This should come as no surprise to most of you.
The Campaign Finance Institute has a new study out about 527 groups and the money raised by them in 2007 and the Democrat groups outdid the Republicans again by a 2-1 margin with 54.9 million being raised in 2007 compared to 20.3 million raised for Republican groups.
Byron York has the rundown on the givers:
The top 2007 giver to 527s is — drum roll, please — George Soros, with $3.5 million in contributions to Democrat-affiliated groups. The rest of the top ten are Rachel Mellon, with $3.48 million to Democratic-affiliated groups, Sheldon Adelson, with $2 million to Republican-affiliated groups, Fred Godley, with $1.1 million to Republican-affiliated groups, Donald Sussman, with $1 million to Democratic-affiliated groups, Stephen Bing, with $883,000 to Democratic-affiliated groups, Robert Bingham, with $812,000 to Democratic-affiliated groups, Lee Fikes, with $600,000 to Democratic-affiliated groups, John R. Hunting, with $593,000 to Democratic-affiliated groups, and Francine Goldstein, with $500,000 to Democratic-affiliated groups. (It should be noted that the two Republicans in the top ten, Adelson and Godley, gave most of their money to Gingrich.) And you should remember that these are 2007 figures — off-year figures — and the contributions will likely go way up in 2008.
While I am supporting John McCain for President for no other reason then to ensure the twin Socialists don’t get in and completely destroy this country, we can thank him for this mess. The Campaign Finance Reform Act was an abomination that helped ensure that the Democrats, who had already had many 527’s created by the time the bill passed, would out raise us in every election in the future. Now, years later we see the end result. Supposedly these organizations can’t help out with a candidates campaign but come on…MoveOn isn’t coordinating with Obama and friends? Please.
Even worse, there is no limitations to the amount given so Soros and friends and can give to their hearts desire and to top it off, they don’t even limit foreign contributions. So money coming from Paris can help fund campaigns for the President of this country.
These groups grew out of the worry about political influence and look where it got us….shadow groups that raise untold millions to help sway an election one way or another. Now that it gets raised outside of the campaigns themselves all accountability is gone. They can lie and spew their hatred without fear of any consequences and then the candidate can say….well, I don’t like them either….just like Obama did as he took the help they gave him:
After months of denouncing the influence of special-interest money in politics, Senator Barack Obama is nonetheless entering a critical phase of the presidential campaign benefiting from millions of dollars being spent outside campaign finance rules.
Mr. Obama has repudiated a California group, Vote Hope, that is working on his behalf. But it has pressed on and, along with a sister organization called PowerPac.org, is planning to spend up to $4 million promoting him in California and conducting voter registration drives aimed at blacks in 11 Southern states.
The group has already run radio advertisements with local ministers in South Carolina. New advertisements, some for television, have been prepared for California, one with the rap star Common and others focusing on black and Latino voters.
As the campaign treasuries of Mr. Obama and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton are rapidly draining heading into the nominating contests in more than 20 states on Tuesday, independent political groups — whether so-called 527 groups, political action committees, nonprofit organizations or trade unions — are stepping in to help fill the void. The efforts of these groups, particularly 527s, which are named for a section of the tax code under which they fall, worry campaign finance watchdogs because many can take unlimited contributions from donors and have limited oversight.
And the number of 527s popping up continues to rise.
Byron ends his piece with a Soros quote that is telling:
In the reporting for my 2005 book, The Vast Left Wing Conspiracy, I asked Michael Vachon, Soros’ top political advisor, why Soros had chosen to spend nearly $30 million in 2004 to try to defeat George W. Bush:
Why, I asked Vachon, was Soros giving such huge sums? It seemed out of character for a man who had previously never made a contribution above $100,000. Vachon said Soros was simply trying to ensure a fair competition in the presidential race, to level the playing field between the rich Republican Party and the poor Democratic Party. “Look at the playing field,” he told me. “There is so much money on the other side. This is what was available.”
Fast-forward to today. Things have changed. If Soros wanted to use his money to level the playing field, wouldn’t he be giving to Republican groups? I’ll have to ask about that.
Heh…
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