Waldo's Virginia Political Blogroll » VPAP

PACs Report $10K+ Donations

VPAP — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 16:01:04 +0000

Since August 30, one PAC has reported receiving donations of $10,000 or more:

Opportunity Virginia (Gov. McDonnell):

Hospital Corporation of America - $10,000
K-VA-T Food Stores - $10,000
John A Luke, Jr - $25,000
G Gilmer Minor III - $12,500
Richard L Sharp - $15,000
R Ted Weschler - $25,000
WM Jordan Company - $25,000

View all recent large contributions reported by PACs

PACs registered with the Virginia State Board of Elections must report any donation of $10,000 or more within three business days.

Lobbyist Disclosures

VPAP — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 13:01:23 +0000

Updated 7:45 am, August 31

The nonpartisan Virginia Public Access Project has posted the lobbying disclosure reports for the Top 25 spenders during a 12-month period ending in April.

View Top 25 Spenders

Unlike most states, Virginia places few restrictions on the interaction between registered lobbyists and officials from executive and legislative branches. Once a year, lobbyists are required to disclose their activities and itemize certain types of expenses.Many lobbyist provide general statements of their activities, while others provide a list of bills, including their client's position on each.Lobbyists also are required to disclose how much they spent. The VPAP data includes a summary, plus details on entertainment expenses, gifts and lobbyist compensation.

During 2009-10, a total of 885 clients had registered lobbyists. VPAP will continue to key clients into its database as long as the records are available from the Secretary of the Commonwealth. (The Secretary's office is getting the records together to ship to a vendor for scanning. The records will be unavailable during the scanning process. Last year, the scanning process took until mid-October.)With lobbyist spending, apples-apples comparisons can be difficult. Lobbyist disclosure laws are general in nature and therefore, in practice, lobbyists report expenditures in different ways.

Updated 8/27/2010

The Secretary of the Commonwealth has released a preliminary list of the companies, trade associations and interest groups that spent the most in lobbying from May 2009 to April 2010:

1. Altria                                                    $320,240.89
2. Northern Virginia Technology Council     $311,942.79
3. Verizon                                                 $277,426.15
4. Virginia Association of Health Plans        $246,461.06
5. Dominion Resources, Inc.                      $193,668.03
6. Virginia Automobile Dealers Association $146,149.45
7. Americans for Prosperity                        $129,750.00
8. Sentara Healthcare                                 $125,297.32
9. Metro Washington Airports Authority      $122,170.93
10. Virginia Sheriffs' Association                  $117,380.84
11. Va Assn of Realtors                               $115,665.00
12. Fairfax County Board of Supervisors      $115,613.93
13. Va Education Assn                                $114,717.23
14. Citigroup Management Corp.                  $112,208.18
15. State Farm Mutual Auto Insurance Co.    $108,721.80
16. Medical Society of Va                            $107,445.00
17. Virginia School Boards Association          $104,427.23
18. Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co            $102,120.11
19. Allegheny Energy, Inc.                           $101,491.82
20. Va Chamber of Commerce                     $101,224.00

The disclosures were due July 1. The Secretary of the Commonwealth is still processing the disclosures and will not have them available in .pdf form public view for several months.

With the SOC's assistance, VPAP is obtaining paper copies and will provide details of the top spenders next week.

With lobbyist spending, apples-apples comparisons can be difficult. Lobbyist disclosure laws are general in nature and therefore, in practice, lobbyists report expenditures in different ways.

PACs Report $10K+ Donations

VPAP — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 20:20:13 +0000

Since August 23, the following PACs have reported receiving donations of $10,000 or more:

Dominion Leadership Trust (Speaker Howell):

Cline for Delegate - Ben - $10,000
Scott for Delegate - Ed - $15,000

The Middle Resolution:

Robert W. Bailie - $10,000

Opportunity Virginia (Gov. McDonnell):

Robert Johnson - $25,000
The Rosenthal Companies - $15,000

Virginia Senate Democratic Caucus

Ivan P. Jecklin - $10,000

View all recent large contributions reported by PACs

PACs registered with the Virginia State Board of Elections must report any donation of $10,000 or more within three business days.

