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August 18, 2023
How 'Scam PACs' line their pockets by deceiving political donors
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OpenSecrets identified 86 potential scam PACs in the 2022 federal election cycle.
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Party-aligned groups funnel millions in ‘dark money’ to closely-tied super PACs ahead of 2024
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Dark money groups affiliated with congressional leadership funneled more than $16.5 million from anonymous donors into contributions to super PACs during the first half of this year.
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Super PACs raise millions as concerns about illegal campaign coordination raise questions
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Super PACs, now a staple in modern presidential campaigns, are already gearing up to spend unlimited sums to support and oppose candidates for the 2024 election — and many of those groups have a cozy relationship with the candidates they support.
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OpenSecrets' Chart of the Week
Dive deeper into the data behind the headlines
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Scam PACs are political groups that deceive voters — and often donors — by fundraising under the pretext that they are supporting a specific candidate or issue-based cause, like fighting cancer or supporting veterans. In turn, this money is used to engage in more fundraising, setting in motion a vicious cycle of political swindling, often hurting elderly constituents.
One way to identify a scam PAC is when a PAC reports that the majority of their expenses went towards ambiguous “fundraising” or “consulting,” or a large chunk of spending is attributed to covering “compliance and other administrative costs.” This is often a sign that PACs are not engaging in any political advocacy, because little or no money is actually being directed to support certain electoral outcomes.
OpenSecrets identified 86 potential scam PACs in the 2022 federal election cycle. These 86 PACs were identified by two criteria: (i) they spent over $100k and (ii) at least 50% of their itemized expenditures were classified by OpenSecrets as fundraising expenses. Of these PACs, 42% were identified as Republican or conservative groups and 19% as Democratic or liberal.
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OpenSecrets in the News
See our media citations from outlets around the nation this week:
How Republicans overhype the findings of their Hunter Biden probe (The Washington Post) [[link removed]]
Seneca Global Advisors was a boutique consulting firm that Hunter Biden founded in 2008 to help small and midsize companies expand into markets in the U.S. and other countries, according to a 2019 interview he gave to the New Yorker. OpenSecrets.org identifies it as “a lobbying firm that was hired by 9 clients in 2008, for a total amount of $210,000.”
How Dianne Feinstein's Net Worth Has Grown in Her 31 Years as Senator (Newsweek) [[link removed]]
D.C.-based nonprofit OpenSecrets.org estimated Feinstein's net worth at $87,938,540 in 2018 and provided figures showing the top industries the senator had invested in that year. That would have made her the second richest senator.
Trump stiffed his alleged co-conspirators, whose false claims brought in $250 million (CNBC) [[link removed]]
Trump’s entire political network, including his joint fundraising committees, spent over $47 million combined from the start of 2020 through the end of 2021 on legal fees, according to a report by OpenSecrets.
The Hill [[link removed]]
Responsible Statecraft [[link removed]]
Newsweek [[link removed]]
Raw Story [[link removed]]
Business Insider [[link removed]]
Real Sludge [[link removed]]
The Messenger [[link removed]]
Pittsburg Post-Gazette [[link removed]]
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