USA TODAY Editorial: Presidential race not the place for secret donors

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Allies of President Obama and a slew of Republican hopefuls are taking advantage of loose campaign-finance laws, a toothless Federal Election Commission and a 2010 Supreme Court decision that equated big money with free speech. The result? A system that Ohio political boss Mark Hanna would have loved in the wild,anything-goes campaign days of the 1890s.

Among the system’s newest and most nefarious features:

•Super PACs. No, this is not something you can pick up at Costco. They’re campaign-financing vehicles that appear to have no purpose other than circumventing the$2,500 donation limits to presidential candidates. Under federal rules, Super PACs must operate independently of candidates. (Wink, wink.) That’s why they can raise unlimited sums from individuals, corporations and labor unions – and spend unlimited dollars to influence campaigns. No one is supposed to notice, for example, that Super PAC Restore Our Future was started to support GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney and is run by his former aides and allies. Or that Priorities USA Action, a new Super PAC, happens to be run by former Obama White House aides. These groups and those supporting other GOP hopefuls, including Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann and Texas Rep. Ron Paul, have emasculated campaign-finance limits designed to keep people from buying influence.

•Shell games. As if the Super PACs weren’t bad enough, some hefty donors also want to remain anonymous. Under the law, Super PACs must reveal donors’ names. But last month, two watchdog groups – Democracy 21 and the Campaign Legal Center– discovered that a mysterious entity called W Spann had given $1 million to the Super PAC backing Romney. W Spann’s owner was not listed on campaign or corporate records; W Spann was set up and dissolved within weeks of the contribution, making it look like a shell designed to hide the donor. But a complaint filed by the watchdogs smoked him out: Edward Conard, a longtime Romney supporter and former executive at a firm Romney co-founded. Now the groups have filed complaints over two more mysterious $1 million donations.

Romney’s campaign shrugged off questions about the donations, stating with a straight face that Restore our Future is independent. It may be on paper, but if the GOP front-runner were interested in transparency, he could tell donors to quit playing these games.

•Tax shenanigans. In another effort to hide the names of donors, some groups have used a section of the tax code meant for non-profits to set up entities that can accept secret donations. It’s tough to think of a reason – other than a corrupt one – why a donor would want to give money to a candidate under the cloak of anonymity. Republican strategist Karl Rove was a driving force behind this bright idea before the 2010 congressional elections, and GOP advocacy groupsused this loophole to the tune of $135 million to help finance the party’s landslide win. Now, prominent Democrats are joining the fun. Former Obama White House aide Bill Burton has signed onto this embarrassing scheme. His group’s campaign-worthy moniker: Priorities USA.

The credit for making hash out of the campaign-financing laws goes to both Democrats and Republicans. The Supreme Court opened the door to this mess with its 2010 ruling. A typically inept Congress was unable to find the votes to shut it. President Obama, a professed champion of transparency, and leading GOP candidates could stop these nefarious dealings with a few well-placed words. That none of them has done so speaks volumes. They want enough money to win. And, apparently, they don’t care how their supporters get it.