Lobbyist Registrations

VPAP — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 23:02:03 +0000

VPAP today posted 13 lobbyist registrations provided by the Secretary of the Commonwealth since July 28. Among them, there were:

Each week, VPAP updates the list of registered lobbyists.

PACs Report $10K+ Donations

VPAP — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 23:02:03 +0000

Since August 10, one political committee has reported receiving donations of $10,000 or more:

Opportunity Virginia (Gov. McDonnell):

Preston C Caruthers - $10,000
Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer - $25,000
Francis James Reidy - $10,000

View all recent large contributions reported by PACs

PACs registered with the Virginia State Board of Elections must report any donation of $10,000 or more within three business days.

VPAP Reclassifies Forgiven Loans

VPAP — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 23:02:03 +0000

The nonpartisan Virginia Public Access Project has come up with a better way to account for situations when candidates make personal loans to their own campaigns and later forgive all or part of the loan.

The current state forms require candidates to double-count any loan that is forgiven. Here is how it works: The state disclosure forms do not have a line item for loan forgiveness. As a result, a candidate can back out a loan only by "repaying" it -- and must show a corresponding "contribution" to balance the payment. Both transactions -- the repayment and contribution -- are paper transactions; no money changes hands.

This result is that any candidate who forgives all or part of a loan is forced to overstate both the amount their campaign spent and the amount they personally donated to their campaign.

For example, Mike Wray sought to close out his House of Delegates campaign account last year. Wray had $115 in the bank, but still needed to pay off a $11,500 personal loan he had made earlier this year. He decided to repay $115 of the loan and write off $11,385. In order the reconcile the state forms, Wray had to enter a $11,385 "donation" -- which combined with his original loan made it appear he had given $23,000 to his campaign.

VPAP has embarked on an effort to eliminate this double-counting by reclassifying forgiven loans as campaign contributions. Under its new system, VPAP has converted Wray's forgiven loans to donations to make it clear he donated $11,385 and loaned $115, which was later repaid.

VPAP has identified at least 100 other candidates committees where forgiven loans were double-counted over the last decade. The process to reclassify all these loans should take two-three weeks.

VPAP must accept partial responsibility for the misleading state forms, which VPAP executive director David Poole helped redesign several years ago.

PAC Registrations

VPAP — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 23:02:02 +0000

Updated August 23:

VPAP posted the following PAC registration filed with the Virginia State Board of Elections. (Note: Some of these registrations were filed over a month ago and are just now provided to VPAP.)

Lake of the Woods Democratic Club

Republican Italian American PAC (federal committee)

Harrisonburg/Rockingham Republican Women's Club

Irish American Democrats (527 committee)

A Fresh Perspective PAC

Updated August 20:

VPAP posted a PAC registration filed with the Virginia State Board of Elections:

People for Political Progress & Prosperity PAC

The PAC's first campaign finance report will be due October 15.

Updated July 30:

VPAP has posted two new political committees that recently registered with the State Board of Elections:

Virginia Rule of Law PAC -- Aimed at passage of "Arizona-style" immigration laws in Virginia. PAC started by Corey Stewart, chair of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors.

Southwest Virginia Fund for Children and Public Education -- A Virginia Education Association (teacher's group) PAC planning to be active in state elections and local elections in Norton and counties of Buchanan, Dickenson, Lee, Russell, Scott and Wise.

These PACs will file an initial campaign finance report on October 15, 2010.

PACs Report $10K+ Donations

VPAP — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 23:02:02 +0000

Since August 13, one political committee has reported receiving donations of $10,000 or more:

Opportunity Virginia (Gov. McDonnell):

Mark Kington - $25,000
Teri Rigell - $10,000

View all recent large contributions reported by PACs

PACs registered with the Virginia State Board of Elections must report any donation of $10,000 or more within three business days.

