Vast amounts of corporate and dark money have inundated our politics since the US Supreme Court ruled on Citizens United v Federal Election Commission in 2010. The decision basically said that corporations and unions have the same First Amendment rights as individuals, thus giving them the power to spend money in elections and reversing century-old campaign finance constraints.
This led to the creation of what are known as dark money groups, which are not legally required to reveal their donors, yet are able to put unlimited funds into election campaigns. Anna Massoglia, in a recent expert brief for the Brennan Justice Center, reported that dark money groups spent more than $1.9 billion on last year’s federal races, almost doubling the $1 billion doled out in 2020. Massoglia added that because undisclosed political spending is difficult to track, the $1.9 billion figure may considerably underestimate the actual total.
In the last state and federal election cycle, I became exasperated at the multitude of campaign ads in my mailbox, on my TV screen, and online. And I found it frustrating that I could not find many of the ads’ sponsors. Consequently, when Jeff Mangan, a former Montana Commissioner of Political Practices, began his listening sessions on the Transparency Election Initiative (TEI), I was immediately interested.
