Democracy 21 Calls on Justice Department to Closely Monitor the Presidential Candidate Super PACs During the 2012 Election
In a letter sent today to Attorney General Eric Holder, Democracy 21 called on the Justice Department to closely monitor the activities of presidential candidate-specific Super PACs in the 2012 presidential election.
The letter forwarded to Attorney General Holder a Democracy 21 report issued last week which raised serious questions about the legality of the leading presidential candidate-specific Super PACs and which documented “the web of connections and relationships between the leading candidate-specific Super PACs and the presidential candidates they are supporting.”
The letter noted:
The central problem posed by candidate-specific Super PACs is that they serve as vehicles to eviscerate candidate contribution limits, the core anti-corruption provisions in the federal campaign finance laws which have long been held constitutional by the Supreme Court.
Super PACs provide a means for supporters of presidential candidates to give multi-million dollar donations to a political organization run by former aides and longstanding political operatives of the candidate, who spend the money exclusively for the benefit of that candidate.
The letter notes:
Since the issuance of the Democracy 21 Report last week, press stories this week have reported that a single donor, Sheldon Adelson, has made a $5 million contribution to Winning Our Future PAC, the candidate-specific Super PAC promoting the campaign of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Individual donors also have given contributions of $1 million and $2 million to Super PACs that are supporting Mitt Romney and President Obama respectively in the 2012 election.
As you are aware, the limit on individual contributions to federal candidates is $2,500 per donor per election.
The letter to Attorney General Holder concludes:
Candidate-specific Super PACS are the most dangerous vehicles for corrupting our democracy in existence today.
It denies reality to think that this arrangement does not pose the same threat of corruption or the appearance of corruption that candidate contribution limits have been enacted to prevent.
It strains credulity to believe that the presidential candidate-specific Super PACs were established without some formal or informal involvement or signoff by the presidential candidates being supported or their campaigns or agents.
We urge you and the Justice Department to review the findings of our Report and to closely monitor the activities of the presidential candidate-specific Super PACs in the 2012 presidential election.
To read the complete letter click here.
