Written by Jane Roush | 02 November 2011

The US Supreme Court in February 2010 handed down a decision that will forever change the political circus. The justices in Citizens United versus the Federal Election Commission (FEC), ruled that outside groups such as corporations, unions and groups of individuals could spend unlimited amounts of money on ads to support/ oppose candidates running for federal office. The only limitation is that the candidate and the independent committee could not coordinate their expenditures.

At the same time the FEC ruled the names of the donors only had to be disclosed when they made a contribution in support of a specific ad (earmarked). Instantly "SUPER PACS" (Political Action Committees) were born. In June 2011, the FEC again ruled federal candidates for office couldn't raise unlimited funds for a SUPER PAC.

The first time Super PAC money was used in an election was the mid-term election of Congressional members in November 2010. It appears about 300 nonparty related committees spent over $300M on those elections, including 84 Super Pacs.

One Super PAC called American Crossroads and a related group called Crossroads GPS has Karl Rove and Ed Gillespie as its leaders. Karl was with President George Bush and Ed, who was the former chair of the Republican National Committee, raised and spent over $70M in 2010. American Crossroads is an independent Super PAC, in that they do not appear to be in support/opposition to one particular candidate. They are pinpointing an effort to get Republican control of the US Senate next year. They intend to raise three times their 2010 total contributions (or approximately $210M) for next year's elections.

Presidential candidates also have Super PACs working for them. Rick Perry® backers, Mike Toomey and G. Brint Ryan, have started a Super PAC called Make Us Great Again. Mr. Toomey was Perry's former chief of staff in Texas. Mr. Toomey has other ties to Perry starting in 1985 when they were both Texas House members. Make Us Great Again plans to raise and spend as much as $55 M by next April.

Mitt Romney® has a Super PAC called Restore Our Future which as of June 30th had raised $12.3M. Candidate Herb Cain® just created a new Super Pac in hopes of raising money.

The candidates put out positive messages to the advertising media through their own campaigns. The Super PAC does all the negative things and if the messages backfire, the candidates can distance themselves from the fallout.

We will not know how much the Super PACs have raised or spent until January 31st, when the have to file reports. That will be after at least four states have had primary elections, New Hampshire, Nevada, South Carolina and Florida. The Iowa caucus will also be over.

In late September 2011, two watchdog groups asked the IRS to determine if some independent spending groups should be allowed tax-free status.

How the Super PACs will affect Washington state elections is not known. Senator Maria Cantwell (D) and Rep. Norm Dicks (D) are both up for reelection. All three county commissioner seats will be open for election. If Super PACs are involved in any of these races, we will report to you.

The source of information for the news stories was: Seattle Times, "Limit-free super PACS poised to be 2012 election cash cow," October 2, 2011; New York Times, "Without "Super PAC Numbers, Campaign Filings Present an Incomplete Picture," October 20,2011; New York Times, "Perry's Super PAC Keeps Its Distance From Him," October 21, 2011; Cleveland Plain Dealer, "Comedian Stephan Colbert gets approval for his 'super PAC,'" June 30, 2011.

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