YG Network

YG Network, the 501(c)(4) social welfare organization launched by a former staffer for House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), spent just under $10 million last year, according to its IRS tax filing. The group came on strong, given that it was founded just the year before and spent a meager $108,000 in 2011. More than $7 million of its $12.7 million in revenues last year came from just five donors. Like other politically active nonprofits, YG Network doesn't have to disclose the identities of its contributors. The organization, which was founded by Cantor's former Deputy Chief of Staff John Murray, told the IRS it spent $4 million on politics, which is about $1 million more than what the organization had reported to the FEC. And it was flush enough to pay Murray, the organization's president/director, very well for part-time work. He received a salary of $630,000 for working 30 hours per week in 2012, the filing shows. To compare, Crossroads GPS president Steven Law got $538,000 for working 48 hours a week, and Americans for Tax Reform president Grover Norquist received $257,404 for 40 hours a week. Much of the organization's money -- likely including that additional amount not reported to the FEC -- went to digital and radio ad campaigns in support of various hot-button issues like the sequester. Among the ads the YG Network paid for in 2012 were a digital and radio campaign warning of the dangers of automatic budget cuts to national security, as well as a digital campaign focusing on preventing tax hikes for small businesses. In addition, though -- despite stating on its tax documents that it was formed "primarily for the purpose of informing the public on, and advocating for" various conservative issues -- YG Network got involved in several big congressional races in 2012. During the Indiana Senate GOP primary it generated some controversy when it spent $200,000 on mailers encouraging votes for incumbent Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) over his challenger, state Treasurer Richard Mourdock. Many Republicans were angered by the fact that the mailers targeted Democrats and independent voters, urging them to support Lugar. In the end, the mailers didn't make much of a difference: Lugar lost to Mourdock in the primary, who subsequently lost to Democratic candidate Joe Donnelly. Overall, YG Network spent nearly $2.9 million directly asking people to vote for or against 24 congressional candidates in 2012.