the Dems 71.25 million to 63.75 million.
The GOP mantra is, If you repeat a lie often enough, people will start to believe it.
With unlimited cash, you don't have to make the message meaningful, you just have to repeat.
This amount of cash in the election allows the campaigns to put out whatever message they want to, and not worry if its effect was worth the money. They can just wait for the next big check to come in and either double down on the lie, or walk it back.
Before Citizens United, the campaigns actually worried about what message their money was sending, because every dollar mattered. Now, who cares, they can fix it in post.
that is exactly what your party has been doing for many years. Why do you suppose we have so many democrats. Because of the lie they put on our children brain in college. My daughter told me that her college professor was a liberal and if she gave an answer favoring the conservative he would give her a c grade. So even though she is a conservative she had to give a liberal answer.
Greg, we all grew up and made our own decision! I don't vote like my parents did, either!
"Should the Police Officers Association of Michigan support former Governor Mitt
Romney or President Barack Obama in the 2012 presidential election? ... I'm tired
of our elected officials “promising” things to our Union Leaders for their support
and then ... Why do I need to support a communist who does not care about me?"
Why is this even a question?
If you want to be part of a Union then fine. No problem. But you will not work for the local/state/federal gov't or allowed to bid on any contract that is funded by the US TaxPayer.
It is time for CHANGE.
I think they should support Gov. Romney, not because he promises them something. I think they should support him because a great economy benefits everyone. The federal, state and local governments will generate more tax revenue when people are back to work so they can employ more Police Officers.
tracy.. what makes you think Romney would create a great economy? He can't even carry his own state he was governor of for 1 term.
TRACY is this how the a great economy benefits everyone "since 1978—the richest 1% gaining 256% after inflation while the income of the lower earning 80% grew only 20%"
Winner-Take-All Politics: How Washington Made the Rich Richer--and Turned Its Back on the Middle Class is a book by political scientists Jacob S. Hacker and Paul Pierson.
If the money went through The Carlyse Group or Haliburton, I'd say yes, well done..
Those are both IRANIAN companies formed by GW Bush and Cheney to take money from the USA and put it into IRAQ!
Problem is... They didn't put the money into Iraq. They took the money and decided the company could do the job while nobody watched!
Bush and Cheney are pigs! So is Romney.. Just wait and see, or else get rid of him. That's what we need right now. We're not far from where the scum GW Bush took things... He didn't care, didn't involve himself in anybodies problems except himself in his own..
That's where the problem lies. People who don't care about your children as long as they make money in war!
Romney wants war and he's the hugest moron we ever met!! Obama is about diplomacy, thank you sir!
I reject Romney/Ryan as the antichrist to anything holy in this world!
You must have been in a locked box.
LOL, the first mistake was electing Obama in 08 and the second was gving him that Nobel Prize. That sent him on a worldwide US Apology Tour. The United States does not or will not bow down or be controlled by the UN, NATO or any other organization. We escaped from those countries to be free and will not go back.
Thanks to the supreme court, America is officially for sale now. Sure, it's been for sale for a long time, but now they don't have to sneak around behind everyone's back. Just out and out put in your bid, and boom. Ya got a piece (or perhaps all if you're rich enough) of the USA.
We don't KNOW Specialty Group, Inc. money did not come from IRAN.
They should be sued to prove it did not. After all, if illegal foreign money is supporting Romney, we are all damaged.
More GOP Hypocrisy
They demand that corporations be called "people" too but can remain anonymous as well.
They demand voters IDs to have pictures so they cannot remain anonymous.
They want it both ways
It just depends on the situation for them
Good point.
very good point for the voter id
the Koch brothers and the tea party were behind that one.
The best governmant that money can buy.
If you vote republican tomorrow, these will be the people you really will be voting for. The choice is yours.
Choose wisely.