The term "dark money" refers to campaign contributions that are not disclosed prior to voting. It exists simply because some individuals and organizations do not want other to know who they support. While some argue that this is an acceptable way for contributors to maintain their privacy, others argue that it invites corruption.
From the article:
“The purpose of my proposal is to eliminate ‘dark money’ from Texas elections by dragging it into the sunlight,” Bresnen wrote to acting Executive Director Natalia Luna Ashley. “Secret money influencing elections — the life blood of self governance — is intolerable as a matter of law and is against the public interest. The Commission should exercise its authority to do something about it.”
The issue of dark money has been a political lightning rod since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 ruling in Citizens United vs. the Federal Election Commission. That decision paved a path for outside groups like super PACs and 501(c)(4)s to raise and spend unlimited sums from corporations, labor groups and deep- pocketed individual donors.
And while both 501(c)(4)s and super PACs can accept unlimited sums of cash, only super PACs are required to identify donors.
As a result, super PACs regularly set up sister outfits in the form of a 501(c)(4)s to funnel money anonymously to candidates or to fund attack ads. That’s how they got the ominous title “dark money” groups.
In Texas, the issue hit home during the legislative session when Gov. Rick Perry vetoed a dark money disclosure bill that would have required politically active 501(c)4s to reveal contributors who give more than $1,000 to any dark money group that spends $25,000 or more on politicking.
That measure, sponsored by Sen. Kel Seliger and Rep. Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth, was intended to require non-profit groups like Empower Texans to report some of its secret donors.
Bresnen’s petition from Tuesday takes aim again at Empower Texans and its president, Michael Quinn Sullivan, saying the “$372,000 in secret political money that Mike Sullivan used in the 2012 elections” was part of the reason he’s asking the commission to step in.
For additional detail:
- Wikipedia: Dark Money.
- opensecrets.org: New Dark Money Data Measures Groups' Politicization.
- opensecrets.org: The Shadow Money Trail.
