A recent article in the Texas Observer highlighted a mysterious one million dollar donation to Spirit of Virginia, the campaign committee affiliated with Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, that was made through a newly formed shell company out of Texas. Politicians and reformers say the donation shows a major loophole in campaign finance law.
“I would like to see legislation requiring more disclosures from donors, particularly when it comes to LLCs,” Virginia representative Don Scott Jr. told the Observer. “One of the ways very, very wealthy people influence our elections here in Virginia is by forming an LLC to shield who actually gave the money."
While federal campaign finance law requires political committees including super PACs to disclose donors, the ultimate source of their funding can be concealed behind contributions from shell companies or dark money groups.
The chart above shows that OpenSecrets has tracked more than $2.6 billion in dark money spending and contributions since the Supreme Court's FEC v. Citizens United decision in 2010. As dark money groups report less and less spending to the FEC but pour more money than ever into political contributions to other political committees, “gray money” — giving and spending by groups that do not fully disclose their donors — has also exploded.
Read our most recent report on dark money spending in the 2022 midterms for more on how this money is having an increasing influence our elections.
