Prying Dark Money Out of the Hands of Politicians & Activist Groups

What is "Dark Money"? Here's how one group used it to conceal donors, defeat Roy Moore, and bypass the rules about political contributions.

This story was originally published by The Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative news organization in Washington, D.C.

WASHINGTON — Democrats love decrying "dark money" — political contributions for which the source of funds is a mystery. But that isn't stopping them from accepting "dark money" themselves or making it difficult to determine the original underwriter of a political donation, as a recent Southern contest vividly illustrates.

Alabama's special U.S. Senate election in December is a case study in the lengths national Democrats, who this year are racing to win back Congress from Republicans, are willing to go to hide their cash in the name of political expediency.

Here's what happened: When it seemed as if Democrat Doug Jones could actually beat embattled Republican Roy Moore, a new super PAC supposedly based in Birmingham, Alabama, appeared just one month before Election Day. The super PAC, called Highway 31 after a route that bisects Alabama, spent $5.1 million to boost Jones, more than any other group active in the general election.

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 Alabama makes Jones win official as Moore's last-ditch challenge is denied 1:38C didn't disclose the identities of its bankrollers until a month after voters chose Jones as their senator. And when Highway 31 did disclose, most of its funders turned out to be organizations who in turn receive some of their funding from sources that are difficult, if not impossible, to comprehensively trace to flesh-and-blood humans.

That last part, about using credit to avoid disclosure before the election, is going to be more and more common.

One fairly easy way to force disclosure is to rule that no non-profit may give money to any organization that acts in any way to influence an election, and that any organization that passes along money from a previous organization for any activity that might have an impact on an election must pay DOUBLE or TRIPLE that money to the Federal Treasury. Repeat violations will result in that organization losing its non-profit status.

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