Three years ago during the 2008 presidential election, if a political committee wanted to run advertisements telling viewers which candidate to vote for, they would have to collect hundreds of donations of $5,000 or less. Today, a political committee has the power to make one phone call and get an unlimited amount of money from a corporation, union or individual.
Take for example the $2 million donation made on May 27 by DreamWorks Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Katzenberg to the liberal super PAC Priorities USA Action. Or the $1 million donation made on March 31 by the mysterious corporation F8 LLC in Utah to a Mitt Romney-supporting super PAC called Restore Our Future.
Such large-dollar donations to independent political committees occurred during the 2010 midterm elections, but with the presidential campaign season in full swing expect this giving to ramp up to a whole new level.Voters will be familiar with the names of many of these news groups by the end of the 2012 election, as they spend millions of dollars on mailings, television and radio advertisements.
These so-called "super PACs" are political committees that raise unlimited amounts of money from corporations, unions and individuals. Unlike traditional PACs, they cannot donate this money directly to candidates. Instead, they may only spend their money on independent expenditures. They may not coordinate with any candidate, and they must disclose their donors.
Super PACs came into existence in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's 2010 ruling inCitizens United v. Federal Election Commission. (You can read more on Citizens United here.)
BTW, what are "independent expenditures"?