Campaign Finance/Fair Elections
Full disclosure needed
On the need for disclosure, following the heavy spending in the Wisconsin recall campaigns. "If negative campaigning is the rule of the campaign trail, don't the citizens of the state have a right to know who is shoveling all that horse patooie? Of course they do."

Super PACs able to leap public interest in a single bound
Detroit Free Press editorial on super PACs: "To understand why the income gap separating the nation's wealthiest citizens from everyone else is growing, and why it will likely continue to do so, it's instructive to examine the dramatic changes underway in presidential campaign financing."

The Buddy System
Dave Weigel interviews Buddy Roemer. "It's supposedly OK, to them, when a former campaign manager can go off and run a Super PAC, and say, well, this is independent from the campaign. This is corruption! This is phony! This is a lie!"

Congress/2012
House freshmen push bills that benefit big donors
House freshmen are learning the big money game quick. "Several House freshmen who swept into power vowing to change Washington's ways are pushing legislation that could benefit some of their most generous campaign contributors, a USA TODAY review of legislative and campaign records shows."

Pete Hoekstra wants to repeal Wall Street legislation
Former Rep. and current Senate candidate Pete Hoekstra wants to repeal Dodd-Frank. We look at his previous financial industry fundraising. "In 2011, Hoekstra began working in the lobbying practice at the law firm of Dickstein Shapiro, a firm that famously represented convicted investment banker Bernie Madoff. They are done representing him because he needed a criminal attorney and not a lobbyist. Of course, as some have argued, what Wall Street lobbyists and CEOs did and got away with amounts to the crime of the century."

Super committee members plan fundraisers during deficit talks
Even more fundraisers for supercommittee members have been revealed. Public Campaign Action Fund's David Donnelly: "These 12 members already have $20.4 million in their campaign accounts. To continue to raise money at this pace looks like they're treating the super committee as a cash cow. It's a perfect way to destroy any trust that Americans have left for Congress."
- And they've chosen their staff director: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/31/us/politics/31fiscal.html?_r=1&ref=politics

Republicans on deficit panel meet, Democrats to talk Wednesday
Supercommittee members are starting to talk. This line stuck out and let's hope it's not an omen for things to come: "They avoided reporters gathered outside the room by quietly exiting via another door at the conclusion of their meeting."

Jon Huntsman supporting super PAC a sign of campaign's lack of money
A Hunstman campaign staffer has moved over to a new Huntsman super PAC.

PAC donations follow established patterns
Interesting story on South Carolina politicians and the campaign cash being thrown around in the Boeing/NLRB fight.

Some companies pay their CEOs more than Uncle Sam, study says
"But for many large U.S. companies, the burden of U.S. taxation pales in comparison with what they pay their chief executives, according to a study released Wednesday by the Institute of Policy Studies, a liberal think tank."

Jeff Fitzgerald enters Wisconsin Senate race
http://www.rollcall.com/news/Jeff-Fitzgerald-Wisconsin-Senate-208402-1.html?pos=hbtxt
One of the central figures in the union busting in Wisconsin will run for Senate to replace retiring Herb Kohl.

The new resentment of the poor
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/31/opinion/the-new-resentment-of-the-poor.html
The NYT takes on efforts by some in Congress to raise taxes on poor people while totally avoiding corporate tax rates. "At a time when high-income households are paying their lowest share of federal taxes in decades, when corporations frequently avoid paying any tax, it is clear who should bear a larger burden and who should not." But poor people don't donate money!