Obama administration officials on Tuesday acknowledged the difficulties of enforcing campaign finance laws in a post-Citizens United world, but remained tight-lipped over whether the influx of anonymous spending had triggered any federal probes.
?I actually can?t comment on any ongoing grand jury investigations,? said Mythili Raman, acting assistant attorney general of the Justice Department?s criminal division, at a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing.
Continue ReadingSen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) pressed Raman on whether there was any grand jury activity at all in dealing with false statements made by tax exempt nonprofits that are actively participating in politics while enjoying the social welfare status or shell corporations laundering money through super PACs.
?I wouldn?t want to tell you that,? Raman responsed. ?But I do assure you Sen. Whitehouse that that our public integrity section within our criminal division ? are focused on these kinds of activities.?
Patricia Haynes, deputy chief of criminal investigation for the IRS, also said she could not provide any information on investigations into tax exempt nonprofits or shell corporations.
?I don?t have any information that I can share on any cases like that,? Haynes said.
Whitehouse ? a longtime proponent of greater transparency and disclosure in campaign finance ? said that the campaign finance system had become a ?mockery? as nonprofits continue to pour money into political ads while keeping their donors anonymous and facing no consequences from the IRS.
?From a systems point of view, you have DOJ deferring to an effectively toothless organization with the predictable result that zero cases have been brought,? Whitehouse said.
Though federal law requires super PACs to disclose all donors over a certain threshold, Whitehouse said that anonymous money laundering was taking place through tax exempt nonprofits and shell companies.
?When laws are made a mockery, it is a serious matter,? Whitehouse said. ?Big donors like to use these non-profit entities to launder campaign spending and hide their identities.?
A major Mitt Romney donor, Ed Conard, made a $1 million anonymous contribution to the pro-Romney super PAC Restore Our Future during the 2012 election cycle. Conard initially made the contribution through a shell company called W Spann LLC, but came forward after the transaction came under media scrutiny.
Other super PACs ? including the pro-President Obama super PAC Priorities USA Action and the Karl Rove backed American Crossroads set up a nonprofit arm to take anonymous campaign cash. By law, those nonprofits are required to spend the majority of their time on ?social welfare activities.?
Cruz ? the only other senator at the hearing ? repeatedly raised questions of possible First Amendment violations.
?In my view, whenever congress acts in the area of political speech, the touchstone of everything we do should be the First Amendment of the Constitution,? he said.
?I would point out that in saying this I?m not unfamiliar with the downsides,? he added. ?In Texas I just came off of a campaign, where I was outspent 3 to 1, and let me just say those who chose to put resources into launching attacks against me had a First Amendment right to do so. And God bless them for speaking out and being involved in politics.?
Source: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/04/doj-irs-tight-lipped-on-campaign-finance-probes-89816.html
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