James Bopp: The man behind our secret elections

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http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_6492.shtml


A little-known Indiana lawyer with a fiercely partisan agenda and a long record of radical conservative activism has engineered the flow of tens of millions of dollars in corporate and trade association money -- most of it from secret donors -- into this year’s mid-term elections, drowning out the voices of ordinary Americans.

The courtroom victories of James Bopp, Jr., of Terre Haute, Indiana, have enabled his clients to invest millions in bought speech -- a flood of political commercials that promote GOP candidates and drown out the voices of their opponents and ordinary Americans. Among other lawsuits, Bopp originally launched the case Citizens United vs. the Federal Election Commission that resulted in the US Supreme Court earlier this year lifting the longtime ban on corporate and union spending on elections and flooding the mid-term elections with secret money.

“James Bopp is the point man for conservative wealthy interests whose goal is to dismantle the laws and regulations we have in place to stop the buying of Congress and other elected officials,” said Common Cause President Bob Edgar. “America has Bopp and company to thank for the flood of secret corporate dollars flowing into the mid-term elections drowning out the voices of ordinary voters. Wall Street, Big Oil and the insurance industry will all seek a return on their investments as soon as the campaigns are over, and the public will pay the price.”

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His activism and legal work on behalf of GOP sponsors has helped make Bopp wealthy. Since 2003, Bopp has collected nearly $1.5 million in legal fees from the Republican National Committee, it says; his firm has been paid an additional $1 million by a foundation Bopp helped create and has described as backed by anonymous “major donors” from the “conservative community.”

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we need to know some more about this man

[Frustratedlady]

1. Are these guys just high-priced money launderers? More on Bopp.

http://www.kansascity.com/2010/10/24/2347801/the-lawyer-who-argued-that-money.html

His "sense of humor" sounds more like Beck.

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2. thank for this info - bet he is in league with neo con judges

or neo con judges are in league with him

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3. He's got a very long track record with this kind of crap

Here he is in 1999 tied in with the Tom DeLay money-laundering machine

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1999-08-07/news/9908070033_1_new-group-donors-contributors

Contributors Vow To Toss Big Bucks At Conservatives
A Virginia-based Group Will Skirt Election Laws, Giving Its Donors Anonymity And Freeing Itself Of Spending Limits.
August 07, 1999

A new group of contributors with big money and close ties to the Republican National Committee, the tobacco industry, the anti-abortion movement and influential House Republican Tom DeLay is planning to skirt federal election laws and funnel big, indirect and secret contributions to embattled conservatives.

The Virginia-based Republican Majority Issues Committee is seeking a total of $25 million in donations of $500,000 to $3 million and is promising donors anonymity. It plans to spend as much as $1 million per race to support two dozen or so conservative candidates in next year's battle to keep control of the House of Representatives. . . .

Even most campaign-finance reformers concede that the group's approach is legal, thanks in part to a string of Internal Revenue Service rulings and court victories, many of them won by James Bopp, counsel for the new group. In fact, Bopp designed the group to meet IRS conditions meant for a liberal group with similar intentions.

To stay on the right side of the law, neither the new conservative group nor its ads can explicitly tell voters whom to vote for or against. Nor, says executive director Karl Gallant, will it take guidance from House or GOP leaders or coordinate its efforts with the candidates it supports.

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4. And in 2000 suing against the Florida recount

http://cache.boston.com/news/politics/campaign2000/news/GOP_activist_among_those_filing_suits+.shtml

GOP activist among those filing suits

By Mary Leonard, Globe Staff, 11/19/2000

WASHINGTON - One of the federal lawsuits aimed at stopping the Florida recount was generated by an Indiana attorney with close ties to religious conservatives, antiabortion activists, and the GOP congressional leadership. James Bopp Jr. also is the nemesis of proponents of stricter campaign finance laws.

Bopp pledged Friday to return to the US Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta ''definitely, within hours,'' if the Florida Supreme Court rules this week that the secretary of state must include hand-recounted ballots in her certified tally of the presidential election vote. . . .

In Washington, Bopp is the lawyer for the Republican Majority Issues Committee, the political action fund of House majority whip Tom DeLay that raised $25 million in unregulated soft money for candidates this fall.

Bopp also is general counsel of the James Madison Center for Free Speech, a legal fund created by US Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, head of the GOP Senate reelection committee, to oppose state laws and initiatives aimed at changing the way elections are financed and campaign donations are reported.

[Frustratedlady]

5. Thank God for the Internet. It's amazing what you can find if you look.

So timely, too. DeLay in court, McConnell sneering, Boehner primping for the SOTHOTUS, Bush 2000 election...man, they are just popping up all over the place, aren't they?

Wonder what's out there that ISN'T on the Net.

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6. And there's still more where that came from.

In 2000, Bopp was trying to strike down a law compelling political non-profits to reveal their donors.
http://www.publicintegrity.org/articles/entry/554/

In 2002, he was involved with Mitch McConnell in opposing campaign finance reform.
http://www.jamesmadisoncenter.org/newsarticles/NationalJournalBopparticle.pdf

In 2006 he was the lawyer for GOP attempts to get a discredited DeLay off the Texas ballot.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4084035.html


Given all the DeLay stuff, I'm a bit surprised he wasn't the subject of legal charges himself. But I guess lawyers know how to keep their noses clean.