Dark money is a term campaign finance reformers use to describe the unlimited sums of cash given anonymously to support political candidates or to promote specific public policy agendas.
On a national level, the secret funding can come from corporations, labor unions or wealthy individuals, delivered through an array of nonprofit political action committees. By law, super PACs, like the well-known Crossroads GPS founded by GOP operative Karl Rove, are barred from coordinating with a specific candidate’s campaign. Yet that and similar restrictions governing federal elections seem unlikely to be enforced in the 2016 presidential campaign.
The Federal Election Commission’s chairwoman recently told The New York Times she has little hope that the FEC would support such enforcement in the race, in which a record $10 billion is expected to be spent. The problem is that the six-member commission, as set up by Congress, is divided along political lines. Either side can effectively thwart any enforcement action – a paralysis that critics say was intended by those who wrote the law.
Dark money similarly comes into play in New York. A 1996 advisory opinion by the state Board of Elections opened the floodgates for unfettered campaign contributions by recognizing limited liability corporations as individuals when it comes to campaign contribution limits. Since then, using what’s come to be known as the LLC loophole, individuals have skirted contribution limits by merely forming multiple LLCs, each one able to donate like a different person.
Thus, big political donors wield vast influence, because their money can determine who gets elected. The Times Union’s Chris Bragg reported Sunday that these big donors also often skirt disclosure laws through the use of out-of-state corporations.
And, as with its federal counterpart, the state Board of Elections is divided along party lines, suggesting that lawmakers really don’t want to change a system that has served their campaigns well. Last month, when a vote came up to close the LLC loophole, the board’s four members were evenly split. The status quo prevailed.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has benefited more than any other politician from LLC contributions, claims he favors ending the loophole. Yet he did not push such reform vigorously in his 2015 budget proposal. While the Assembly approved LLC reform on Tuesday in a bipartisan 120-8 vote, the Republican-controlled Senate has historically refused to go along.
Now, with the Senate leadership change stemming from the arrest of Sen. Dean Skelos on corruption charges, the new majority leader, Sen. John Flanagan, could end this stonewall. He could demonstrate a commitment to reform by allowing a bill closing the LLC loophole, proposed by Sen. Daniel Squadron, to emerge from committee. And the full Senate should get to vote for fair elections, instead of those in which a few wealthy donors can slip millions of dollars through a loophole, and determine the outcome.