Albert Hunt: 2016: Banner year for ‘dark money’

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.omaha.com/opinion/albert-hunt-banner-year-for-dark-money/article_284e0309-ffb5-59e3-8eb7-b9c8ddf99786.html

POSTED: WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 6, 2016 1:00 AM

The 2016 presidential campaign not only will feature more money than any since Watergate, but also more secret money than the days when black satchels of illicit cash were passed around.

The so-called “dark money” — contributions that don’t have to be disclosed — topped more than $300 million in the 2012 presidential race, and some experts believe that the levels may be far higher this time. There also is a risk that foreign money could be surreptitiously funneled into the presidential campaign because it wouldn’t have to be publicly disclosed.

This flood of cash is occurring thanks to a ruse that permits political advocacy groups to claim that they are principally social welfare agencies and thus tax exempt and not subject to disclosure. These organizations court interest groups and rich donors, some of whom want the influence that political money brings but not the public association. It’s a win for the interest groups and the candidates; the public is kept in the dark.

This time, presidential candidates, especially Sen. Marco Rubio, are getting into the act. Almost one in five television ads has been financed by dark money, according to the Center for Responsive Politics — most of that from the Conservative Solutions Project, a nonprofit that backs Rubio.

FULL story at link.