HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) — Thousands of donors to Gov. Josh Shapiro’s (D) reelection campaign mean thousands of pages in disclosure forms.
One that caught our eye — $1 million from San Francisco tech magnate Christian Larsen. Voters can see who he is and how much he gave, which means the system is working. But it doesn’t always work that way.
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Donors to both parties often influence elections through dark money. Here’s how it works: Rich donor contributes to a social welfare nonprofit, which then gives to a super PAC, which spends money advocating for or against politicians. When the super PAC fills out its disclosure form, it reports the nonprofit, but it doesn’t identify the actual donors.
“You can be some fat cat sitting on some beach, funnel that money right in unlimited,” said Rep. Jared Solomon (D-Philadelphia). “We don’t even know who you are.”
Solomon called it a two-step shell game that state lawmakers won’t eliminate. He’s pushing two pieces of campaign finance reform legislation — one that limits how much an individual can donate and another that would require more transparency around who is making a donation.
Republican political consultant Chris Nicholas agreed that state disclosure rules are too lax and should be tougher, but he also said he understands wanting anonymity.
“Just because you run a big company doesn’t mean you give up your First Amendment rights to be a liberal or conservative,” Nicholas said. “So, this is a way for people like that to scratch their itch and not have it come back and harm their day job.”
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“But guess what, it’s hurting the bottom line of our voters when they can’t understand where money comes from,” Solomon said.
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