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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Campaign Money “Arms Race” Goes Nuclear

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Friday, August 31, 2012   

TAMPA, Fla. - The people watching money in politics say the fundraising arms race has gone nuclear.

Sheila Krumholz, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics, says she expects candidates and their allies will spend a minimum of $5.8 billion on federal campaigns this year, an all-time high. She says more of the money will be of a particularly sneaky kind.

"Much more of the money than previous cycles will be made up of unlimited, undisclosed donations."

Some fundraisers have defended the system, saying campaign donations are an extension of free speech. But Krumholz says what's really going on is that politicians and donors are building relationships they can use to their advantage.

According to her group, since last year, PAC donations to candidates in Maine were relatively small, totaling $21,000 and ranking the state 50th in the nation.

She says voters need to be very careful about secretive groups with innocent-sounding names that often fund dishonest political ads.

"Despite the patriotic name, it may in fact be one donor. Maybe a member of Congress has jurisdiction over their company or industry through their congressional committee assignments, who knows? We have to all be vigilant in this cycle, because there's a lot of hidden messages."

This year, Krumholz says, many huge super-PACs are masquerading as charities to dodge disclosure. She says the Internal Revenue Service has been investigating...

"But they risk pushback from Congress that doesn't like what they view as meddling in politics. Their hand has been slapped and they're cautiously proceeding."

Krumholz says the disclosure rules for these charities are nearly nonexistent.

Her group's website, Opensecrets.org, is a source for information on political spending.


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