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How do you spell plutocracy -- R-E-P-U-B-L-I-C-A-N---P-A-R-T-Y
"In the last two years, super PACs raised more than $180 million with roughly half of it coming from fewer than 200 super-rich people and roughly 20 percent from corporations."
By Willoughby Mariano, PolitiFact Georgia
March 14, 2012
The statement
"In the last two years, super PACs raised more than $180 million with roughly half of it coming from fewer than 200 super-rich people and roughly 20 percent from corporations."
U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., in an op-ed
The ruling
Super PACs became legal after a 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision. They are an object of ire for some who think they can be used to buy elections and help donors obscure their identities.
A Johnson spokesman said he got his data from articles in POLITICO and Roll Call. The stories lay out the findings of "Auctioning Democracy: The Rise of Super PACs and the 2012 Election."
The report was authored by left-leaning policy and advocacy group Demos and U.S. Public Interest Research Group, or U.S. PIRG, a consumer advocacy group. It argued that super PACs skew American politics by giving outsize influence to wealthy donors who hold views that do not represent those held by the broader public.
Johnson's account matched both news accounts' descriptions of the report.
From the advent of super PACs to the end of 2011, donors have contributed a total of $181 million in what are called "itemized individual contributions" to super PACs, the report states. These are contributions from donors who give more than $200. Super PACs must report donor names once their contributions pass this threshold.
The report did not tally contributions by small donors, said Adam Lioz, a Demos official and an author of the report.
Demos and U.S. PIRG found that 196 people donated $100,000 or more to super PACs, which is just shy of 200 individuals. Calling them "super-rich" is polarizing, but it's reasonable to assume people who can afford to make a $100,000 donation have unusually high incomes.
We used the report's findings to calculate that donations of the "super-rich" amounted to about 43 percent of total contributions. This is some 7 percentage points lower than the "roughly half" figure that Johnson used.
For-profit businesses contributed 17 percent of itemized donations, the report states. This is just shy of the 20 percent Johnson cited.
We checked with the Sunlight Foundation, a nonpartisan organization that advocates for more transparency in government. It is the source of much of the data in the report. A spokesman said they found no problems with "Auctioning Democracy."
We rate this claim True.
"In the last two years, super PACs raised more than $180 million with roughly half of it coming from fewer than 200 super-rich people and roughly 20 percent from corporations."
By Willoughby Mariano, PolitiFact Georgia
March 14, 2012
The statement
"In the last two years, super PACs raised more than $180 million with roughly half of it coming from fewer than 200 super-rich people and roughly 20 percent from corporations."
U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., in an op-ed
The ruling
Super PACs became legal after a 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision. They are an object of ire for some who think they can be used to buy elections and help donors obscure their identities.
A Johnson spokesman said he got his data from articles in POLITICO and Roll Call. The stories lay out the findings of "Auctioning Democracy: The Rise of Super PACs and the 2012 Election."
The report was authored by left-leaning policy and advocacy group Demos and U.S. Public Interest Research Group, or U.S. PIRG, a consumer advocacy group. It argued that super PACs skew American politics by giving outsize influence to wealthy donors who hold views that do not represent those held by the broader public.
Johnson's account matched both news accounts' descriptions of the report.
From the advent of super PACs to the end of 2011, donors have contributed a total of $181 million in what are called "itemized individual contributions" to super PACs, the report states. These are contributions from donors who give more than $200. Super PACs must report donor names once their contributions pass this threshold.
The report did not tally contributions by small donors, said Adam Lioz, a Demos official and an author of the report.
Demos and U.S. PIRG found that 196 people donated $100,000 or more to super PACs, which is just shy of 200 individuals. Calling them "super-rich" is polarizing, but it's reasonable to assume people who can afford to make a $100,000 donation have unusually high incomes.
We used the report's findings to calculate that donations of the "super-rich" amounted to about 43 percent of total contributions. This is some 7 percentage points lower than the "roughly half" figure that Johnson used.
For-profit businesses contributed 17 percent of itemized donations, the report states. This is just shy of the 20 percent Johnson cited.
We checked with the Sunlight Foundation, a nonpartisan organization that advocates for more transparency in government. It is the source of much of the data in the report. A spokesman said they found no problems with "Auctioning Democracy."
We rate this claim True.
