There is little doubt that plutocrats are trying to buy the November elections. Not just control of the White House, but control of the U.S. House and Senate, too.
Freed from campaign finance limitations by five pliant Supreme Court justices, wealthy donors with no sense of shame are pouring record amounts of money into so-called super political action committees. Donors to super PACs eventually will see their names made public; being shameless, they don’t care.
But what about plutocrats who have more money than guts? Isn’t there some way for them to help destroy democracy and still hide in the shadows?
Two years ago Monday, Karl Rove, the Lex Luthor behind George W. Bush’s political career, and former GOP National Chairman Ed Gillespie invented one: Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies. Its sister organization, American Crossroads, is a super PAC. But Crossroads GPS was organized under Chapter 501(c)4 of the Internal Revenue Code as a “social welfare” organization.
Donations to such groups normally are tax-exempt and can be made anonymously. The only hitch is that IRS rules say, “The promotion of social welfare does not include direct or indirect participation or intervention in political campaigns on behalf of or in opposition to any candidate for public office. However, a section 501(c)4 social welfare organization may engage in some political activities, so long as that is not its primary activity.”
At long last, the IRS has shaken off its fear of the Republican-controlled House of Representatives and begun an investigation into the blatant disregard of these rules by Crossroads GPS and other political 501(c)4s. The richest of the groups are conservative, but there are a few liberal-leaning “C4s” as well.
Thus far, the IRS inquiry has been limited to sending letters of inquiry. Under the most hopeful scenario, the IRS would not rule until well after the November election; court challenges could be expected after that. That means “dark money” will play a critical role in November. Any disclosure of names or loss of tax-exempt status would occur years from now.
Crossroads GPS and like-minded groups are trying to buy control of the U.S. Senate by targeting incumbent Democratic senators. In Missouri, Crossroads so far has spent more than $3 million on commercials attacking Democratic U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill. That anonymous money is aimed at voters in the Show-Me State is more than ironic. It insults voters.
On other fronts, President Barack Obama’s campaign has asked the Federal Election Commission to enforce the findings of a recent federal Court of Appeals decision that found that some 501(c)4s were violating IRS rules. Don’t expect any action there; the FEC may be the most feckless regulatory agency in the U.S. government, which covers a lot of ground.
It’s not only Section 501(c)4 that’s being abused. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, a Democrat, has begun an investigation into contributions to, and political activity by, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a tax-exempt 501(c)6 business organization. The chamber has 300,000 member-corporations, but more than half of its political activities are funded by just 45 of them, according to U.S. Chamber Watch, a union-backed group.
Big liberal donors ― including financier George Soros, the bete noire of the right ― are pumping money into get-out-the-vote efforts. That’s better, but not good. Until predatory wealth is tamed, voters will be played for saps.
(The St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
(MCT Information Services)
