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COMPANIES STEP UP: The game-changing aspect of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision was that it would finally allow unlimited contributions from a company or labor union’s treasury — still not directly to the candidate, but via outside spending groups. As we’ve seen this election, those outside spending groups have proved themselves to be a powerful force, but their contributions have been largely dominated by wealthy individuals. When this month’s super PAC filings came rolling into the FEC, wealthy individuals continued to be a major force in the fundraising game, but increasingly, well-known companies, with prominent public profiles, are being listed as contributors.

Most of the companies remain privately held companies, meaning their corporate treasuries may still be a virtual extension of a wealthy individual or their family, but the fact that the money is coming from the checkbook of a public brand — not the private checkbook of an individual is significant.

American Crossroads , the super PAC linked to Karl Rove, reported hauling in over $7 million in the month of July — $3 million of that came from three corporations, all of which have a prominent public face.

TRT Holdings, for instance, gave $1 million to the super PAC in July. While the holding company isn’t exactly a household name, the brands owned by the group — Omni Hotels and Gold’s Gym — are some of the most prevalent names on just about any commercial strip in America. According to OpenSecrets.org data, the company has now given $4.5 million to American Crossroads, not counting the $2.5 million that TRT Holding’s founder, Robert Rowling, has personally contributed to Crossroads.

The Stephens, Inc., also made a $1 million contribution last month. A major investment bank based in Little Rock, Ark., where its headquarters is one of the tallest buildings in the city, the brands the company owns (all or part of) are probably better known than the company itself: kitchen-appliance maker Viking and dozens of newspapers, including the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The bank’s chairman Warren Stephens has chipped in $500,000 of his own money as well.

Additionally, Weaver Holdings, which owns Weaver Popcorn (which the company’s website describes as one of America’s favorite popcorn brands) and Trail’s End popcorn, the snack food sold by Boyscouts as a fundraiser, made two separate $500,000 donations to American Crossroads in July.





SECURITIES LAWYERS MAKE THEIR PRIORITIES CLEAR: We’ve often written about how Wall Street has turned on President Barack Obama this cycle — after heavily backing the president in 2008, money is flowing from the big financial firms quickly and in a lop-sided fashion towards Mitt Romney and super PACs that back him. But in the super PAC filings yesterday, there was an interesting pattern in the filing of Priorities USA — the super PAC that backs Obama. Seven law firms that specialize in securities litigation — representing investors against companies they invested in and the Wall Street firms who handled the deals — combined to $385,000 to Priorities.

The contributions stand out because they are not from individual lawyers, but rather the entire firm, and because six of them gave identical $60,000 contributions, all on the same day — July 26.

The firms — Grant & Eisenhofer, P.A., Lieff Cabraser, Heimann & Bernstein LLP, Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP, Labaton Sucharow LLP, Berger & Montague P.C., Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP, and Pomerantz Haudek Grossman & Gross (which only gave $25,000) — are involved in some of the most prominent securities litigation, and target some of the biggest names on Wall Street (both the ones that are traded and the institutions that handle their stock) like Facebook, Bank of America, Lehman Brothers, MorganStanley and NASDAQ.





AM GENERAL MONEY: Meanwhile, Meanwhile, Restore Our Future , the super PAC backing Mitt Romney, picked up a significant new donor — the Renco Group , a New York City based investment firm that invests in a number of manufacturing and mining companies, here in the U.S. and abroad. Possibly one of the best known household names included in their holdings is AM General — the manufacturer of the Humvee.

The company — which makes several other kinds of heavy trucks for the military and was separate from the company that made the commercially sold version — actually traces its roots back to American Motor Company, the automaker that Mitt Romney’s father, George Romney, ran in the late 1950s.

Image: Humvee, by Flickr user Nevada Tumbleweed, popcorn by Flickr user The Eggplant.



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About The Author Russ joined the Center in March 2012 as the money-in-politics reporter. His duties include reporting for OpenSecrets Blog and assisting with press inquiries. Russ has a background in investigative journalism, having worked as a reporter for the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University, and he spent five years as a newspaper reporter in New Hampshire. He has a degree in political science from Muhlenberg College and a M.A. in journalism and public affairs from American University. Follow Russ Choma

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