The secret fundraising scheme forming for this contest will make super PACs look quaint

[applegrove]

The secret fundraising scheme forming for this contest will make super PACs look quaint

by Shane Goldmacher at the National Journal

http://www.nationaljournal.com/magazine/the-secret-fundraising-scheme-that-will-make-super-pacs-look-quaint-in-2016-20150123

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The coming presidential contest is ushering in an epochal shift: the arrival of candidate-specific nonprofits, personalized vehicles for a politician's supporters to raise and spend unlimited cash—completely clandestinely. It is poised to yield a campaign season more dominated by secret money than any election since Watergate, according to more than two dozen campaign strategists, election lawyers, donors, and worried watchdogs.

Already, at least four Republicans—Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, Bobby Jindal, and John Kasich—are linked to nonprofits staffed by allies helping to promote their vision for America. They have used these nonprofits to poll and formulate policy, to hire operatives and travel the country, to build national networks and keep themselves in the spotlight.

Such activities were once the province of campaign committees, where donors are named and expenses are tallied. But by raising money through "social welfare" nonprofits, these not-yet-candidates are avoiding disclosure of both their financiers and what, exactly, they are financing.

"This is the same kind of money that was at the heart of the Watergate scandals," says Fred Wertheimer, who has worked to clamp down on limitless and undisclosed spending since 1971. "When you combine unlimited contributions with secrecy, you are dealing with the most dangerous kind of corrupting money."




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[JeffHead]

1. Pay no attention to that greedy fucker behind the curtain.

They want to buy it but they just don't want to OWN IT.