In March, a federal judge agreed with Van Hollen that FEC disclosure requirements for outside groups running issue ads are too lax.
March 21: Senate Democrats introduce a stripped-down version of the DISCLOSE Act, which would require politically active outside organizations to more fully disclose their funding sources.
March 30: A federal judge agrees with Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., that FEC disclosure requirements for outside groups running issue ads are too lax. The judge orders the FEC to rewrite the rules and puts politically active nonprofits on notice that some of their ads will be subject to disclosure.
April
April 2: California Democratic campaign treasurer Kinde Durkee pleads guilty to embezzling more than $7 million from dozens, and possibly hundreds, of clients’ accounts.
April 22: The leading super PAC backing Obama, Priorities USA Action, seeks help from former President Bill Clinton to help it offset the substantial fundraising advantage enjoyed by pro-GOP super PACs
May
May 16: Van Hollen wins another court victory when a U.S. appeals court panel rejects a conservative challenge to the federal appeals court’s March ruling that the FEC must rewrite its disclosure rules.
May 30: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce announces that, in light of the pro-disclosure federal court rulings, it will steer clear of the types of ads subject to the tighter reporting rules.
June 20: Angered by reports that the IRS is scrutinizing politically active nonprofits, 11 GOP senators write to the agency to warn it to back off and stay out of political territory.
June 21: In a final blow to the post-Watergate presidential public financing system, the Senate votes to ban the use of federal public funding to help underwrite the national party conventions.
June 24: The Supreme Court rejects an attempt by the state of Montana to limit corporate political spending. The state had defended its corporate spending ban in court challenges to the high court’s 2010 Citizens United v. FEC ruling. But in a 5-4 ruling reaffirming the Supreme Court’s commitment to Citizens United, the high court reversed a lower court ruling that had upheld Montana’s corporate spending ban.
July
July 16: The Democrat-authored DISCLOSE Act is blocked in the Senate amid unanimous GOP opposition.
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