California donor disclosure case exposes how nonprofits can play in politics
Source: Washington Post
From coast to coast, election contests are increasingly being influenced by well-funded nonprofit organizations that disclose little about their donors or how they operate.
But new revelations in California provide an unusual look at one national network of such groups that helped move $15 million into ballot-initiative campaigns last fall while working hard to hide the identities of their prominent financial backers. A pair of conservative nonprofits at the heart of the effort were together fined a record $1 million after a year-long state investigation, while two political committees were ordered to repay the state for $15 million in donations they received.
“It is clear that people are willing to use circuitous routes to avoid telling the voters who’s behind campaigns,” said Ann Ravel, a new Democratic appointee to the Federal Election Commission who helped oversee the California inquiry as a state official.
Several of the advocacy groups at the center of the California case have played significant roles in national elections, including Americans for Job Security, Americans for Responsible Leadership and the American Future Fund. Those three groups have reported more than $68 million in campaign-related expenditures during the past two election cycles, according to data from the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. Because they are set up as nonprofit organizations rather than political committees, the groups are not required to disclose their financial supporters to the FEC.
Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/california-donor-disclosure-case-exposes-how-nonprofits-play-in-politics/2013/11/04/70e0b7ac-4246-11e3-a624-41d661b0bb78_story.html?wprss&google_editors_picks=true