Rolling Stone: Dems to Treasury Chief Yellen: The Time to Crack Down on Dark Money Is Now
Our politics are awash in untraceable campaign spending, but Democrats say Biden’s team can begin fixing the problem
WASHINGTON — Dark money, that torrent of anonymous cash unleashed by groups with mind-numbingly generic names such as Americans for Prosperity or Patriot Majority, is an ugly fixture of American politics, a weapon used to win elections, confirm (or defeat) judges, and pass (or defeat) legislation. Once dominated by ultra-wealthy conservatives like the Koch brothers, the dark-money racket is now embraced by Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives alike. President Joe Biden benefitted from an estimated $145 million in untraceable cash spent to help elect him in 2020, a sum more than ten times greater than the amount of dark money spent to reelect Donald Trump.
Now, two of dark-money biggest foes, Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), want newly confirmed Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to take on the issue of what they call “the corrosive effect of dark money on American elections.”
In a letter first obtained by Rolling Stone, Whitehouse and Warren wrote to Yellen urging her to reverse a years-long trend of pathetic oversight of thinly veiled political groups that use their tax-exempt status to shield the donors from the public.
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By: Andy Kroll
Source: Rolling Stone
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