Free Republic

Gov. Rick Perry spoke Sunday at a summit hosted by the billionaire Koch brothers near Vail, Colorado. Perry spokesman....described the Colorado summit as a “private gathering of business leaders” and said it was not related to a possible presidential campaign. “This was an opportunity to talk about the economic success in Texas,” Miner said, adding that it was no different than other speeches Perry gives touting the Texas job record. Charles and David Koch of Koch Industries, an energy conglomerate based in Kansas, are among the country’s leading financial backers of conservative candidates and causes. The Denver Post has more...

Government: Under the guise of rooting out Chicago-style political corruption from government contracting, President Obama seems intent on signing an executive order that would enshrine it. Last month, the White House drafted an order that would require any company bidding on a federal contract to disclose not only its company donations to federal candidates going back two years, but those of its directors and officers as well. It would also force these firms to disclose contributions to independent groups that might spend some of the money on campaign ads. And it would warehouse all this data in a searchable government...

Obama and his democrat thugs are making every effort to hamstring Republican fund raising efforts. The tools they are using for this purpose only add gasoline to the brightly burning fire of democrat hypocrisy. Obama has signaled that he once again will try to bypass Congress and out of thin air fabricate self-serving government rules to limit Republican fund raising. The Obama administration is considering a number of measures to compel disclosure of the kind of anonymous campaign contributions that helped finance millions of dollars of attack ads against Democrats during the 2010 elections. The White House last week...

Many of America’s most powerful companies do not report how much they spend to influence elections and legislation. These companies contribute millions of dollars to powerful trade associations and to other politically active groups that are not required to report the sources of their funding. Those groups, in turn, spend the money on lobbying and other political activity. The Los Angeles Times reviewed how the 75 largest publicly traded companies in the energy, healthcare and financial services sectors disclose their political giving on their corporate websites.

Reporting from Washington— Despite mounting calls for greater transparency, only a few of the country's 75 leading energy, healthcare and financial services corporations fully disclose political spending, according to a review of company records and state and federal campaign finance reports. While complying with legal requirements to report direct donations to candidates, the vast majority of these companies — many of which are seeking legislative favors from the new Congress — do not reveal information even to their shareholders about support for politically active trade associations like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Groups such as the chamber, some of which...

Donald Trump may be talking a game the Tea Party activists embarce, such as consistently questioning President Obama’s American birth of late, but an analysis of his political donations since 1989 show a distinct support of the Deomcratic Party that may not go over well should Trump be serious about running for the Republican Party nomination for President. <--snip--> Before 2010, when we could infer he was less serious about running for the Republican nomination, 59% of his political donations were to Democrats.

Trump's campaign contribution record---no surprises here.

Friday evening, Grijalva, who won re-election, released this statement about Olbermann's situation: "I am personally distressed and saddened by the news of Mr. Olbermann's suspension. If there were any way to undo what has been done, I would do it in a heartbeat. "Mr. Olbermann is a respected media voice who has done good work at MSNBC for seven years, and I feel the network has overreacted with such a severe penalty. I welcome and appreciate his support, and the fact that his contributions were made as a private citizen - not as the host of Countdown - should be...

MSNBC host Keith Olbermann may have violated NBC's ethics policy by making three campaign contributions to Democratic candidates without his employer's permission. I don't know what's more shocking, that NBC News actually has an ethics policy or that the man who attacked News Corp's recent donation to the Republican Governors Association is such a blatant hypocrite.

By BRETT ZONGKER, Associated Press Writer Brett Zongker, Associated Press Writer – Sun Oct 17, 12:26 pm ET WASHINGTON – A new ranking of the nation's 400 biggest charities shows donations dropped by 11 percent overall last year as the Great Recession ended — the worst decline in 20 years since the Chronicle of Philanthropy began keeping a tally. The Philanthropy 400 report to be released Monday shows such familiar names as the United Way and the Salvation Army, both based near Washington, continue to dominate the ranking, despite the 2009 declines. The survey accounts for $68.6 billion in charitable...

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said, “This brings to light the importance of disclosure. The only reason someone like Geller was able to find this out was because of the FEC’s disclosure of donations, something the Chamber of Commerce refuses to do.” Hey Josh, the Chamber is private; the FEC is government. Go see my follow-up piece featured at Big Government on the White House response to Obama's foreign campaign contributions. Huge thanks to the indispensible help of Atlas readers Laura and Cathy, great Americans. Obama’s Campaign Contribution Records Scrubbed Clean by Pamela Geller I appeared on David Asman’s show...

