What They Don't Want You To Know

Now that it's over, we can look back and ponder which independent groups might have had an impact on the election, which attack ads left a mark, and who might have blown millions of dollars.

But there's at least one group that doesn't want us to know anything. It's in court, suing to strike down the disclosure requirements that tell us who runs ads near an election, how much gets spent and, sometimes, who puts up the cash.

The Committee for Truth in Politics was launched by a North Carolina Republican operative in late September, and spent $1.2 million on anti-Obama ads. Here's one that criticized Obama's abortion stance and another that falsely accused him of supporting early release for sex offenders

The ads aired in the midst of the general election campaign, but the committee hasn't reported anything about them. We know only because we subscribe to the Campaign Media Analysis Group, which has developed a sophisticated system to track ads on TV and estimates how much they cost.

The committee, represented by Republican lawyer extraordinaire James Bopp, argues it shouldn't have to reveal a thing. Bopp has sued the Federal Election Commission, arguing that what the group spends on ads is none of the government's, or the public's, business.

"We believe that the U.S. Constitution protects them from having to file that report," says Bopp. "The problem is having to file a report at all. To be regulated at all. To be accountable to the government at all."

Bopp is building on his success in a Supreme Court case last year that struck down a critical campaign finance regulation. We delve into the legal logic after the jump...

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2:31 PM ET | 11- 7-2008 | permalink

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Committee For Misleading In Politics?

Obama has a soft spot in his heart for sex offenders; the Committee for Truth in Politics says so.

The group, as we noted before, was created by a North Carolina GOP operative and is represented by a Republican lawyer in a suit against the Federal Election Commission.

Its new ad shows images of children, followed by a photo of Obama next to an opening prison door. "In the Illinois Senate, Barack Obama was the only member that voted to allow early release for convicted sexual abusers," it says.

Odd move for an ambitious politician? You bet. The Politico reports that Obama did indeed vote in the interests of the little-noticed sex-offender lobby...by accident. He corrected the vote the same day.

As Politico notes, Obama even wrote in his book, The Audacity of Hope, that his advisor, David Axelrod, said the accidental vote would likely be grist for a future attack ad.

Maybe someone at the Committee for Truth in Politics read Obama's book?

-- Will Evans

10:19 PM ET | 10-11-2008 | permalink

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Jim Bopp's Fight To Liberate Political Money

No sooner had we noted that conservative attorney James Bopp seemed to be setting up to sue the Federal Election Commission over an anti-abortion, anti-Obama ad, we got this news: Bopp sued the FEC Friday over an anti-abortion, anti-Obama ad.

Only, it's not the National Right to Life Committee ad we were writing about.

Turns out the indefatigable Bopp also represents the Committee for Truth in Politics, recently formed by a North Carolina Republican operative. Bopp is suing to protect the group from any FEC enforcement actions that might prevent it from running its ads -- even though the FEC hasn't done anything yet and isn't likely to take any action till after the election.

Bopp did essentially the same thing earlier this year on behalf of another group, a 527 called The Real Truth About Obama. That group has also targeted Obama's record on abortion, but its ads haven't run yet.

Bopp won't say whether it all ads up to a coordinated legal strategy. But the three simultaneous efforts hammer home his view of federal campaign finance laws: that they chill free speech if you have to ask permission from a slow-moving government agency, or get a preliminary injunction against the agency, before you air a political ad -- or else face the threat of fines later.

"We have clients that want to do real things," he says. "There's all sorts of people out there that want to participate in our democracy...They don't want to suffer a future investigation and enforcement action when the Constitution protects what they do."

Those who want to regulate political money, of course, see it differently. They say Bopp and his clients want to tear down the legal walls that keep big donors, corporations and undisclosed contributions from having undue electoral influence. And the legal walls are hardly rigid. The McCain-Feingold law made them stronger in 2002. But Bopp blew a new hole in them last year, as lawyer for Wisconsin Right To Life -- just his latest of many victories.

Meanwhile, the Committee for Truth in Politics says in its lawsuit that it's got another hard-hitting ad to let loose. To quote from the ad:

It's tragic, but true. Two-thirds of all prisoners convicted of rape or sexual assault committed their crime against a child. Even worse, the average child predator exploits seven to two hundred victims in their lifetime. In the Illinois Senate, Barack Obama was the only member that voted to allow early release for convicted sexual abusers.

More after the jump...

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9:29 PM ET | 10- 4-2008 | permalink

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New Group Adds To Din On Obama's Abortion Record

A brand-new nonprofit organization with a classic attack-group name is airing TV ads in battleground states knocking Obama on his abortion stance.

The Committee for Truth in Politics, which was incorporated just one week ago in North Carolina, is running the ad in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin [and North Carolina]. Showing images of a cooing, yawning baby, the ad says, "Sen. Obama, why did you vote against protecting infants that survive late-term abortions, not once but four times?" It concludes, "Call Senator Obama. Tell him to stop trying to overturn these basic human rights."

The ad echoes the recent message of Born Alive Truth, an Illinois 527 organization.

The incorporator and sole director of the Committee for Truth is NC attorney Bill Peaslee, formerly the chief of staff, legal counsel and political director for the North Carolina Republican Party.

This year he was a delegate to the Republican National Convention. He told the Charlotte Observer that his first choice for president was Mike Huckabee: "Is (McCain) the candidate I wanted? No. But I'll vote for him. And I know he's going to be a lot better than Barack Obama."

Peaslee also incorporated another group at the same time as the Committee for Truth in Politics. It's called the Committee for a Balanced Congress.

-- Will Evans

2:23 PM ET | 10- 3-2008 | permalink

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