Dark Money Tribes Displacing Political Parties

https://crooksandliars.com

By karoli

February 18, 2014

7:04 pm

Citizens United has given rise to cabals of secret donors, supplanting the role of political parties in 2014. I’m pleased to announce that there is at least one liberal billionaire out there ready to spend big money.

In the politics of the United States, dark money is a term that describe funds given to nonprofit organizations—primarily 501(c)(4) (social welfare) and 501(c)(6) (trade association) groups—that can receive unlimited donations from corporations, individuals, and unions, and spend funds to influence elections, but are not required to disclose their donors.

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, “spending by organizations that do not disclose their donors has increased from less than $5.2 million in 2006 to well over $300 million in the 2012 presidential cycle and more than $174 million in the 2014 midterms.”

The Koch family of industrialists and businesspeople is most notable for its political activities and control of Koch Industries, the second largest privately owned company in the United States (with 2013 revenues of $115 billion). The family business was started by Fred C. Koch, who developed a new cracking method for the refinement of heavy oil into gasoline.