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shrug, probably because its a 1-1 correlation no one persons vote needs to be directly attributable.
I'd be OK with it all being open however.
I voted for Obama the last two elections. Last election in my local elections I voted for one independent, one Republican, the rest were Democrats. Cant recall the exact races however. Voted down some tax increases, voted for others.
Its unlikely that you personally will have people picketing your business over your vote. Calling for your ouster. Not calling you to come in to work because of your vote.
If as a PAC you have Russia sending you money you better bet you better be reporting it. Reporting requirements for foreign money is completely different than with U.S. citizens.
The Government Integrity Fund is not required to report donors. That's the kind of tax exemption they went after. That's why they answered "NO" to the question about whether they would be involved in activities to influence elections. So they wouldn't have to report their donors.
We see how that worked out in California recently, with Prop 8 donors being harassed, their property vandalized, personally attacked (in public, and at their places of employment). All this, because their names were made public! Brendan Eich lost his job at Mozilla (a company he co-founded, and for whom he was the primary brain — he also invented Java Script, used by nearly every Web site).
It isn't a good idea for donors to be made public. That has a chilling affect on "free speech."
What's ironic (about issues like Prop 8) is that these ballot initiatives (called "direct democracy") were born out of the Progressive movement. They put a lot of power in the hands of the citizens to influence government — until the party in power, or some "special interest group" doesn't like the outcome. Then they go to court to have it overturned! That is what happened with Prop 8. Progressives love the idea, until it works against them!
It isn't a bad idea for donors to be made public. It's a bad idea for people to demonize others for their political views.
The Government Integrity Fund is not required to report donors.
They are if it is from another country. I'm not so good with links on my phone but you don't recall the returned money and investigations when money from China was uncovered as not reported?
Quote:
That's the kind of tax exemption they went after. That's why they answered "NO" to the question about whether they would be involved in activities to influence elections. So they wouldn't have to report their donors.
If they run afoul of the rules have someone go after them.
They are if it is from another country. I'm not so good with links on my phone but you don't recall the returned money and investigations when money from China was uncovered as not reported?
If they run afoul of the rules have someone go after them.
They don't have to report their donors.
That's the law. That's the tax exemption they went after.
That's why they affirmed they were a social welfare organization, not a political organization.
Then they created a PAC.
The social welfare organization is The Government Integrity Fund.
The PAC is the Government Integrity Fund Action Network.
The Government Integrity Fund raises money from anonymous donors, and gives it to the Government Integrity Fund Action Network, who lists the donor who gives them 99% of their money as the Government Integrity Fund.
The Government Integrity Fund doesn't have to report its donors.
And the Government Integrity Fund Action Network, which does have to report its donors, gets to report the Government Integrity Fund as its primary donor.
It's legal. And it's dark money. Which is why it shouldn't be legal.
That's never going to happen which is why we have the protections we have.
What protections?
If I donate to Tom Cotton's campaign, he's required to disclose it. It's public information. Just like the Mozilla CTO's donation was public information. It wasn't leaked. It was PUBLIC information. Donations are public information.
Dark money are donations that are funneled through groups that don't report their donors. The campaign only has to report the name of the group. And if the group has a tax exemption that allows them to keep their donors secret, then the campaign can claim it doesn't know who the specific donors are. That's why so many SuperPAC's are funded by social welfare organizations. To keep the donors secret. Hence, DARK money.
That's the law. That's the tax exemption they went after.
That's why they affirmed they were a social welfare organization, not a political organization.
Then they created a PAC.
The social welfare organization is The Government Integrity Fund.
The PAC is the Government Integrity Fund Action Network.
The Government Integrity Fund raises money from anonymous donors, and gives it to the Government Integrity Fund Action Network, who lists the donor who gives them 99% of their money as the Government Integrity Fund.
The Government Integrity Fund doesn't have to report its donors.
And the Government Integrity Fund Action Network, which does have to report its donors, gets to report the Government Integrity Fund as its primary donor.
It's legal. And it's dark money. Which is why it shouldn't be legal.
Personally, I would be in favor of no private money whatsoever in the election process. Also, have a limited amount of campaigning time. However, when you have a President that used a $1 billion dollar war chest to get elected, I don't think there's a lot of motivation to get this changed. Don't want our politicians beholden to special interests? Then you have to get rid of all private donations.
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