We’ve talked about the Koch Brothers and their lobbying groups. Other than ALEC, most of them are recently founded.  That is not true for Karl Rove’s group- Crossroads GPS.  As you recall, it spent some $ 208 million in 2012, while its sister group (PAC American Crossroads) employed some $ 117 million- making it second right behind the Koch Brothers.

Given the political situation in America, it should not surprise you that the FEC (Federal Election Commission) that is supposed to regulate election and political committees is doing nothing when violations occur.  As it is, the rules basically let potential crooks operate with impunity and then answer to regulators AFTER the election occurs.

Which is what just happened.  The legal staff of the FEC reported that Crossroads violated the federal campaign laws during the 2010 midterm elections.  They actually state there was “sufficient evidence to either investigate or settle the matter”.  You shouldn’t get confused about the idea of settling- because JPMorganChase recently settled it’s violations with another federal agency to the tune of billions of dollars.

So what does that statement above really mean?  It means that, if the FEC were functional, it would effect an in-depth investigation of Crossroads, its financial data, and its political actions.   Because while Crossroads said it only spent $ 74 million on political elections (39% of its total spending), the FEC legal group dug through the chicanery and found more than 50% of its funds were for political activity- and therefore it was a political action committee and not a charitable organization (‘non-profit social welfare organization” is the actual term).  And political action committees MUST divulge from whom it gets money and why (not so for charities).

Of course, you might also want to know who gave Crossroads 22.5 million.  Yup- just one entity pumped that much into its coffers in 2010.

Unfortunately, the FEC is split 3 members for each party- and vote along party lines.  So, you guessed it, they will take no action on the legal team’s recommendations.

And, just so you know, this is really important.  Because when the Supreme Court made its decision on Citizen’s United, they completely expected that political donors would be divulged. Not hidden from view- and public knowledge- with the bogus claim that the donation emanated from a charitable organization.

(The FEC has  just barely begun investigating the 2012 elections.  We can hear about those violations in a year or two- or maybe three.)

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