New PACs sprout in final days of 2010 campaign

By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, October 29, 2010; 8:16 PM

With just seven days to go in the 2010 campaign, the Federal Election Commission received notice Tuesday of yet another new political committee.

The group is called the Patriot's Fund. Its address is a post-office box in Grand Rapids, Mich. And its treasurer, a high-ranking official in the Michigan Republican Party, isn't talking about its plans.

The Patriot's Fund was "formed to support and oppose federal candidates in Michigan," said Scott W. Greenlee, coalitions vice chairman for the state GOP. He declined to elaborate.

From the U.S. Israel Friendship PAC to the Ohio State Tea Party, new political groups have sprouted like mushrooms in the final weeks of the 2010 campaign, dumping tens of millions of dollars into House and Senate races and, in many cases, avoiding the need to tell voters who is funding their activities.

The frenzy is possible largely because of federal rulings making it easier and more advantageous to set up "super PACs" such as the Patriot's Fund, with no limits on fundraising or spending. More than three dozen super PACs and other political groups began spending money for the first time within the past ten days, according to a Washington Post analysis of FEC records.

The surge underscores the outsize role played this year by independent interest groups, which are expected to spend as much $500 million on the midterms. Some political committees are so new they don't have to reveal details about their backing until after the election; others operating as nonprofits will never have to disclose their donors.

"The main benefit to forming one of these groups at the last minute is to avoid disclosure of where the money is coming from," said Paul S. Ryan, associate counsel at the Campaign Legal Center. "It also makes it harder for the other side to respond. That's why so much of the money pours into the system late in the game."

Some of the newest groups are quirky and faintly quixotic. The Frack Action USA PAC, a small New York organization opposed to "hydraulic fracturing" for natural gas, has enlisted actor Mark Ruffalo to defend Rep. Maurice D. Hinchey (D-N.Y.), who finds himself under siege by the far larger American Crossroads conservative group.

Others are major players: Within a month, Chicago Cubs owner Joe Ricketts has launched his own super PAC and spent $1.1 million in the past week, including $870,000 against Sen. Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.).

Ads by Ricketts's Ending Spending Fund label Reid a "hooligan" for allegedly failing to curb congressional earmarks. The group has yet to report any contributions to the FEC, although it acknowledges that Ricketts is the sole donor so far.

"We're trying to inject the issue of earmarks into a high-profile race," said Brian Baker, president of the Ending Spending Fund and its sister organization, Taxpayers Against Earmarks. "You have to look at where you're going to make a difference. We believe we're going to make a difference in the Nevada Senate race."

The loosened regulatory climate has proven especially popular for wealthy funders such as Ricketts. Concerned Taxpayers of America consists of two taxpayers concerned about two particular House races in Maryland and Oregon. Bob J. Perry, a Texas homebuilder who helped fund the Swift Boat campaign ads in 2004, has donated more than $14 million this cycle, including at least $7 million to American Crossroads.

Revere America, an anti-health reform group led by former New York governor George Pataki, is funded largely by Parker Collier, the wife of a Florida land baron, according to Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and other sources. Revere America has spent $2.3 million against four House Democrats in New York and New Hampshire; it organized as a nonprofit that does not have to reveal its donors under U.S. tax laws.

"Creating and hiding behind this shady group is an affront to our democracy and an insult to voters," said Melanie Sloan, CREW's executive director.

Revere America did not respond to a request for comment Friday.

Some new groups appear to have been formed simply to funnel money from established political players into the elections.

The Democratic and Republican governor's associations, for example, have each registered federal super PACs to spend money on the gubernatorial race in Ohio. Experts say the structure allows party groups to get around state campaign-finance restrictions. Unions representing carpenters, mine workers and others have formed super PACs recently to support Democrats across the country, FEC records show.

The U.S. Israel Friendship Committee was set up by Jewish donors in California to help Sen. Barbara Boxer (D) in her reelection fight against Carly Fiorina (R). The Emergency Committee for Israel PAC, by contrast, is targeting Senate candidate Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) and two other House Democrats in the Northeast.

Treasurer Michael Goldfarb, formerly a Weekly Standard writer and adviser to presidential candidate John McCain (R-Ariz.), said the Emergency Committee for Israel PAC was launched to augment a nonprofit affiliate of the same name, which was limited in the kind of ads it could run in the election's final weeks. "There's a real compelling case that if you can come up with the disclosable money, you want to do that before the elections as well," he said.

Because the PAC was not formed until two weeks ago, however, its funders will not be revealed until after Election Day.

Hinchey, a nine-term liberal incumbent representing the 22nd congressional district in Upstate New York, was surprised this month when American Crossroads began running ads against him. The conservative group, founded with the support of GOP guru Karl Rove, has spent more than $500,000 against Hinchey in the past two weeks, providing a boost to Republican challenger George Phillips.

Hinchey's district turns out to be a hotbed of debate over hydraulic fracturing, or hydrofracking, in which sand, water and chemicals are injected deep underground to release natural gas deposits. Hinchey has sponsored legislation to limit the practice; one of Crossroads' top donors is Trevor Rees-Jones of Chief Oil and Gas in Dallas, a hydrofracking pioneer.

Crossroads spokesman Jonathan Collegio said Hinchey was targeted because of his liberal voting record not the hydrofracking issue.

The push against Hinchey led local activist Susan Zimet to form Frack Action USA PAC two weeks ago. The group said it raised about $50,000 and hurriedly produced a commercial featuring film star Ruffalo, who lives in Calicoon, N.Y.

"This is David and Goliath," Zimet said. "We're not Karl Rove; we're not these big corporations. We're just a small group trying to help our local congressman."

Said Hinchey spokesman Mike Morosi: "You welcome any help you can get."

Staff writer T.W. Farnam contributed to this report.