2009-10 Lobbyist Audit

VPAP — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 23:02:02 +0000

In preparing for keying the disclosure reports for the 2009-10 lobbying year, VPAP has discovered some discrepancies between its lobbyist registration list and the online list maintained by the Secretary of the Commonwealth.VPAP found 11 instances where lobbyists listed in the VPAP database were not found in the SOC's database. And it found nine instances where lobbyists in the SOC were not found in the VPAP list.VPAP has added the nine lobbyists to its list of 2,111 lobbyists who registered in the period of May 2009-April 2010. They are:

ACLU - Hope Amezquita
American Society of Landscape Architects - J. Christopher Jankowski
American Water Works Assn. - Darin Waylett
City of Chesapeake - J. Byran Plumlee
Computer & Communications Industry Assn. - H. Benson Dendy III
Sandlot Connect LLC - Charles Duvall Jr.
Virginia Magistrates Association - Bonnie Atwood
Virginia Tech Foundation - Frank Atkinson
Washington Metro Area Transit Authority - Jennifer Green

VPAP builds its list from documents provided each week by the SOC. VPAP's procedures include a careful count of the documents to make sure all registrations -- which come in both .pdf and paper formats -- are entered each week.

Lobbyist Registrations

VPAP — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 23:02:02 +0000

VPAP received only one new lobbyist registration from the Secretary of the Commonwealth's Office:

George Phillips - Riverside Health System

See all recent lobbyist registrations

PACs Report $10K+ Donations

VPAP — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 23:02:02 +0000

Since August 18, the following PACs have reported receiving donations of $10,000 or more:

Virginia Republican Senate Caucus

Sen. Hanger - $10,000
Sen. McWaters - $10,000
Sen. Newman - $10,000
Sen. Vogel - $10,000
Verizon - $10,000

Commonwealth Victory Fund (Democratic Caucus)

* Va Assn. of Realtors - $15,000

View all recent large contributions reported by PACs

PACs registered with the Virginia State Board of Elections must report any donation of $10,000 or more within three business days.

Congressional Elections

VPAP — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 23:02:02 +0000

The nonpartisan Virginia Public Access Project has created a convenient jumping off point for citizens interested in this year's congressional races.

View Congressional Portal

This value-added service provides a complete list of candidates, their latest campaign finance totals and links where you can find details about money in federal elections.

VPAP will update the information after the next quarterly campaign finance report is due on October 15.

VPAP's primary focus is tracking money in state and local elections. If resources become available, VPAP could illuminate congressional elections with the same precision and innovation.

Campaign finance information is provided by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.

Lobbyist Disclosures

VPAP — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 19:13:21 +0000

The Secretary of the Commonwealth has released a preliminary list of the companies, trade associations and interest groups that spent the most in lobbying from May 2009 to April 2010:

The disclosures were due July 1. The Secretary of the Commonwealth is still processing the disclosures and will not have them available in .pdf form public view for several months.

With the SOC's assistance, VPAP is obtaining paper copies and will provide details of the top spenders next week.

With lobbyist spending, apples-apples comparisons can be difficult. Lobbyist disclosure laws are general in nature and therefore, in practice, lobbyists report expenditures in different ways.

E-Filing Nearly Universal

VPAP — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 22:04:03 +0000

Congratulations to the 139 of 140 General Assembly members who voluntarily e-filed their mid-year campaign finance reports.

View Members of 'VPAP Honor Roll"

The last paper filer in the General Assembly is Del. Clay Athey (R-Front Royal).

