“Dark Money Still a Bit Player”

CCP in The Hill: What would you call an election in which over 95 percent of campaign spending is funded by groups that publicly disclose the names and addresses of their donors to the Federal Election Commission, along with information on donors’ employers and occupations?

Though the point is valid, this op-ed assumes that spending disclosed to the FEC is the relevant denominator, and focuses on the portion with (some) donors disclosed.  But remember, some campaign spending is not disclosed to the FEC at all, and we have no idea whether that number is large or small.  That’s not itself an argument for disclosing all the rest.  But it’s important to keep in mind the spending nobody knows about before trumpeting transparency based on what’s visible under the streetlight.

Share this: