527 Organizations

I need to add a new Category -- we already have Politics, there needs to be a 'Dirty Politics' one as well. From Sargent Strykers Daily Briefing: bq. Democrats' Attempt To Circumvent McCain-Feingold Coming Unraveled By: Kevin Connors Negative publicity over the supposedly 'non-partisan issue-oriented' 527 organizations - exempt from the normal soft-money restrictions is exposing the Democrats for the cynical hypocrites they are. Two of McCain-Feingold's most notable promoters were Bill Clinton, as reported on here by Bob Novak: From the linked Town Hall article: bq. Bill Clinton, who as president professed to be in favor of campaign finance reform, will be in Manhattan this week raising funds for one of the Democratic "527" organizations set up to raise soft money, which the McCain-Feingold Act seeks to prohibit. bq. Clinton is listed with Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack and West Virginia Gov. Bob Wise as "special guests" Thursday evening for a "private dinner" at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel raising money for the Democratic Governor Media Fund. The price of admission: $5,000, $10,000 or $25,000. bq. The fund is described in the invitation to the dinner as "a new 527 political organization" that will run "unlimited independent issue ads" in states where more money is needed. "We will make sure," says the invitation, "voters are aware of the failed policies of the Bush administration." There is also a link to the antics of George Soros, reported on here by Byron York: bq. A few months ago, Soros announced that the Bush administration had become so “dangerous” that he would scale back his philanthropy abroad to concentrate on beating Bush at home. And more: bq. Soros’s biggest contribution to date — at least the biggest that is publicly known — is a $10 million gift to America Coming Together, the new Democratic group that will coordinate voter turnout in competitive states across the country. And more: bq. Of course, those old-style soft-money contributions to the parties were outlawed by the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform law. Because of that, groups like America Coming Together — known as 527s because of the section of the tax code that provides for them — are now taking over much of the work that the Democratic Party used to do. bq. It’s legal, but certainly not in the reform spirit. “I think this is a new form of soft money,” says Charles Lewis of the Center for Public Integrity. “I have a hard time seeing what the difference is between a soft-money donor to a party and a big 527 donor, especially when both give million-dollar checks.” Time to take another look into the Tides Foundation...