Right-Wing Dark Money Funded Kansas’s Failed Anti-Abortion Campaign
Leonard Leo’s massive conservative dark money network is quietly working behind the scenes to try to eliminate abortion protections at the state level.
221 Articles by: Andrew Perez
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Andrew Perez is senior editor and a reporter at the Lever covering money and influence.
The Debt Ceiling Deal Fast-Tracks the Approval of a Climate-Killing Fossil Fuel Pipeline
The deal struck by Joe Biden and congressional Republicans to avert a default on the national debt includes provisions that expedite construction of a greenhouse-gas-spewing pipeline and even attempt to block courts from hearing challenges to its legality.
The For-Profit Takeover of Medicare Is a Huge Scam
Last year, the federal government spent $20.5 billion overpaying private insurers for Medicare Advantage plans — and the industry’s aggressive lobbying campaign is kneecapping efforts by lawmakers to stop the scheme.
Dark Money Is Behind Republicans’ Debt Ceiling Plan to Shrink the Social Safety Net
Republican lawmakers are refusing to raise the debt ceiling unless Democrats accept sweeping spending cuts and expanded work requirements on social programs — an agenda borrowed from a dark money–funded think tank that has pushed to loosen child labor laws.
Last Year’s Biden-Endorsed Gubernatorial Nominee in South Carolina Just Joined the No Labels Group
South Carolina’s 2022 Democratic candidate for governor, Joe Cunningham, has just become the national director of the group No Labels, the third-party astroturf campaign that could help tank Joe Biden’s reelection.
Influenced by Dark Money, Clarence Thomas Has Reversed His Position on a Landmark Legal Doctrine
Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas has abandoned his own stated principles and changed his position on one of America’s most significant regulatory doctrines. Why? A dark money network of conservative billionaires is making his family rich.
Corruption Has Turned the Supreme Court Into a Weapon of the Right
Supreme Court justices often change their ideological position over time, usually becoming more liberal in their rulings as they age. The goal of right-wing billionaires and activists injecting dark money into the court is to prevent this “ideological drift.”
The Pundits Were Wrong: Corporate Greed Stoked Inflation
For the last year, media pundits have insisted that today’s inflation has nothing to do with corporate profiteering, much to the delight of the capitalist class. It is more than clear now that they were wrong.
Joe Biden’s New Communications Director Made Millions in Corporate Consulting
Before being tapped to become Joe Biden’s new communications director, political advisor Ben LaBolt made a pretty penny in corporate consulting — and many of his former clients have obvious interests in White House policy decisions today.
Chief Justice John Roberts Is Resisting Enforcement of Ethics Rules on the Supreme Court
Chief Justice John Roberts has repeatedly declined to use his position to impose a code of ethics on the highest court. Now, he’s punting investigation of Clarence Thomas’s corruption scandal to a panel of lower court judges whose identities are secret.
Hospital Lobbyists Awarded Nancy Pelosi for Maintaining the Health Care Status Quo
After her years-long effort to obstruct Medicare for All, Representative Nancy Pelosi has just received an award of honor from hospital lobbyists.
Clarence Thomas Helped Kill Eviction Bans That Threatened Harlan Crow’s Business
While billionaire real estate mogul Harlan Crow was lavishing Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas with luxury gifts, Thomas voted to strike down federal tenant protections that might hurt the profits of Crow’s company.
To Understand the Upcoming Republican Primary, Follow the Dark Money
The operative leading Ron DeSantis’s super PAC is closely associated with conservative activist Leonard Leo, the beneficiary of the largest dark money donation in US history. But Leo’s not putting all his eggs in one basket for the 2024 presidential election.
You’re Paying Taxes Today. The Rich Aren’t.
Today is Tax Day, the deadline for Americans to pay their taxes. One group that won’t be paying much today: the rich, who have stashed $2 trillion in offshore tax havens.
Conservative Pundits Are Defending Clarence Thomas and His Megadonor
Right-wing pundits are defending Justice Clarence Thomas and his billionaire benefactor Harlan Crow, claiming that a failure to disclose two decades of luxury trips is no cause for concern. They’ve also all neglected to mention their financial ties to Crow.
The Dark Money–Backed Front Group No Labels Is Buying Its Own Ballot Line
Laying the groundwork to launch a centrist, third-party “unity” ticket in 2024, the billionaire-funded group No Labels is buying its own ballot line — which is secretly being purchased outside disclosure rules that have long governed US election campaigns.
How a Verizon Worker Beat the Company’s Union Busters
In November, the National Labor Relations Board issued a complaint against Verizon, alleging that the company illegally fired an employee in retaliation for union activities. Now that employee is getting his job back.
Silicon Valley Bank’s President Pressed Lawmakers for Weaker Banking Regulations
The news of Silicon Valley Bank’s recent collapse is dominating headlines. Just eight years ago, SVB’s president pushed legislators to exempt more midsize banks — including SVB — from regulations passed in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.
Workers’ Pensions Are Backing Child Labor Through Private Equity Investments
Public officials have been using the retirement savings of unionized public employees to capitalize, through private equity investments, an outsourcing business that has used low-paid immigrants and even children for hazardous work in slaughterhouses.
Railroad Industry Lobbyists Are Paying Politico to Tout Train Safety
The rail industry’s top lobbying group is paying Politico to convince the public that railroad companies are committed to public safety — at the same time the railroad industry is actually fighting new safety rules.