SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
California Investigation Follows Trail of 'Dark Money' Across US
Out of state secret donors skirt the rules on California ballot initiatives
Mar 25, 2013
The state of California has ramped up an investigation into the source of an $11 million money trail that was covertly used to fund two separate state referendum campaign drives ahead of last year's ballot, with strong implications that the Koch Brothers are behind the scheme, the Huffington Post reports Monday.
California's Fair Political Practices Commission has issued a dozen new financial record subpoenas to individuals and organizations who they suspect funneled money to the Small Business Action Committee, a California superPAC, through a series of out of state "dark money" groups who shield their donors' names.
In a report requested by the Commission, the superPAC only revealed that the money used in the campaigns came from an Arizona "dark money" non-profit called Americans for Responsible Leadership. The commission then took Americans for Responsible Leadership to the California Supreme Court.
Only then was it revealed that ARL also received their funds indirectly--through yet another out of state dark money group, Americans for Job Security in Virginia.
But the money trail does not end there. As the Huffington Post reports, AJS had channeled the funds from a group called the Center to Protect Patient Rights, which is run by Sean Noble, a well-known Koch operative.
"The involvement of Noble's group in the California funding chain seems representative of the role it has played in the last two elections," the Huffington Post reports. "Since its creation in 2009, the center has been a conservative cash conduit with very deep pockets. During the 2010 elections, it funneled almost $55 million to two-dozen other dark money outfits, including the American Future Fund, Americans for Tax Reform and Americans for Job Security."
One of the campaigns which utilized the money in question was aimed at blocking a tax increase backed by Gov. Jerry Brown (D). The other aimed to curb union spending on elections.
California law requires that contributors to state initiative campaigns be publicly disclosed.
The Post adds:
Investigators are reviewing how these nonprofit groups were used to shield the identities of donors and attempting to trace the original funding sources. [...]
California's decision to follow this murky million-dollar money trail is one of several recent legal actions around the country aimed at increasing transparency and curbing potential abuses of so-called dark money by politically active, tax-exempt groups known as 501(c)(4) social welfare organizations. [...]
Read the rest of the Huffington Post report here.
_______________________
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Jacob Chamberlain
Jacob Chamberlain is a former staff writer for Common Dreams. He is the author of Migrant Justice in the Age of Removal. His website is www.jacobpchamberlain.com.
The state of California has ramped up an investigation into the source of an $11 million money trail that was covertly used to fund two separate state referendum campaign drives ahead of last year's ballot, with strong implications that the Koch Brothers are behind the scheme, the Huffington Post reports Monday.
California's Fair Political Practices Commission has issued a dozen new financial record subpoenas to individuals and organizations who they suspect funneled money to the Small Business Action Committee, a California superPAC, through a series of out of state "dark money" groups who shield their donors' names.
In a report requested by the Commission, the superPAC only revealed that the money used in the campaigns came from an Arizona "dark money" non-profit called Americans for Responsible Leadership. The commission then took Americans for Responsible Leadership to the California Supreme Court.
Only then was it revealed that ARL also received their funds indirectly--through yet another out of state dark money group, Americans for Job Security in Virginia.
But the money trail does not end there. As the Huffington Post reports, AJS had channeled the funds from a group called the Center to Protect Patient Rights, which is run by Sean Noble, a well-known Koch operative.
"The involvement of Noble's group in the California funding chain seems representative of the role it has played in the last two elections," the Huffington Post reports. "Since its creation in 2009, the center has been a conservative cash conduit with very deep pockets. During the 2010 elections, it funneled almost $55 million to two-dozen other dark money outfits, including the American Future Fund, Americans for Tax Reform and Americans for Job Security."
One of the campaigns which utilized the money in question was aimed at blocking a tax increase backed by Gov. Jerry Brown (D). The other aimed to curb union spending on elections.
California law requires that contributors to state initiative campaigns be publicly disclosed.
The Post adds:
Investigators are reviewing how these nonprofit groups were used to shield the identities of donors and attempting to trace the original funding sources. [...]
California's decision to follow this murky million-dollar money trail is one of several recent legal actions around the country aimed at increasing transparency and curbing potential abuses of so-called dark money by politically active, tax-exempt groups known as 501(c)(4) social welfare organizations. [...]
Read the rest of the Huffington Post report here.
_______________________
Jacob Chamberlain
Jacob Chamberlain is a former staff writer for Common Dreams. He is the author of Migrant Justice in the Age of Removal. His website is www.jacobpchamberlain.com.
The state of California has ramped up an investigation into the source of an $11 million money trail that was covertly used to fund two separate state referendum campaign drives ahead of last year's ballot, with strong implications that the Koch Brothers are behind the scheme, the Huffington Post reports Monday.
California's Fair Political Practices Commission has issued a dozen new financial record subpoenas to individuals and organizations who they suspect funneled money to the Small Business Action Committee, a California superPAC, through a series of out of state "dark money" groups who shield their donors' names.
In a report requested by the Commission, the superPAC only revealed that the money used in the campaigns came from an Arizona "dark money" non-profit called Americans for Responsible Leadership. The commission then took Americans for Responsible Leadership to the California Supreme Court.
Only then was it revealed that ARL also received their funds indirectly--through yet another out of state dark money group, Americans for Job Security in Virginia.
But the money trail does not end there. As the Huffington Post reports, AJS had channeled the funds from a group called the Center to Protect Patient Rights, which is run by Sean Noble, a well-known Koch operative.
"The involvement of Noble's group in the California funding chain seems representative of the role it has played in the last two elections," the Huffington Post reports. "Since its creation in 2009, the center has been a conservative cash conduit with very deep pockets. During the 2010 elections, it funneled almost $55 million to two-dozen other dark money outfits, including the American Future Fund, Americans for Tax Reform and Americans for Job Security."
One of the campaigns which utilized the money in question was aimed at blocking a tax increase backed by Gov. Jerry Brown (D). The other aimed to curb union spending on elections.
California law requires that contributors to state initiative campaigns be publicly disclosed.
The Post adds:
Investigators are reviewing how these nonprofit groups were used to shield the identities of donors and attempting to trace the original funding sources. [...]
California's decision to follow this murky million-dollar money trail is one of several recent legal actions around the country aimed at increasing transparency and curbing potential abuses of so-called dark money by politically active, tax-exempt groups known as 501(c)(4) social welfare organizations. [...]
Read the rest of the Huffington Post report here.
_______________________
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.