Monday, January 18, 2016

Do you know who is buying your government?


In some cases the buyers and/or the big money backers are known to the public. Now, however, thanks to the Citizens United ruling, SuperPACS are able to collect unlimited funds from any source around the globe without having to reveal any identities.
“This letter serves to officially notify the Federal Election Commission that Priorities USA Action will file its reports on a monthly basis to the Commission as of January 1, 2016,” it read.

Sounds harmless enough. But that little note — and more just like it from other super PACs — allows top presidential bankrollers to remain hidden as the campaign grows white hot.

That’s because, thanks to a quirk in federal law, such letters give those super PACs the power to withhold their January donors’ names until well after the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primaries are conducted next month.

Also secret: the potentially massive amounts of money the donors are contributing in order to affect the outcome of those crucial contests.

Instead, the super PACs will file campaign finance disclosure reports that only include contributions they’ve received through December...

Here’s how the super PAC filing loophole works:

Most major super PACs filed just one campaign finance disclosure report during 2015, as the law allows them to do.

But this month, these “semi-annual” super PAC filers who’ve spent money in the New Hampshire primary campaign race face a choice.

They may choose to do nothing, maintain their current status and be required to submit a “pre-primary” report on Jan. 28 — 12 days before New Hampshire’s Feb. 9 primary.

Such a pre-primary report would reveal everyone who’s given a super PAC money — and how much — through Jan. 20. (Because of a 36-year-old FEC ruling, presidential caucus contests such as the one Iowa conducts on Feb. 1 don’t trigger such reports.)

Or, as many super PACs already have, they may this month notify the FEC that they’re switching to a monthly filing schedule.

Doing so exempts a super PAC from filing Jan. 28 pre-primary reports, and therefore, revealing their income from Jan. 1 through Jan. 20.

Instead, they’ll file a report disclosing their 2015 fundraising on Jan. 31 and another report detailing their January fundraising on Feb. 20, per FEC rules.

Some presidential race-focused super PACs pulled a similar donor-hiding switcheroo ahead of the 2012 election, although this time around, super PACs are raising exponentially more money to promote their candidates of choice — or lambaste those they oppose.

Technically, the FEC could deny such filing change requests. But the agency almost never does.
Theoretically all monies should be raised domestically, but if you don't know who gave it, you don't know where it came from. If you commit a crime, you can know who accused you but if you vote you have no idea who is outbidding you for the candidates affections.

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