Kim Barker

New Tax Return Shows Karl Rove’s Group Spent Even More On Politics Than It Said

GOP strategist Karl Rove’s dark money tax return specified grants would be used for social welfare but most went to political activities.

Kim Barker
By Kim Barker

On its 2012 tax return, GOP strategist Karl Rove’s dark money behemoth Crossroads GPS justified its status as a tax-exempt social welfare group in part by citing its grants of $35 million to other similarly aligned nonprofits. (Here’s the tax return itself, which we detailed last week.) The return, signed under penalty of perjury,specified that

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‘Dark Money’ Group Granted Tax-Exemption Despite Campaign Spending

America Is Not Stupid and A Better America Now applied for IRS recognition, swearing to not spend on 2012 elections yet put thousands into campaigns.

Kim Barker
By Kim Barker

Smart move? The IRS has granted nonprofit status to America Is Not Stupid – a so-called dark money group best known for a 2012 election ad featuring a talking baby who compared the smell of his diaper with a Montana senator. As ProPublica wrote in January, America Is Not Stupid and a related group, A Better America Now, applied for IRS

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Key Montana Senate Race Draws Deluge Of Dark Money

Montana is known for its big skies, jagged mountains and open roads. Not so much for people. Yet as much as $40 million is being spent to tell the state’s 675,000 registered voters who to pick as senator: incumbent Democrat Jon Tester or Republican Rep. Denny Rehberg. That’s almost $60 for every potential voter. Much […]

Kim Barker
By Kim Barker
Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., works the crowd at the first debate of the 2012 election in Big Sky, Mont. on Saturday, June 16, 2011. (AP Photo/Michael Albans)

Montana is known for its big skies, jagged mountains and open roads. Not so much for people. Yet as much as $40 million is being spent to tell the state's 675,000 registered voters who to pick as senator: incumbent Democrat Jon Tester or Republican Rep. Denny Rehberg. That's almost $60 for every potential voter. Much of the TV ad spending

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More Evidence Key Dark Money Group May Have Misled IRS

By Kim Barker, ProPublica, and Rick Young and Emma Schwartz, Frontline This story is being co-published with Frontline, which is also airing adocumentary on the group tonight. Check your local listings. New signs emerged Monday that a controversial nonprofit may have misled the Internal Revenue Service not only about its political activities but also about support from a purported donor. […]

Kim Barker
By Kim Barker
A stack of papers in files sits on a table. (Photo by moppet65535 via Flikr)

By Kim Barker, ProPublica, and Rick Young and Emma Schwartz, Frontline This story is being co-published with Frontline, which is also airing adocumentary on the group tonight. Check your local listings. New signs emerged Monday that a controversial nonprofit may have misled the Internal Revenue Service not only about its political activities

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Documents Found in Meth House Bare Inner Workings Of Dark Money Group

By Kim Barker, ProPublica, and Rick Young and Emma Schwartz, Frontline The boxes landed in the office of Montana investigators in March 2011. Found in a meth house in Colorado, they were somewhat of a mystery, holding files on 23 conservative candidates in state races in Montana. They were filled with candidate surveys and mailers […]

Kim Barker
By Kim Barker
In this Nov. 29, 2010 file photo, Gwinnett County, Ga., police confiscate methamphetamine at a home they raided in Norcross, Ga., after being tipped meth was being produced there. (AP Photo/Gwinnett County, Ga., Police Department, File)

By Kim Barker, ProPublica, and Rick Young and Emma Schwartz, Frontline The boxes landed in the office of Montana investigators in March 2011. Found in a meth house in Colorado, they were somewhat of a mystery, holding files on 23 conservative candidates in state races in Montana. They were filled with candidate surveys and mailers that said

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Did The Dark Money Group That Spurred A Landmark Ruling Mislead The IRS?

By Kim Barker, ProPublica, and Emma Schwartz, Frontline A western nonprofit that played a key role in freeing corporate spending on elections nationwide appears to have misled the IRS when it applied for the tax-exempt status that shields its donors from being publicly disclosed. Documents obtained by ProPublica and Frontline show that Western Tradition Partnership, now […]

Kim Barker
By Kim Barker
The Supreme Court in Washington, Monday, June 25, 2012. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

By Kim Barker, ProPublica, and Emma Schwartz, Frontline A western nonprofit that played a key role in freeing corporate spending on elections nationwide appears to have misled the IRS when it applied for the tax-exempt status that shields its donors from being publicly disclosed. Documents obtained by ProPublica and Frontline show that

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Dark Money Poured Into New Mexico Senate Contest

By Kim Barker and Justin Elliott Dark money groups flooded Albuquerque’s airwaves in August, aiming to sway a hotly contested U.S. Senate race by making more than half the political ad buys on top TV stations. That fact, gleaned through a review of TV station political ad records now available in our Free the Files news […]

Kim Barker
By Kim Barker
A still from a Crossroads GPS ad targeting Democratic Senate candidate Martin Heinrich.

By Kim Barker and Justin Elliott Dark money groups flooded Albuquerque’s airwaves in August, aiming to sway a hotly contested U.S. Senate race by making more than half the political ad buys on top TV stations. That fact, gleaned through a review of TV station political ad records now available in our Free the Files news application,

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