https://apnews.com/345bbd1af529cfb1e41305fa3ab1e604

Shadow group provides Sanders super PAC support he scorns
By BRIAN SLODYSKO January 7, 2020

WASHINGTON (AP) — Bernie Sanders says he doesn’t want a super PAC. Instead, he has Our Revolution, a nonprofit political organization he founded that functions much the same as one.

Like a super PAC, which is shorthand for super political action committee, Our Revolution can raise unlimited sums from wealthy patrons that dwarf the limits faced by candidates and conventional PACs. Unlike a super PAC, however, the group doesn’t have to disclose its donors — a stream of revenue commonly referred to as “dark money.”

Now, with less than one month to go before the Iowa caucuses, Our Revolution appears to be skirting campaign finance law, which forbids groups founded by federal candidates and officeholders from using large donations to finance federal election activity, including Sanders’ 2020 bid.

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But while Warren has come under fire for courting wealthy financiers in her past Senate campaigns, Sanders and Our Revolution have largely avoided scrutiny during the primary, even as he has accelerated his criticism of others, among them Biden, for relying on super PACs founded by their allies.

In the case of Our Revolution, which aims to boost voter turnout for Sanders, the Vermont senator was the founder.

As recently as last week, Sanders continued his criticism. “I do not have a super PAC in which billionaires make contributions,” Sanders said during a town hall in Anamosa, Iowa. “I don’t want a super PAC because our campaign and administration is there to represent working families, not the wealthy.”

The campaign finance act says groups “directly or indirectly established” by federal officeholders or candidates can’t “solicit, receive, direct, transfer, or spend funds” for federal electoral activity that exceeds the “limitations, prohibitions, and reporting requirements” of the law. Those limits are currently set at $2,800 for candidates and $5,000 for political action committees.

Our Revolution has taken in nearly $1 million from donors who gave more than the limits and whose identities it hasn’t fully disclosed, according to tax filings for 2016, 2017 and 2018. Much of it came from those who contributed six-figure sums.

It won’t have to publicly reveal its 2019 fundraising until after this year’s presidential election. And money it raises between now and then won’t have to be disclosed until the following year.

“Any entity established by a federal officeholder can only raise and spend money under federal contribution limits for any activities in connection with a federal election,” said Paul S. Ryan, a campaign finance expert and attorney with the good-government group Common Cause. “Our Revolution was undoubtedly established by Sen. Sanders, is subject to these laws — and is seemingly in violation of them.”

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Yet the group, which takes its name from a book written by Sanders, was beset by turmoil almost from the start with about a dozen leaving in protest. Our Revolution’s willingness to accept money from undisclosed donors, which some saw as anathema to Sanders’ message of campaign finance reform, was one of the reasons for the exodus, according to a former staffer who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal dynamics.

Sanders has ripped groups on the right in the past for plunging money into the political system without disclosure. In 2016, he also attacked Democratic rival Hillary Clinton for accepting help from super PACs.

His website includes a detailed plan to get “corporate money out of politics” that calls for aggressive enforcement of campaign finance laws and an end to “political spending” by nonprofit groups like Our Revolution “who accept unlimited contributions or do not disclose donors.”

Yet in September, he joined an organization-wide conference call celebrating Our Revolution’s third anniversary and thanked the group for doing “some of the most important work that can be done in our country.”

Our Revolution has touted its transparency in the past. It formerly disclosed the names of contributors on its website, though it did not list the amounts they gave and also masked donors’ identities at their request. But after the first three months of last year, Our Revolution has not updated the list. The group says it will restart the practice soon after launching a new website.

It’s not certain that the Federal Election Commission will consider Our Revolution’s fundraising practices a violation. The FEC, which has wide latitude to interpret the law, has ruled in the past that similar groups founded by federal officeholders are limited to accepting contributions of $5,000 or less.

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If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden