Election Law Co-Chair Michael Toner Discusses Super PACs

Election Law & Government Ethics Practice co-chair Michael Toner was interviewed by Politico for a story on Super PACs and the ability of donors to remain secret until after the votes are cast in the first four GOP primary contests.  Super PACs are the independent expenditure committees that can raise and spend unlimited money to support or oppose political candidates as long as they do not directly coordinate with the campaign.

The article reports that PACs backing a few of the GOP presidential hopefuls have requested a bureaucratic change that would let them delay revealing their list of donors. The article adds that in December, Super PACs made more than $8.5 million worth of independent expenditures involving presidential candidates.

“We’re seeing the full flowering of outside spending, whether you’re talking about 501(c)(4) nonprofit groups, 501(c)(6) trade associations, as well as the super PACs that seem to be filing every day,” said Mr. Toner, former chairman of the Federal Election Commission. “Their time is now.”