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Dark money looms large in 2014 midterms
Key Excerpts from Article on Website of San Francisco Chronicle (San Francisco's leading newspaper)
Posted: November 16th, 2014
http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/diaz/article/Dark-money-looms-...
The most disturbing trend in the financing of American political campaigns is not the magnitude of the money being spent. Its that more and more of that money is not going through the campaigns themselves where donations must be disclosed and limited but from nonprofit groups that are being set up for the express purpose of frustrating any attempt to identify their funders. This infusion of dark money all but obliterates the post-Watergate notion that Americans have a right to know who is behind ... candidates. In this new world order, various players are operating under different sets of rules and some seem to be creating their own, aware that this Supreme Court seems disinclined to stop them. We know, for example, that billionaire investor Tom Steyer spent $74 million on behalf of Democratic candidates who were committed to doing something about climate change. There is no exact figure on how much was spent at the other end of the spectrum by the Koch brothers, the conservative oil barons who funnel much of their donations through nonprofits that are not required to list their funding sources under the tax code. A memo by the Koch brothers main political arm, leaked to Politico in May, forecast a budget of $125 million in this election. Such obfuscation is becoming more commonplace. The average voter is left without knowing who really is behind these campaigns. But make no mistake: Our elected officials are well aware of their benefactors and their expectations.
Note: For more along these lines, see these summaries of deeply revealing election news articles from reliable sources.
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