Report: Most Recall Donors Anonymous

A new report from Wisconsin Democracy Campaign says more than half the money spent by special interest groups during Wisconsin’s recent recall elections came from anonymous donors.

The report tracks $90 million raised and spent in the 2011 and 2012 governor and senate recall elections. It finds that 49 million of those dollars came from undisclosed donors, and only 1 million from donors whose names were listed clearly in campaign finance reports.

Democracy Campaign director Mike McCabe says the largest chunk of undisclosed contributions came from conservative groups like the Americans for Prosperity Foundation. He says while it is legal to keep donors’ names secret, he believes it does a disservice to voters. “They’re spreading these messages and inundating the airwaves with all these campaign ads, but the public is left in the dark about who’s really writing the checks. And so, it’s hard to know how you feel about a claim unless you know a little something about who’s making it.”

Organizations that keep their donors anonymous claim they are educating voters rather than electioneering. However, McCabe says there is a new trend now among groups on both sides of the political spectrum to register as charitable organizations that fund both positive and negative political issue ads. “They’re really masquerading as charities forcing American tax payers to subsidize their political agendas, because they’re tax exempt. But they’re really gaming the tax code to keep their donors secret.”

McCabe says undisclosed money being spent on elections will continue to increase unless state and federal elected officials pass laws preventing political donors from remaining anonymous.