campaign finance

Supporters of Independent Anthony Pollina can break out their checkbooks as U.S. District Court Judge William Sessions ruled Wednesday that the candidate could accept contributions of up to $2,000.

Session's decision reverses the demands of Vermont's Secretary of State Deborah Markowitz and Attorney General William Sorrell that Pollina must return the donations form 35 contributors that topped $1,000. Five donors filed a petition against the state's original ruling.

The Catholic Church is active in every anti-choice activity it can get its hands on, but given the controversies surrounding the abuse within the Church, perhaps, for once, they ought to keep their hands off.

The Public Disclosure Commission held a press conference in Olympia today to release the latest edition of their already award-winning website.  The new site, found here, is meant to be simpler to use with more graphics, clickable variables and up-to-date figures.

In other words, PolitickerWA.com's nights just got a whole lot more exciting. Give it a shot and see for yourself.

Washington is trade-dependent, yet the strongest epithet a campaign can level is that opponents’ money comes from out-of-state? We should get over our provincialism and take that money all the way to the in-state bank.

But bleach works too. Here's a quick, chemically stripped update on the status of political transparency in Washington state.

The second financial quarter of 2008 comes to a close in a little more than a week, meaning soon we’ll have new campaign financial disclosures. But the most interesting report will be that of one who is no longer a candidate.

Jim Ogonowski was working hard at fundraising, as he faced a self-funding GOP primary challenger from the right in 2006 Tenth district candidate Jeff Beatty. Perhaps too hard, since he fell thirty signatures short of the ten thousand required to make the primary ballot.

The committee raising money for state Senate Republicans was badly outraised this past year by their Democratic counterparts by a margin of nearly 6 to 1.

The Senate Republican Victory PAC reported Wednesday they had raised $74,834 in the past year and currently has $37,673 cash on hand.

In the same period the Senate Democratic Caucus raised $431,927 and was has $107,462 cash on hand.

How many times does Dino Rossi get to bend or break campaign finance rules before it becomes a pattern of deceit? First Forward Washington, then abuse of a tax-exempt religious organization, now use of federal military property for fundraising. He knows better.

Sen. Maria CantwellCongressional Quarterly issued a report today listing the past and present U.S. House and Senate candidates with the ten largest campaign debts, typically as a result of personal loans. Maria Cantwell, Washington's wealthy junior senator, came in at number 8 on the list with an unpaid balance of $2,312,707 from her successful 2006 campaign against Republican Mike McGavick.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who dropped out of the presidential race, was the keynote speaker at the Maine GOP Convention Friday. At a press conference before his speech, PolitickerME.com got a chance to speak with him about his future plans.

Romney said he is starting up a Political Action Committee, or a similar entity. He is still hashing out the details with his lawyers.

He said the PAC will allow him to support and campaign for candidates who supported him in his presidential bid. It will also allow him to contribute to them financially.

“I expect it to be pretty modest in scope,” Romney said. “It’s a pretty standard approach for people who want to be involved in helping other candidates get elected.”