photo credit: natcom.org
Super PACs are a relatively new type of committee that arose
following the July 2010 federal court decision in a case known as SpeechNow.org
v. Federal Election Commission.
Technically known as independent expenditure-only committees,
super PACs may raise unlimited sums of money from corporations, unions,
associations and individuals, then spend unlimited sums to overtly advocate for
or against political candidates. Unlike traditional PACs, super PACs are
prohibited from donating money directly to political candidates, and their
spending must not be coordinated with that of the candidates they benefit.
Super PACs are required to report their donors to the Federal Election Commission
on a monthly or semiannual basis – the super PAC's choice – in off-years, and
monthly in the year of an election.
As of February 03, 2016, 2,194 groups
organized as super PACs have reported total receipts of $353,533,929 and total
independent expenditures of $144,551,790 in the 2016 cycle.
The website further reports that
Super PACs allowed the [securities and investment] industry to
gain an outsize share of the pie in 2015 as Wall Street gravitated to some
candidates and utterly abandoned others. With billionaire investors giving right and left, total contributions from the industry
to presidential super PACs rose to $81.2 million.
.
. .
Investors made up the top donor industry to six of the
current candidates when their campaign committees and super PACs are
combined; the exceptions were retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, businesswoman
Carly Fiorina, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas).
All four of those candidates
nevertheless benefit from SuperPACS, including those receiving Wall Street
money. Recently, the securities and investment industry donors are shifting to
new favorites:
Despite huge contributions to former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in the first six months of 2015, securities and investment
firms appear to have picked their favorite candidate on the Republican
side: Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).
. . .
despite Rubio’s rise among securities and investment
types, Iowa caucus winner Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) again showed evidence he has
perhaps the strongest mix of funding sources in the race. Four of the top
overall industries giving money were in the top
five donors to Cruz super PACs and his
campaign account: securities and investment, real estate (buoyed by huge
contributions from the Texan Wilks brothers), oil and gas and retired individuals.
The leading five candidates in the GOP
race, as of today via Real Clear Politics, are Bush, Carson, Cruz, Rubio, and Trump.
(And as most patriots know, Rick Santorum, Rand Paul, and Mike Huckabee just suspended their campaigns.)
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