Correct the Record was a hybrid PAC/super PAC founded by

David Brock David Brock (born July 23, 1962) is an American liberal political consultant, author, and commentator who founded the media watchdog group Media Matters for America. He has been described by ''Time'' as "one of the most influential operatives i ...

. It supported

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States senat ...

2016 presidential campaign This national electoral calendar for 2016 lists the national/ federal elections held in 2016 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *7 January: Kiri ...

. The PAC aimed to respond to negative online narratives about Clinton.

History

The organization was created in May 2015 when it spun off from

American Bridge 21st Century American Bridge 21st Century or AB PAC is a liberal American Super PAC that supports Democratic candidates and opposes Republican candidates. It was founded by David Brock in 2010 and is associated with Media Matters for America. It is an o ...

, another Democratic Super PAC. It coordinated with Clinton's 2016 U.S. presidential campaign via a loophole in campaign finance law that it says permits coordination with digital campaigns.

Purpose

In July 2015, Correct the Record teamed with

Priorities USA Action Priorities USA Action is a progressive political action committee and is the largest Democratic Party super PAC. Founded in 2011, it supported Barack Obama's 2012 re-election campaign. It was the primary super PAC supporting Hillary Clinton's ...

, another pro-Clinton super PAC, to create a fundraising committee called American Priorities ’16. In October 2015, historian Allida Black and political strategist Connor Shaw launched "Let's Talk Hillary" in partnership with Correct the Record and Wild Onion Media. The $1 million project was used to give Hillary Clinton's long time friends and co-workers a platform to describe the woman they knew. The project was largely considered a success and awarded numerous awards, including the Golden Donkey in 2015. In April 2016, Correct the Record announced that it would be spending $1 million to find and confront social media users who post unflattering messages about Clinton in a "task force" called "Barrier Breakers 2016". In addition to this, the task force aimed to encourage Sanders supporters to support Clinton and to thank both "prominent supporters and committed superdelegates". The organization's president, Brad Woodhouse, said they had "about a dozen people engaged in roducingnothing but positive content on Hillary Clinton" and had a team distributing information "particularly of interest to women". The Super PAC ran ads against Bernie Sanders during the Democratic primary. In September 2016, Correct the Record announced a project called "Trump Leaks". Correct the Record said it would pay anonymous tipsters for unflattering scoops about

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

, including audio and video recordings and internal documents. On December 31, 2016, the official website was deactivated from its host's servers WPEngine.

Legality

Super PACs, officially known as "independent expenditure-only committees", are political committees that are legally only allowed to make expenditures that are independent of specific campaigns and which are not coordinated with a candidate or political party. However, Correct the Record says its activities do not fall under this campaign coordination ban restriction, relying on a 2006

Federal Election Commission The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is an independent regulatory agency of the United States whose purpose is to enforce campaign finance law in United States federal elections. Created in 1974 through amendments to the Federal Election C ...

"Internet exemption" regulation that said that content posted online for free is off limits from regulation. According to FEC rules, online postings do not technically count as campaign expenditures, which allows independent groups to consult with candidates about the content they post on their sites.

References

External links

Correct the Record on OpenSecrets.org

Correct the Record on Ballotpedia.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Correct the Record Hillary Clinton 2016 presidential campaign United States political action committees 2016 United States presidential campaigns 2015 establishments in the United States