More on campaign spending. The recent headlines have been how much AFSME has spent. But that is just the right wing press. The reality is better seen by looking at individual races. Take Kentucky, for example.
That, in turn, led to creation of dozens of new organizations — most of them supporting Republicans — now taking contributions and in some cases, not having to disclose donors’ identities under federal rules.
In Kentucky, the outside spending total tops the amounts spent by Paul ($6 million) and Conway ($4.7 million).
Of the $8.5 million spent by outside groups, $6 million was to help Paul, a Bowling Green ophthalmologist, and $2.5 million to help Conway, the state’s attorney general.
Outside groups spend big in U.S. Senate race
By Stephenie Steitzer • ssteitzer@courier-journal.com • October 29, 2010
courier-journal.com
More than two dozen outside groups have poured nearly $8.5 million into the U.S. Senate race between Democrat Jack Conway and Republican Rand Paul, according to a foundation that tracks such spending.
Groups that support Paul have outspent those that back Conway by a margin of more than 2-1 — and much of the money comes from donors whose identities do not have to be disclosed, records compiled by the nonprofit Sunlight Foundation show.
“Voters are being deluged with advertisements and spending from groups, (and) they don’t know … who is backing these groups,” said Paul Blumenthal, senior writer with the Washington, D.C., foundation, which analyzes Federal Election Commission records. “… This is a lack of transparency and lack of accountability for those who are spending money in our political system.”
A U.S. Supreme Court ruling in January opened the door to unlimited spending on elections by corporations, unions and other groups. The decision did not affect direct corporate or union contributions to candidates; those are still banned. Nor did it cover spending by political action committees run by special interests, which must disclose their donors.
The ruling did, however, free corporations and unions to spend on independent ads for and against candidates, as well as on other advocacy efforts, such as mailings.
That, in turn, led to creation of dozens of new organizations — most of them supporting Republicans — now taking contributions and in some cases, not having to disclose donors’ identities under federal rules.
Nationally, more than $430 million has been spent by outside groups, far exceeding the roughly $111 million that had been spent by mid-October in the the last midterm election in 2006, according to Sunlight.
In Kentucky, the outside spending total tops the amounts spent by Paul ($6 million) and Conway ($4.7 million).
Of the $8.5 million spent by outside groups, $6 million was to help Paul, a Bowling Green ophthalmologist, and $2.5 million to help Conway, the state’s attorney general.
ust since Monday, outside groups have spent $1.4 million on advertising and other election expenditures.
“I just think it’s absolutely tragic, the effects of (the Supreme Court decision),” Conway said during a campaign stop this week. “It gets democracy further and further away from the people.”
Paul campaign manager Jesse Benton did not respond to a request for comment.
Republican strategist Scott Jennings of Louisville said he believes the situation is “partially the fault of those who tried to limit the amount of money parties and candidates can raise.
“The only thing they really accomplished here is driving money in politics away from those who people want to hear from the most” — the candidates.
The largest outside spenders in the Kentucky Senate race are the national Republican and Democratic Senate committees, controlled by party leaders in the chamber, which have spent $1.8 million and nearly $1.6 million, respectively.
Excluding those committees, 12 groups supporting Paul have spent $4.1 million, compared to $876,000 spent by 13 groups supporting Conway.
The largest Republican-leaning spender is American Crossroads, a political action committee that former White House political adviser Karl Rove helped form.
American Crossroads, which has spent almost $21 million nationally, has put down $1.45 million on ads and phone calls to Kentucky voters, according to Sunlight.
Because it is registered as a political action committee, it must disclose its donors. And according to the FEC, they include Lexington horse farm owner B. Wayne Hughes, who has contributed $3.6 million, and Alliance Resource Group, which operates six coal mines in Kentucky and contributed $2 million.
Calls to Hughes and an Alliance spokesman were not returned.
Three other Kentucky residents have contributed more than $3,400, records show.
The group’s chairman is Mike Duncan, an Inez banker and a former chairman of the Republican National Committee. He declined to comment, saying he is not involved in American Crossroads’ Kentucky campaign because he is on the state party’s executive committee.
Crossroads spokesman Jonathan Collegio said in an interview that “a key to any strategy to winning the U.S. Senate is for the challenging party to hold all of its own seats, especially open seats from retiring members. We had to make sure that Rand Paul made it across the finish line.”
A sister organization to American Crossroads, Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies, has spent $630,000 in Kentucky but does not have to disclose its donors because of its status under IRS regulations, which also cover such groups as the National Rifle Association.
Another large Republican-leaning group, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, has spent $1.25 million on two television ads attacking Conway, one of them for his support of health care reform.
The chamber does not have to disclose its donors. Chamber spokesman J.P. Fielder said in an interview that “we look at a candidate like Rand Paul and recognize he understands what type of policies are going to create jobs in Kentucky.”
On the Democratic side, the National Education Association Advocacy Fund, an arm of the teacher’s union, is the largest outside spender, having put up $400,000 last week for a television ad saying Paul believes drug laws are too harsh.
An NEA spokesperson did not return a call seeking comment. That group is required to disclose its donors because it is a political action committee, but its most recent filing lists its only donor as the association itself.
Blumenthal said that, while most of the money spent by union PACs comes from union members, it “would be “preferable to see who is funding all these groups in real time up to the election.”
Beyond the Senate race, outside groups have spent nearly $1.7 million on congressional races in Kentucky’s 6th, 3rd and 5th districts.
The bulk of the money — $1.6 million — was spent on the tight race between Democratic Rep. Ben Chandler and Republican attorney Andy Barr in the 6th District, seemingly the GOP’s best chance to pick up a Democratic seat in the state.
Barr spokesman John Connell said in an e-mail that “we ran our campaign not expecting any involvement from outside organizations.” But Republican-leaning groups have outspent Democratic-leaning groups by a margin of more than 2-1.
Chandler, at a recent campaign stop, said the outside money being spent in his race is reprehensible and that that Supreme Court decision that allowed that to happen is “one of the worst Supreme Court decisions in our country’s history.”
Reporter Stephenie Steitzer can be reached at (502) 875-5136. |
