Corporate Donations

Reversing course after weeks of public pressure, the head of the  new nonprofit organization formed to take over President Obama's campaign operation announced Thursday that the group will not take donations from corporations as originally planned and will provide more transparency about its funding. In an article posted Thursday on CNN.com, Jim Messina, chairman of Organizing for Action, detailed the changes, which will include disclosing the precise amount contributed by donors who give more than $250.

Nearly half of D.C. Council member Anita Bonds' campaign funds over the past six weeks came from construction companies or their executives, according to a review of campaign finance documents. Bonds , a council member pending the outcome of an April 23 at-large special election , is the corporate relations director at Fort Myer Construction, the District's primary road-paving contractor. According to documents released Tuesday, Bonds raised about $47,000 since late January for her campaign, and has $45,000 remaining...

A proposed initiative to ban corporate donations in the District will not be on the November ballot, but a Superior Court judge ruled Tuesday that proponents can take the next month to review their submission to try to qualify for a future election. Angered by a spate of ethical controversies in city government, dozens of activists worked for months to gather enough signatures to put the measure before voters. But the Board of Elections ruled this month that the activists, known as D.C. Public Trust, fell short ...

PRESIDENT OBAMA'S money men have taken a welcome step away from the ethical abyss: They will now disclose the names of those who donate $250 or more to the new advocacy group Organizing for Action, which is intended to advance the president's second-term agenda. Jim Messina, the group's national chairman, promises to post the donors' names and the precise amount of their donation quarterly on the group's Web site. This transparency is critical to avoid the corrupting influence of hidden contributions.

D.C. Attorney General Irvin B. Nathan ruled Thursday that a proposed ballot initiative to ban corporate donations to city candidates can move forward, saying it is a "proper subject" to put before voters. The legal opinion removes a major hurdle for the initiative's supporters, who plan to get the 22,000 signatures needed to place the petition on the November ballot, a grueling process that will take hundreds of volunteer hours. If supporters succeed, voters would get to decide in the...

Corporate contributions to D.C. political funds would be banned for the first time if a ballot initiative proposed by a group of city activists succeeds. Bryan Weaver, a former D.C. Council candidate and advisory neighborhood commissioner in Adams Morgan, and Sylvia Brown, an advisory neighborhood commissioner in Deanwood, filed papers Tuesday on behalf of the "D.C. Committee to Restore Public Trust" to begin the initiative process. The effect of the proposal — should the...

Google donated $100 million to education programs and other causes this year, including giving $40 million in grants during the holiday season, the search engine giant announced Wednesday. The holiday grants went to education programs in science, technology, engineering and math; education for girls in the developing world; programs to teach tech skills to the underprivileged; and efforts to fight the global problem of human trafficking. The company said it is also giving funds to seven...

Corporations appear to be embracing, albeit slowly, new campaign rules that allow them to make direct contributions to political groups. The super PACs that have been playing a significant role this election season are getting more of their funding from corporate coffers — 23 percent, according to an analysis of federal records. That is up slightly from 19 percent in the 2010 cycle , when super PACs were first formed following the Supreme Court's landmark Citizens United ...

Regarding the April 13 front-page article " Companies see pitfalls of political giving ": It was almost amusing to see the paraphrased complaint by Bradley Smith of the Center for Competitive Politics: "[T]he protests against companies . . . are exactly the reason why corporate donations should remain anonymous. " On the contrary. Corporate donations represent CEOs electioneering at the expense of their shareholders, and Mr. Smith is arguing that they should be able to keep their...

D.C. Council member Tommy Wells said Friday that he is likely to be a candidate for mayor in 2014 and is organizing a staff and his message for a contest that could pit him against several colleagues. Wells, a Democrat who represents Ward 6, said he decided to state his intentions to explore a campaign after he received an outpouring of support as he moved across the city over the July 4 holiday. "A lot of people are saying, ‘Tommy, are you going to run?' " Wells said. "People have been asking me to run, so I said,...

Reversing course after weeks of public pressure, the head of the  new nonprofit organization formed to take over President Obama's campaign operation announced Thursday that the group will not take donations from corporations as originally planned and will provide more transparency about its funding. In an article posted Thursday on CNN.com, Jim Messina, chairman of Organizing for Action, detailed the changes, which will include disclosing the precise amount contributed by donors who give more than $250.

The Supreme Court on Monday decided against reviewing the century-old ban on corporations making direct contributions to federal candidates. The court without comment declined to hear an appeal from two men who said the court's 2010 decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission , which allowed corporations and unions to spend unlimited amounts on elections, must also nullify the ban on campaign contributions. The court last week accepted a different...

The voters have spoken, but even after a $2 billion presidential campaign , the quest for dollars in Washington continues. This weekend, the high rollers are paying for inauguration parties that are almost always busts, a ceremony that's better seen on TV and access that's not exactly priceless but pretty darn expensive. For the thousands of high-end donors who pay for the whole thing, the inauguration is about exclusive access to the president and vice president, as well...

President Obama will have some major corporations such as Microsoft and AT&T to thank for the festivities surrounding his inauguration later this month, according to a list of event donors released Friday evening. Obama banned corporate donations for his 2009 inauguration and the Democratic convention last year in Charlotte, but the president announced after his reelection in November that he was removing his objections for this year's swearing-in ceremony and surrounding events.

THE D.C. COUNCIL apparently will end this year without enacting campaign finance reform. That the council didn't have the time — the excuse offered for inaction — speaks to a distressing lack of urgency in addressing this critical issue. Even more worrisome, it suggests a reluctance among those who benefit from the slack regulation of political dollars to fix a system that has helped perpetuate the District's "pay-to-play" culture. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) announced last week that there...

President Obama's inaugural committee will accept corporate donations this time around, reversing a policy from four years ago banning such contributions, a spokeswoman said Friday. The 2013 Presidential Inaugural Committee will accept unlimited money from corporate and individual sources but will not accept contributions from political action committees or lobbyists, according to spokeswoman Addie Whisenant. The committee also will not allow sponsorship agreements, she said. ...

THE D.C. COUNCIL apparently will end this year without enacting campaign finance reform. That the council didn't have the time — the excuse offered for inaction — speaks to a distressing lack of urgency in addressing this critical issue. Even more worrisome, it suggests a reluctance among those who benefit from the slack regulation of political dollars to fix a system that has helped perpetuate the District's "pay-to-play" culture. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) announced last week that there likely would...

President Obama will have some major corporations such as Microsoft and AT&T to thank for the festivities surrounding his inauguration later this month, according to a list of event donors released Friday evening. Obama banned corporate donations for his 2009 inauguration and the Democratic convention last year in Charlotte, but the president announced after his reelection in November that he was removing his objections for this year's swearing-in ceremony and surrounding events.

A proposed initiative to ban corporate donations in the District will not be on the November ballot, but a Superior Court judge ruled Tuesday that proponents can take the next month to review their submission to try to qualify for a future election. Angered by a spate of ethical controversies in city government, dozens of activists worked for months to gather enough signatures to put the measure before voters. But the Board of Elections ruled this month that the activists, known as D.C. Public Trust, fell short ...

D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray proposed new restrictions on campaign donations on Tuesday, along with additional reporting requirements, saying more rules are needed to scuttle the influence of lobbyists and contractors on District politics. Outlining proposals he wants to be the centerpiece of the D.C. Council agenda when members return next month from summer recess, Gray (D) seeks to curb political donations from anyone with a city contract of $250,000 or more,...