Crossroads: Fundraising in 2013, Suit Against FEC

Politico reports:

The trio of conservative groups headed up by GOP consultant Karl Rove pulled in a combined $6.1 million in 2013, according to numbers obtained by POLITICO.

The super PAC American Crossroads took in about $1.6 million in the second half of 2013, while the nonprofit Crossroads GPS raised $1.1 million. The super PAC alone has $2.7 million cash on hand going into 2014.

A third group — the super PAC Conservative Victory Project — did no independent fundraising, aside from a $10,000 transfer from American Crossroads.

It’s a major comedown from the 2012 presidential race, when American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS together raised a whopping $325 million and poured money into competitive Senate races and presidential battleground states.

Typically, donor interest is much lower in non-presidential cycles. The two Crossroads groups raised about $7o million in 2010 — though much of that poured in during the final months of the election.

The Washington Times reports:

Two campaign finance watchdog groups on Friday sued the Federal Election Commission over the panel’s decision to dismiss a complaint against the conservative Crossroads GPS, co-founded by GOP strategist Karl Rove.

The suit grows out of a 2010 FEC complaint filed by Public Citizen against Crossroads for what critics said was a failure to register as a political committee and disclose its donors, despite spending massive amounts on political advertising in the 2010 election cycle.

In a statement released Friday, Public Citizen and the Campaign Legal Center contend that Crossroads GPS fits the legal definition of a political committee — a group that receives or spends more than $1,000 during a calendar year to influence elections and whose major purpose is to support or oppose federal candidates.

The FEC commissioners deadlocked 3-3 along party lines on a vote in December over whether to investigate charges American Crossroads had violated guidelines for a “social welfare” organization by engaging in political activity.