Election Mystery Money Fuels Most Presidential Campaigns

GOP presidential candidate Marco Rubio. (Andrew Harnik / AP)

More than $4 million from donors who by law can remain anonymous has been channeled to efforts to elect White House hopefuls like Marco Rubio and Hillary Clinton.

The Associated Press reports on this shadowy money from super political action committees, or super PACs:

A super PAC backing Rubio, a Republican senator from Florida, benefited from companies with spectral names like “IGX LLC” ($500,000) and “TMCV #2 LLC” ($90,000). The Associated Press traced IGX to a New York investor, and the other to an Idaho billionaire.

Meanwhile, Democratic-leaning American Bridge 21st Century reported more than $1.5 million from its affiliated nonprofit, which doesn’t have to name its donors. American Bridge, which said it used the money to pay for shared expenses like rent and staff, was founded by Clinton supporter David Brock.

The contributions are a reminder of federal court decisions in recent years, like Citizens United, that loosened prior restrictions in campaign finance laws. That has made it difficult at times to tell who’s really backing candidates — and what favors or influence could be owed should they get elected.

The AP counted more than two dozen groups that each gave at least $50,000 to presidential-aligned super PACs during the last three months of 2015. At least half of those were unrecognizable names like family trusts, real estate holdings or firms that were far from household brands.