Unions outspending corporations on campaign ads despite court ruling

"We would be very pleasantly surprised if there's not a gusher of special interest money," said Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), adding: "Most of this money is almost always spent in the general election." (Melina Mara/the Washington Post)
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"Believing that 'sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants,' Commonsense Ten plans instead to engage in fully disclosed activity as a federally registered political committee," the group wrote.

The anti-tax group Club for Growth requested a similar clarification and said it intends to disclose all donors.

Law said his group recently established a nonprofit corporation, which means it can accept money from donors without being required to disclose their names. "There are some donors who care about that," he said. Such a nonprofit corporation faces certain restrictions on election spending under the U.S. tax code, however.

The Service Employees International Union has disclosed spending $4.6 million on independent ads this year, more than any other group. Americans for Job Security, which is incorporated as a business association, has disclosed the second-highest amount, $1.5 million. The Chamber of Commerce ranked third in spending, with $1.4 million in ads.

Several of the top groups were union-backed operations with names such as Working America, Arkansans for Change and Patriot Majority. The House disclosure bill would require those groups to list in advertisements the names of unions backing them.

Independent groups spent $8.1 million on the Democratic Senate primary in Arkansas, far more than any other race. Sen. Blanche Lincoln defeated union-backed Lt. Gov. Bill Halter in a June 8 runoff election in that state.

Brett Kappel, an election lawyer with Arent Fox who represents corporations and trade associations, said that his clients have been solicited by groups hoping to run election ads and that many corporations will take the court ruling as an invitation to participate in electioneering.

"There's nothing corporations like better than clear legal rules," he said, but added: "My impression is they're going to wait and see how this cycle goes before they go into making independent expenditures of their own."