Democrats Look for Another Loophole Around Citizens United

By aaroncynic in News on Jan 28, 2011 7:35PM

House Democrats will face an uphill battle attempting to fight the Citizen’s United decision this term. With the DISCLOSE Act shot down last year and a supportive Republican majority that benefited greatly from third party campaign ads, limiting the scope of Citizen’s United in any meaningful way would be more than difficult. Mother Jones reports that Democrats could take on a new tactic - challenging the tax exempt status of outside funding groups.

According to the article, campaign finance supporters may challenge certain funding groups based on a particular distinction that the IRS tax code makes. Right now groups like Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS are tax exempt as 501(c)4 groups, which can engage in political advocacy, provided it is not their “primary activity.” That exemption allows such groups to operate without disclosing funding sources. Lawmakers like Rep David Prince (D-N.C.) and past chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Rep Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) have suggested organizations like Crossroads abused the rules last election cycle, with spending that made up 23% of all outside conservative spending. A spokesman for Crossroads told Mother Jones such accusations are “extremely irresponsible for elected officials holding office.”

While this seems like a fight split right down party lines, we tend to think taking a good look into everyone’s campaign spending is a good idea. With record election spending on the recent midterms and 2012 shaping up to be even larger, it would be nice to know what real interests are behind the deluge of campaign ads that could make or break a candidate.