So much for GM’s self-imposed ban on political contributions. According to The Washington Post: "General Motors reported making $47,000 in contributions to lawmakers and congressional candidates in July, the first it has made since November 2008. The company stopped giving through its political action committee just as it began to seek government assistance to stay in business. "The U.S. government provided support but also steered the company through bankruptcy. Today, the Treasury owns a 60 percent stake in the company, which recently announced plans to go public with a stock sale. "GM earlier gave $41,000 to groups and causes associated...

General Motors Co. has resumed contributing to political campaigns, lifting a self-imposed ban on political spending adopted during the auto maker’s bankruptcy restructuring last year. GM gave $90,500 to candidates running in the November elections, Federal Election Commission records show. The beneficiaries include midwestern lawmakers, mostly Democrats, who have traditionally supported the industry’s legislative agenda on Capitol Hill, including Sen. Debbie Stabenow and Rep. John Dingell of Michigan and Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio. The list also includes House Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R., Va.), who would likely assume a top leadership post if Republicans win control of the House...

I am closely monitoring thirty five House races and want to send you updates every week or so on the ones that most need your help. The most recent list is enclosed below. ....Please help them out. All of them if possible. Our last mailer made a big difference, and many of went on the air for the first time with their ads! From there, the ads produce good polling numbers that attract national donors. But we need to catalyze the process.

WJLA-TV has fired veteran anchorman Doug McKelway for a verbal confrontation this summer with the station's news director that came after McKelway broadcast a sharply worded live report about congressional Democrats and President Obama. McKelway was placed on indefinite suspension in late July after his run-in with ABC7's news director and general manager, Bill Lord. In a letter to McKelway this week, the station said it was terminating his contract immediately, citing insubordination and misconduct. Amid the ongoing BP oil spill in July, McKelway covered a Capitol Hill demonstration by environmental groups protesting the influence of oil-industry contributions to members...

Senior executives, on-air personalities, producers, reporters, editors, writers and other self-identifying employees of ABC, CBS and NBC contributed more than $1 million to Democratic candidates and campaign committees in 2008, according to an analysis by The Examiner of data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics. The Democratic total of $1,020,816 was given by 1,160 employees of the three major broadcast television networks, with an average contribution of $880. By contrast, only 193 of the employees contributed to Republican candidates and campaign committees, for a total of $142,863. The average Republican contribution was $744. Disclosure of the heavily Democratic contributions...

Comedian Jon Stewart on Wednesday bashed Fox News for parent company News Corporation's $1 million donation to the Republican Governors Association. Unfortunately, Stewart failed to inform his viewers that Viacom, the parent company of Comedy Central, has so far given disproportionately to Democrats this year. Also missing in the "Daily Show" host's attack of FNC and Glenn Beck was that News Corp. prior to this contribution had historically given more to Democrats than Republicans. Such facts were unimportant Wednesday evening, for Stewart was on another in a long line of Fox News is the devil incarnate rants (video follows with...

Concerned Women for America condemns, the passage of the DISCLOSE Act in the House of Representatives today. Penny Nance, CEO of Concerned Women for America, stated: "The DISCLOSE Act is designed to stifle Americans' legitimate right to political speech and carves out exceptions for powerful special interest groups and unions. It places onerous regulations on small business owners and grassroots groups if they attempt to educate the public on candidates and issues....

In a new ad, Obama says, "I don’t take money from oil companies." We find the statement misleading: •Obama has accepted more than $213,000 from individuals who work for companies in the oil and gas industry and their spouses. •Two of Obama's bundlers are top executives at oil companies and are listed on his Web site as raising between $50,000 and $100,000 for the presidential hopeful. See this from factchec.org dated March 31, 2008.

Joe Biden isn’t only a buffoon he’s a typically cheap liberal who is there for a photo op with our wounded warriors, but doesn’t see the need to contribute to a worthy cause like the Fisher House. On Monday, November 23 Vice President Joe Biden and his wife hosted a well photographed early Thanksgiving Day dinner for two ambulatory wounded war fighters and their families. The Marine and Army Sergeant were recuperating at Walter Reed Hospital and their families were staying at the Fisher House guest facility on the grounds of the hospital. Fisher Houses are private hotel rooms offered...