When the State Board of Elections introduced electronic filing in April 1999, only eight candidates -- incumbents and challengers -- signed up. By the end of the year, the number of e-filers had grown to 45. Sixteen of the pioneers are still in office:

Del. Dave Albo (R-Fairfax)
Del. Ward Armstrong (D-Martinsville)
Sen. Harry Blevins (R-Chesapeake)
Del. Kathy Byron (R-Forrest)
Sen. John Edwards (D-Roanoke)
Del. Morgan Griffith (R-Salem)
Del. Chris Jones (R-Suffolk)
Del. Bob Marshall (R-Prince William)
Del. Joe May (R-Loudoun)
Del. Harvey Morgan (R-Gloucester)
Sen. Steve Newman (R-Lynchburg)
Del. Ken Plum (D-Reston)
Del. Albert Pollard (D-Lancaster)
Del. Beverly Sherwood (R-Winchester)
Del. Jim Shuler (D-Blacksburg)
Sen. John Watkins (R-Midlothian)

PACs Report $10K+ Donations

VPAP — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 19:56:26 +0000

Since August 2, four political committees have reported receiving donations of $10,000 or more:

Dominion Leadership Trust (Speaker Howell):

Pearson Companies - $10,000

Opportunity Virginia (Gov. McDonnell):

Eckert Seamans - $10,000

Va Bankers Assn:

Bank of America - $10,000

Va Senate Republican Caucus:

Obenshain for Senate - Mark - $10,000

View all recent large contributions reported by PACs

PACs registered with the Virginia State Board of Elections must report any donation of $10,000 or more within three business days.

PACs Report $10K+ Donations

VPAP — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 17:12:08 +0000

Since July 9, twelve political committee have reported receiving donations of $10,000 or more

View all recent large contributions reported by PACs

PACs registered with the Virginia State Board of Elections must report any donation of $10,000 or more within three business days.

PACs Report $10K+ Donations

VPAP — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 17:12:08 +0000

Since July 26, three political committee have reported receiving donations of $10,000 or more

View all recent large contributions reported by PACs

PACs registered with the Virginia State Board of Elections must report any donation of $10,000 or more within three business days.

Mid-Year Disclosures

VPAP — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 02:30:31 +0000

Updated 7/19/2010 - 1 PM

VPAP has integrated information from mid-year campaign finance disclosures throughout its Web site. Data for state candidates and state committees is current through June 30.

Updated 7/16/2010 - 4:00 PM

VPAP has posted a spreadsheet containing the current "cash on hand" and "total raised" figures reported yesterday by General Assembly members.

Download Now

In order to download, you must be a registered user of VPAP.org. Registration is free, easy and safe. See directions below.

Registration is quick and the only personal information required is your ZIP Code and a valid email address.

By registering, you can download lists and get email alerts customized to your interests.

Updated 7/15/2010 - 5:45 PM

The nonpartisan Virginia Public Access Project has posted campaign finance reports due today at 5 p.m. from legislative and statewide candidates.

The information is current through June 30, 2010.

Same Day Disclosures

The link above provides an A-Z list of candidates whose reports are available. Select a candidate. You can see how much he/she raised during the period and sort their donations by donor name, date and amount.

There is a separate list where you can rank all House candidates showing their cash-on-hand balance as of June 30.

House Candidates - Cash on Hand

Senate Candidates - Cash on Hand

Here are some links to fourth-quarter reports for select committees:

Opportunity Virginia (Gov. McDonnell)

Dominion Leadership Trust (Speaker Howell)

Bolling for Governor

A Strong Majority PAC (Del. Armstrong)

Cuccinelli for Attorney General

Liberty Now (Cuccinelli)

VPAP staff is working to integrate the transactions from the year-end reports into its database. For now, the transactions contained in the post-election will be visible only on a few pages on VPAP.org.

By Monday afternoon, VPAP staff will add value to the campaign finance information filed by statewide candidates. This value-added work will allow visitors to sort the information in a number of ways, including:

Sorting a candidate's donors by occupation
Viewing a candidate's donors by locality and ZIP Code
Seeing each contributor's complete donor history back to 1997

You will receive an email announcement when the coded information goes live on Monday.

