Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy argued that legalizing unlimited election giving to groups such as super PACs would have no corrupting effect on democracy because PACs are independent from the candidates. Luckily for Kennedy, he was not among those present at a 2013 meeting involving Harry Reid and private equity CEO David Bonderman.
As Senate majority leader, Reid directly solicited a contribution from Bonderman, sources present at the May 1, 2013, meeting at the Milken Institute said. The private equity giant then gave more than $1 million to a super PAC connected to Reid, and Reid later inserted two pieces of language into the 2015 end-of-year omnibus budget bill that would be a boon to Bonderman.