10 biggest beneficiaries of Citizens United

[DonViejo]

A new report reveals the decision allowed an extra $1 billion in special interest funding in the 2012 election

BY LAURA GOTTESDIENER, ALTERNET

As the never-ending campaign ads demonstrated, the 2010 Supreme Court ruling Citizens United flooded the most recent election with additional money, making it the most profit-fueled presidential election in U.S. history.

Now, the Center for Public Integrity (CPI) has put its finger on a figure of just how much more money the ruling ushered in: nearly $1 billion.

According to the records of the Federal Election Commission, $933 million came directly from the companies, unions and individuals who took advantage of Citizens United to funnel money into super PACs. This money overwhelmingly went to paying for the attack ads that made the 2012 election one of the most historically bitter contests, with pundits regularly calling it the “nastiest,” “meanest,” or even “dirtiest campaign in history.”

The FEC records show that about two-thirds of all the Citizens United-fueled money went to ten super PACs or political nonprofits, nine of which focused exclusively on buying media spots and ads for candidates. Of these ad spots, 89 percent were focused on denouncing the opposing candidate, explaining the prevalence of attack ads throughout the contest.

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http://www.salon.com/2013/01/20/10_biggest_beneficiaries_of_citizens_united/

Link to CPI report:
http://www.publicintegrity.org/2013/01/16/12027/court-opened-door-933-million-new-election-spending

[farminator3000]

1. blargh

Setting up spinoffs is more about “optics” than skirting coordination rules, said Paul S. Ryan, senior counsel for the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center.

Under current law, as long as a firm assigns each client separate consultants — and those two don’t coordinate their activities — that constitutes a satisfactory firewall, according to Ryan.

“That’s a pretty ridiculous and modest constraint on campaign coordination,” Ryan said.