Starting Tuesday, VPAP will begin posting candidate reports from the 29 cities and counties where it tracks money in local elections. For a list a localities, read more about the VPAP Local Elections Initiative.

Below is a detailed release schedule for the mid-year reports:

Friday, July 16 - At 1 PM, VPAP will post a downloadable spreadsheet showing how much each General Assembly member (and challenger) raised during the first half of the year.

Monday, July 19 - B 1 PM, VPAP will integrate the mid-year reports for state candidates and PACs into its online datatabase.

Tuesday, July 20 -- VPAP will post the mid-year reports filed by candidates for local office in 29 cities and counties in which VPAP follows the money in local elections.

Mathieson Details Theft

VPAP — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 02:30:31 +0000

Former Del. Robert Mathieson of Virginia Beach filed a series of amended campaign finance reports that detail $52,915 in authorized expenditures from his campaign account made by his former legislative aide during 2008 and 2009.

The former aide, Jason W. Robinson has been sentenced to three years behind bars and ordered to repay the Mathieson campaign, according to The Associated Press.

Mathieson reports that his campaign's credit card was used more than 900 times for fine meals, Brooks Brothers clothing, health club memberships and nights on the town. Robinson's favorite hang out was Catch 31, an oceanfront restaurant in the Hilton Hotel in Virginia Beach where the tab came to more than $10,000.

View list of unauthorized transactions

Mathieson discovered the theft in September 2009 while in the middle a tough re-election battle, which he lost to Republican Ron Villanueva by 16 votes.

Read a Virginian-Pilot article on Robinson's spending spree.

Recall Election of Portsmouth’s Mayor

VPAP — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 02:30:31 +0000

On Tuesday, Portsmouth voters recalled Mayor Holley from office.

The Portsmouth City Council will meet today to choose an interim Mayor. This person will serve until November, when an election will be held to determine who will serve for the remainder of Mayor Holley's term.

PACs Report $10K+ Donations

VPAP — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 02:30:31 +0000

VPAP has posted all donations of $10,000 or more reported by political committees between Tuesday, June 22, and Friday, July 9.

View all recent large contributions reported by PACs

PACs registered with the Virginia State Board of Elections must report any donation of $10,000 or more within three business days.

PAC Registration

VPAP — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 02:30:31 +0000

VPAP has posted information on a new PAC set up by Sen. Donald McEachin (D-Henrico):

Believe in Virginia PAC

The Believe in Virginia PAC was formed by Sen. Donald McEachin on June 29 to improve the environment, support public education, devise a real transportation plan, create jobs, and provide equal opportunity and justice.

House Committee Assignments

VPAP — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 02:30:30 +0000

House Speaker Bill Howell has assigned the newest House members -- Roxann Robinson and Tony Wilt -- to seats on standing committees:

Del. Roxann Robinson: Health, Welfare & Institutions; Science & Technology

Del. Tony Wilt: Agriculture, Chesapeake & Natural Resource; Counties, Cities & Towns

Howell also announced a series of reassignments following the resignations of Sam Nixon and Matthew Lohr. (Robinson and Wilt won special elections on June 15 to serve the remainder of Nixon and Lohr's terms, respectively).

The changes are:

Del. Eileen Filler-Corn: Milita, Police & Public Safety; Transportation
Del. Lee Ware: ViceChair - Commerce & Labor; no longer Vice Chair of Agriculture, Chesapeake & Natural Resources
Del. Ed Scott: Vice Chair - Agriculture, Chesapeake & Natural Resources
Del. John Cosgrove - Commerce & Labor; off General Laws
Del. Thomas Greason - General Laws; off Science & Technology
Del. Will Morefield - Science & Technology
Del. Jim Scott - off Militia, Police & Public Safety
Del. Ron Villanueva - Finance

View All General Assembly Committee Assignments

Read Speaker Howell's Press Release

Local Mid-Year Disclosures Update

VPAP — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 02:30:30 +0000

Updated July 23 - 2:45 PM

Virginia Public Access Project has posted the contents of midyear reports of candidates in the remaining 5 localities where it "follow the money".

