Who's Funding Super PACs This Election Season? Good Question

Campaign finance reform advocates have rallied against super PACs’ ability to influence elections since their creation in 2010, and new reporting by the Washington Post puts a spotlight on how “ghost corporations” are pumping money into these committees, with their big money contributors hiding behind a veil of secrecy.

As the Center for Responsive Politics explains: “super PACs may raise unlimited sums of money from corporations, unions, associations and individuals, then spend unlimited sums to overtly advocate for or against political candidates,” though they “are prohibited from donating money directly to political candidates.”  They report their donors to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) monthly during an election year.

Corporate donations are pouring in this election season, and are poised to “exceed the $86 million they gave to super PACs in the entire 2012 presidential cycle,” the Post notes.

“Many corporate givers this cycle are well-established hedge funds, energy companies and real estate firms,” the Post reports. Indeed, a recent analysis by Reuters looked at how they are upping their game in this election season, and are on track “to more than double the amount they gave in the 2012 election campaign.”

“But,” the Post continues, “a significant share of the money is coming from newly formed LLCs with cryptic names that offer few clues about their backers.”

Reporters Matea Gold and Anu Narayanswamy explain that many of them are being formed in Delaware, “where corporations are required to reveal little about their workings.”

And they’re being created “just days or weeks before making six- or ­seven-figure contributions — an arrangement that election law experts say violates a long-standing federal ban on straw donors.”

One example the reporting points to is Children of Israel LLC, which was formed by a California real estate agent who listed the purpose of the LLC as “donations.” It gave Pursuing America’s Greatness, a super PAC supporting former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee’s presidential bid, $50,000 weeks after its formation. It followed that with a $100,000 donation to the super PAC two months later, and made a $250,000 donation to the Sen. Ted Cruz-backing super PAC Stand for Truth in January.