The president of the USA, Joe Biden, raised a record amount of 145 million dollars by concept of ‘dark money’, as the amount given by anonymous donors is known. This is a surprising case, especially when you consider that Democrats have criticized this type of collection.
–
That astronomical sum outshines the $ 28.4 million given by anonymous donors to his rival, the former president Donald Trump, and surpasses the previous record of $ 113 million in anonymous donations that endorsed the Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and 2012, informa Bloomberg.
Democrats have repeatedly stated that they want ban the dark money as a factor that encourages corruption, as it allows people to discreetly endorse a candidate without scrutiny. However, in their effort to defeat Trump in 2020, they took advantage of it.
The former attorney general of the Federal Elections Commission Larry Noble (FEC) from the US also called for prohibiting some types of nonprofit organizations from donating money to influence elections and requiring any organization that spends more than $ 10,000 for this purpose to register. with the FEC and disclose your donors.
Law loopholes for ‘dark money’
In theory, campaign finance laws limit the influence large amounts of money have on politicians. But the system has huge loopholes, which have been exploited by groups backing Biden.
For example, Priorities USA Action Fund, the political action committee that Biden designated as his preferred vehicle for external spending, used $ 26 million in funds originally donated to his nonprofit arm, Priorities USA, to support the then Democratic nominee. The donors of that money, meanwhile, do not have to be disclosed.
In total, Democrats in this election cycle benefited from $ 326 million of dark money, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. That was more than double the $ 148 million collected by Republicans. Some of the Democratic groups that depend on the dark money they spent much of this amount on early ads attacking Trump in critical states like Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, Bloomberg says.
Big pockets
However, according to Noble, the dark money not the biggest source of cash for campaigns. Wealthy donors can write eight-figure checks to super cap, which is a type of political action committee that has legal permission to raise and spend amounts of money greater than the amounts allowed for the conventional PAC (Political Action Committee).
Those who want to avoid disclosure can donate to political non-profit organizations, such as Defending Democracy Together, who spent $ 15.6 million to back Biden, and are not required to disclose their contributors to the FEC.
Total, according Bloomberg, those fundraising streams increased Biden’s loot to $ 1.5 billion, which in itself represents a record for a presidential candidate. This amount included $ 318.6 million from donors who gave less than $ 200 each. The rest of the money the current US president raised came from high-income donors. The money was divided between the Democratic National Committee and 47 state parties.
For his part, Biden’s spokesman did not respond to requests for comment.
– .