Updated July 22 - 4:00 PM

Virginia Public Access Project has posted the contents of midyear reports of candidates in 2 more localities where it "follows the money".

City of Richmond

City of Chesapeake

Virginia Public Access Project has posted the contents of midyear reports of candidates in 22 of the 29 localities where it "follows the money":

VPAP is still gathering the paper reports from seven localities; it will post these later in the week when the documents become available.

New Lobbyist Registrations

VPAP — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 02:30:30 +0000

May 1 began a new year for lobbyist registrations. For the next few weeks, many lobbyists will be filing paperwork to renew their representation of clients during the period of May 1, 2010 - April 30, 2011.

VPAP has posted 58 lobbyist registrations provided by the Secretary of the Commonwealth since June 29. Among them, there were:

2008 Local Elections

VPAP — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 07:00:00 +0000

VPAP has posted available campaign contribution information for candidates seeking local office this year in five localities. Three will hold elections in May:

Two will hold elections in November:

Many candidates have yet to file a campaign finance report. Governor Kaine recently signed emergency legislation requiring candidates to file a campaign finance report on April 15. Without this legislation, candidates in May 6 contests would not have had to file a report until eight days before Election Day.

VPAP Summer Internship

VPAP — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 07:00:00 +0000

The non-partisan Virginia Public Access Project is looking for a college student to work as a Richmond-based summer intern. This is a great opportunity for someone with an interest in politics and a desire to get some valuable work experience. Internship will be paid or unpaid, depending on the successful applicant's experience and skills.

Application deadline is April 1.

Please email resume and brief email explaining your interest and qualifications to VPAP executive director David Poole at dpoole@vpap.org.

New Lobbyist Registrations Posted

VPAP — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 20:48:29 +0000

VPAP has updated its List of Registered with the latest information available from the Secretary of the Commonwealth's office.

VPAP posted 30 New Registrations

Each week, VPAP updates the companies and organizations that have representation before the General Assembly and state agencies and the list of lobbyists hired.

Lobbyist Search

$10,000+ Donations Updated

VPAP — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 07:00:00 +0000

VPAP posted the latest $10,000+ Contributions reported by non-candidate political committees. 4 new large contributions were reported since VPAP's last update.

New PAC Registrations

VPAP — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 07:00:00 +0000

VPAP has posted registration information for 6 New PACs:

Waldo's Virginia Political Blogroll » VPAP

PACs Report $10K+ Donations

View all recent large contributions reported by PACs

Lobbyist Disclosures

PACs Report $10K+ Donations

View all recent large contributions reported by PACs

Lobbyist Registrations

PACs Report $10K+ Donations

VPAP Reclassifies Forgiven Loans

PAC Registrations

PACs Report $10K+ Donations

2009-10 Lobbyist Audit

Lobbyist Registrations

PACs Report $10K+ Donations

View all recent large contributions reported by PACs

Congressional Elections

View Congressional Portal

Lobbyist Disclosures

E-Filing Nearly Universal

PACs Report $10K+ Donations

PACs Report $10K+ Donations

PACs Report $10K+ Donations

Mid-Year Disclosures

House of Delegates

Senate of Virginia

Top Donors

Governor, Lt. Governor, Attorney General

Caucus/Leadership Committees

Mathieson Details Theft

View list of unauthorized transactions

Recall Election of Portsmouth’s Mayor

PACs Report $10K+ Donations

PAC Registration

House Committee Assignments

Local Mid-Year Disclosures Update

New Lobbyist Registrations

2008 Local Elections

VPAP Summer Internship

New Lobbyist Registrations Posted

$10,000+ Donations Updated

New PAC Registrations