Tag: campaign

Twitter to pay $100,000 for violating Washington campaign disclosure law

13Oct

Twitter will pay $100,000 for failing to retain required records about political ads from Washington candidates that ran over a seven-year period before the social media platform banned all political advertising.

Twitter agreed to pay the fine, which is about half the amount the company received from Washington candidates’ political advertising from 2012 to 2019, to Washington’s Public Disclosure Transparency Account, Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced Tuesday. The fine comes after Ferguson announced his intention over the summer to sue the company over campaign finance violations

Under Washington’s campaign finance law, commercial advertisers must keep certain information, such as candidates’ names, the cost of the ad and who paid for it and on what date, and the name and address of the ad sponsor. According to the attorney general’s office, at least 38 Washington candidates and committees paid $194,550 for advertising on Twitter, and the company didn’t maintain the required

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Biden Son-In-Law Advises Campaign on Pandemic Response while Investing in COVID Startups

13Oct

Joe Biden’s son-in-law Howard Krein is an informal adviser to the Democratic presidential candidate on the response to the coronavirus pandemic, while simultaneously investing in health-care startups to address the pandemic, Politico reported on Tuesday.

Krein’s venture capital business, StartUp Health, announced in April that it would invest in ten medical startup companies that craft solutions to issues posed by the pandemic. At the same time, Krein was among several individuals speaking with the Biden campaign regarding its health policy.

The initiative by StartUp Health was dubbed the “Pandemic Response Health Moonshot,” language that echoes Biden’s own “Cancer Moonshot” project from his last year in the Obama administration.

Krein’s position raises questions about a possible conflict of interest for the Biden campaign. A campaign official confirmed to Politico that Krein was an informal adviser who has participated in calls with the candidate on pandemic response.

“I have little doubt that

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Biden’s son-in-law advises campaign on pandemic while investing in Covid-19 startups

13Oct

“StartUp Health is putting the full support of its platform and network behind building a post-Covid world that uses technology and entrepreneurial ingenuity to improve health outcomes,” the firm said at the time.

Krein simultaneously advising the campaign and venturing into Covid investing could pose conflict-of-interest concerns for a Biden administration, or simply create the awkward appearance of Krein profiting off his father-in-law’s policies. Since the start of the coronavirus outbreak, the federal government has directed tens of billions of dollars in coronavirus medical spending in areas like testing and vaccine research to private firms. It is poised to spend billions more next year and possibly beyond.

The potential conflicts are not limited to the coronavirus for Krein, 53, a Philadelphia-based head-and-neck surgeon who got into venture investing not long after he began dating Biden’s daughter, Ashley, in 2010.

Since StartUp Health’s 2011 launch, when Krein came on as its

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Inside Trump’s push to use government funds to save his campaign

11Oct

Donald Trump
Donald Trump

President Donald Trump speaks to supporters at a campaign rally at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport on September 3, 2020 in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Trump won Pennsylvania in the 2016 election by a narrow margin. Jeff Swensen/Getty Images

If President Donald Trump loses to former Vice President Joe Biden in this year’s presidential election, two of the main reasons are likely to be his response to his COVID-19 pandemic and his health care policy — specifically, Trump’s push to eliminate the Affordable Care Act and its protections for people with preexisting conditions. One desperate move that Trump is making in the hope of saving his campaign is promising senior citizens drug discount cards, and Politico’s Dan Diamond is reporting that Trump wants them to be available before November 3.

Diamond reports:

Caught by surprise by President Donald Trump’s promise to deliver drug-discount cards to seniors, health officials are scrambling to

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As Donald Trump’s Law-and-Order Message Fails In Minnesota, Campaign Moves Money to Must-Win Florida

10Oct

The release on bail of Derek Chauvin, the officer charged in George Floyd’s death, prompted yet another surge of unrest in Minnesota. But even as demonstrations filled the streets for a second night, Donald Trump’s campaign was pulling ad money out of the state. The president’s law-and-order message, which campaign officials had expected to resonate in the protest-torn state, wasn’t working.



a group of people posing for the camera: Law and order? Protesters lock arms during a demonstration after the release on bail of former police officer, Derek Chauvin, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on October 7, 2020.

