Anonymous Billionaires Are Stealing Your Election

By Juan Cole, Informed Comment

20 August 12

t would be bad enough, as I reported last week, that 47 billionaires were responsible for the lion's share of individual Super PAC contributions. It turns out that the Super PACs aren't even the biggest players.

The biggest players are the dark money PACs, which do not have to reveal the sources of their funding.

If we just look at the television ads bankrolled by the top six sources of funding, we make a startling discovery, which Kim Barker reported on in these pages last week.

The 'dark money' PACs are outspending everyone else. Crossroads GPS, founded by Karl Rove and backed by anonymous big-money donors, has bought negative attack ads against President Obama to the tune of $52 million! The Koch brothers' Americans for Prosperity spent $20.6 million. The political parties and the Super PACs, which have to identify the source of their funds, are making a much smaller contribution.

Moreover if you look at the WaPo infographic under 'who's going negative,' you find that 100% of the ads paid for by $52 million from Crossroads GPS are negative! Likewise all $20.5 million spent by the Koch Brothers-founded Americans for Prosperity went to attack ads. In contrast, about half of the ads paid for by Barack Obama were negative.

The Dark Money PACs are not only continuing to spend like a drunken sailor, they are making it up as they go along, solely funding negative images and falsehoods.

It shouldn't be allowed in the United States of America for a handful of billionaires to buy the election.

It certainly shouldn't be allowed for them to do so anonymously.