The attorney for President Obama's reelection campaign filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission on Monday seeking to force the Mitt Romney-supporting, Karl Rove-led group Crossroads GPS to disclose its donors. Attorney Robert Bauer wrote in the complaint that there has never been any doubt about the true purpose of the self-proclaimed social welfare organization: "to elect candidates of its choice to the presidency and Congress."
Crossroads GPS is organized as a tax-exempt organization that doesn't have to disclosure its donors under a peculiar portion of the tax code that allows it to call itself a nonprofit social welfare organization. Those organizations are supposed to "operate primarily to further the common good and general welfare of the people of the community." Yet, according to the IRS, "social welfare organization may engage in some political activities, so long as that is not its primary activity." A sister super-PAC, American Crossroads, is organized differently and does discloses its donors monthly. ...Daily Intel
___... The FEC has 120 days to act on the complaint, after which [Obama campaign attorney] Bauer could sue in federal court — generating another headline little more than two weeks before the election.A court ruling would be unlikely before 2013. ...WaPo
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Some donors are having second thoughts.
Several dozen wealthy donors have taken advantage of this post-Citizens United world, writing seven-figure checks to political superPACs.
Yet it seems there's something wealthy donors weren't counting on when they wrote those checks — attracting attention, including from the political opposition and the media.
"There's been a ton of so-called electronic media journalists that have lodged all kinds of innuendo in my direction, accused me of all kinds of bad things," says Frank VanderSloot, who wrote checks totaling $1 million to Restore Our Future, the superPAC supporting GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney....
... Charles and David Koch say they've been targets of attacks, too. The brothers are high-dollar contributors to conservative nonprofit groups, also running ads in the presidential race. But because their donations are going to so-called social welfare organizations, the contributions remain secret. ...NPR
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