© KEREM YUCEL/AFP via Getty Images
Law and order? Protesters lock arms during a demonstration after the release on bail of former police officer, Derek Chauvin, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on October 7, 2020.

Trump taking down the fabled “blue wall” of Rust Belt states—Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan—was the most shocking component of his historic upset in 2016. Just as unexpected, to Democrats, pollsters and political pundits, was this: he nearly won Minnesota, falling just 1.5 points behind Hillary Clinton in what was supposed to be the bluest of blue

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Society of London Theatre and UK Theatre Launches the SEE IT SAFELY Campaign

06Oct

In order to display the See it Safely mark, venues have to sign up to a code of conduct to demonstrate that safety forms the foundation for their reopening plans.

The Society of London Theatre (SOLT) & UK Theatre have launched a new scheme called See It Safely, to support venues as they navigate the challenges of re-opening, and to give audiences the confidence that venues are consistent in their approach and implementation of the latest guidelines.

In order to display the See it Safely mark, venues have to sign up to a code of conduct to demonstrate that safety forms the foundation for their reopening plans. Once past an initial approval process that confirms a venue is operating in line with the latest Government guidelines and Public Health guidance, as set out in a COVID-19 Risk Assessment, all participating theatres will receive the toolkit. This includes a ‘See It

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Guelph Black Heritage Society receives $5,000 for #ChangeStartsNow campaign

01Oct

The Guelph Black Heritage Society says it has received $5,000 for its #ChangeStartsNow educational campaign.



a sign in front of a brick building: Guelph Black Heritage Society's Heritage Hall on Essex Street.

© Matt Carty / Global Guelph
Guelph Black Heritage Society’s Heritage Hall on Essex Street.

The funding is from the Guelph Community Foundation and Guelph Historical Society.

Read more: Guelph Black Heritage Society raising money for #ChangeStartsNow campaign

The grant will support a key pillar in the heritage society’s campaign, which is the development of a booklet on Black history in Guelph and Wellington County.

Another aspect of the campaign is a list of 100 educational resources, such as books and movies, that are curated by volunteers for those seeking factual information on Black history and issues.

It also includes online educational and cultural events and a directory of Black-owned and operated businesses in Guelph, Wellington County and Waterloo Region.

There are also plans for Heritage Hall, the former British Methodist Episcopal Church on Essex

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Opinion | Trump has turned the entire government into a subsidiary of his campaign

01Oct

But compared to what President Trump and Republicans are doing now, it’s the difference between using the “Take a penny, leave a penny” container at the convenience store and pulling a gun on the cashier, emptying the register, then backing a truck up to the door to steal half the merchandise.

We’ve simply never seen anything like this: a sweeping, comprehensive effort across multiple agencies of government, plus Congress, to find any and every way possible to boost the Trump campaign. The government you and I pay for has become an engine of pro-Trump propaganda — and in the last, desperate days of his campaign, it’s only accelerating.

Here’s some of what they’re doing:

  • Politico reports: “The Trump administration is pressuring Senate Republicans to ratchet up scrutiny of social media companies it sees as biased against conservatives in the run-up to the November election.” Senate Republicans have responded with the
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A law-and-order California GOP congressional campaign is violating federal law

30Sep

  • Buzz Patterson’s California congressional campaign hasn’t filed mandatory federal campaign finance disclosures since late 2019. His campaign tells Insider that ‘technological difficulties’ are the culprit.
  • It’s rare for a competitive congressional campaign to repeatedly miss these legally mandated filings. Patterson’s campaign could face a Federal Election Commission audit and significant fines.
  • How fast will Patterson file his campaign disclosures? As ‘soon as we can,’ he said.
  • Patterson, a Republican and decorated Air Force veteran, is challenging Democratic Rep. Ami Bera in California’s 7th congressional district.
  • Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Retired Air Force Lt. Col. Buzz Patterson has a fighting chance of becoming one of California’s newest congressional lawmakers.

But as the Sacramento-area Republican battles four-term Democratic Rep. Ami Bera, Patterson’s campaign committee is breaking federal law.

Patterson’s committee has failed to file four mandatory disclosures detailing how much money it’s raised and spent, as well as the

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