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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (June 29, 2016)
Page 10 The Skanner June 29, 2016 News REPORT: It’s Harder to Know Who’s Paying for Political Ads Dark and ‘gray’ money spending is rising faster in state elections than it is in federal races I t’s getting harder to know who is funding political advertising at the state level as more money becomes anony- mous or is iltered from one political action com- mittee to another, a new study inds. In 2014, the last year in which statewide elec- tions were widespread across the country, only 29 cents of every $1 of independent politi- cal spending could be tracked easily to its orig- inal individual donor, according to the Bren- nan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law. The center found that dark money and what it calls “gray” money are rising even faster in state elections than in federal races. In places where the costs of elections can be cheaper because word is distributed by direct mail rather than televi- sion ads, the spending can have a larger impact. “Dark money can out- spend all,” said Larry Norden, deputy director of the Brennan Center’s program on democracy. Dark money comes from nonproit advocacy groups that spend on po- litical purposes but are not subject to campaign inance disclosures. Its rise is one of the efects of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United rul- ing, which removed caps on how much corpora- tions, unions and inter- est groups can spend on advocacy communica- tions that do not specii- cally call for the election or defeat of candidates. That category of spend- ing grew from less than “ PACs that made indepen- dent expenditures. That was up from just $3,000 in total outside spending in a similar race in 2008 — and all the money at that time was linked to speciic donors. Some of the 2014 mon- ey came from the Arizo- na Public Service Com- pany, the state’s biggest utility, but the company has not disclosed how much. There has been litiga- tion since then over whether the public has a right to know how much the company funded. A utility spokes- woman did not return a call. That election is a prime reason Arizona fast be- came a hub of dark mon- ey. In 2006, there was just $35,000 involved in state races. In 2014, it was over $10 million. The Brennan study was limited to California, the most populous state, along with Arizona and four others: Alaska, Col- orado, Maine and Mas- sachusetts. They were among only nine that had statewide elections in the study years of 2006, 2010 and 2014 and collected enough data on politi- cal spending by outside groups to do the analysis. The authors said they did not have enough time to Dark money can outspend all $600,000 in 2006 to near- ly $22 million in 2014 in the states the study eval- uated. Despite that rise, the majority of state politi- cal spending overall re- mains from traditional channels where most large contributions must be disclosed: candidates’ oicial committees and party organizations. One election with heavy dark money spending was the 2014 Arizona race for two seats on the Public Utili- ties Commission, which was in the throes of a debate over solar power policy. More than $3 million in dark money poured into that race through social welfare nonproit groups that in turn donated to delve into all nine states, so they chose the irst six alphabetically. James Bopp Jr., a con- servative Indiana lawyer who has pushed for po- litical contributions to be equated with speech, says the Brennan analy- sis is misleading. Many states require ad- vocacy groups to report individual donors who specify that their contri- butions be used for po- litical purposes. Donors who make general gits, he said, don’t determine whether it will be used in political ads. “It would be unfair to attribute that spending to any of your donors,” Bopp said. The Brennan authors said they were surprised not by the growth of dark money but rather by what they called gray money. It happens when a su- per PAC, which is supposed to be independent of a candidate’s campaign or- ganization, takes contribu- tions from other PACs. While all the committees are required to re- port the source of their funding, it takes digging In 2014, only 29 cents of every $1 of through multi- independent political spending could be ple reports to tracked easily to its original individual ind out where donor, according to a report recently the money orig- published by the Brennan Center for Justice inates. at the New York University School of Law. That category of spending was The Brennan Center is far larger than the fully calling for more disclo- dark money in the six sure requirements, in- states. It was $42 million in 2006 and tripled to cluding mandating that donors be made public. $129 million in 2014. IMAGE BY 401KCALCULA- TOR.ORG (CC BY-SA 2.0) By Geof Mulvihill Associated Press Obituary: Joseph Reed April 1939 - June 2016 J oe Reed was intro- Joe enjoyed ixing duced to the world cars. If you could tell April 1939 and de- him the noise the car parted this life on made, he could tell June 2016. you what was wrong Joseph (Joe) was with the car. He made born to James N. and many friends, ixing Lillian Reed. Joseph up their cars in the was named ater his family backyard. maternal grandfather. Joe died from com- They moved to Van- plications of diabetes. Joseph (Joe) Reed couver, WA. Where He leaves behind his his dad worked at the Kaiser Ship- longtime companion Barbara Ruth; yards. sister, Donna Reed-Kelly; nephews When the war ended and the Ship- Keith, Marcus and Stephen Kel- yards closed, the family moved to ly; great nephew Tobias James and Portland, OR. great niece Sydney Kelly; paternal Joe attended Boise Elementary cousins, the Gales and Smiths of Ta- and graduated from Benson High coma, WA. School. Ater graduation, Joe joined the United States Army, to serve his country. His honorable discharge afords him burial at Willamette Na- tional Cemetery.
