By Francisco Alvarado
FloridaBulldog.org
As U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio prepares for a possible 2016 presidential run, federal elections regulators want him to explain why he accepted illegal campaign contributions from 14 donors in his year-end Jan. 30 campaign finance report.
By Dan Christensen
FloridaBulldog.org
The mass release of emails covering presidential aspirant Jeb Bush’s years as governor omitted at least a dozen emails documenting behind-the-scenes lobbying support he gave to liquor giant Bacardi.
By By Liz Essley Whyte
Center for Public Integrity
Big money was a boon to groups fighting for and against ballot measures across the states on Election Day. In 21 of the top 25 most expensive state ballot measure races in terms of television ad spending, groups that won the war on the airwaves also won at the ballot box. But surprising upsets also showed that in the wild world of direct democracy, money isn’t everything.
By Frank Alvarado
BrowardBulldog.org
Miami Republican Carlos Curbelo’s congressional campaign was forced to resubmit its most recent quarterly finance report after failing to disclose $50,000 in contributions from 21 political action committees. This story was updated Saturday afternoon to account for numerous errors contained in Curbelo campaign reports.
By Michael Beckel
Center for Public Integrity
The campaign money machines of Democrat Alex Sink and Republican David Jolly have not just been matched by outside forces, they’ve been lapped. Roughly $12.5 million has flooded the heated special election in Pinellas County, but less than one-third of that sum was controlled by the candidates’ own campaigns.
By Kara Brandeisky
ProPublica
When the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a key part of the Voting Rights Act last June, justices left it to Congress to decide how to fix the law. But while Congress deliberates, activists are turning again to the courts: At least 10 lawsuits have the potential to bring states and some local jurisdictions back under federal oversight – essentially doing an end-run around the Supreme Court’s ruling.
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