What is Dark Money and why should you care?
Freedom Voice Reports consist of investigative reporters and political scientist who bring awareness to where our Freedoms and Rights and threatened. So the question to ask is how is Dark Money a Freedom Issue.
Dark Money are funds raised for the purpose of influencing elections by nonprofit organizations that are not required to disclose the identities of their donors.
So how is this a question of Freedoms and Rights?
In an article for the Center for Public Integrity by Michael Beckel, he writes that monies over $200 must be disclosed to the Federal Election Commission. Nonprofit organizations are not required to disclose or to be disclosed. This non-disclosed money is called dark money.
Campaign financing usually has political influences. It is for this reason that disclosure is required, so that the voters know who is influencing our elections.
There is a campaign finance bill being heavily pushed by President Biden, calling for an end to Dark Money in US elections. This bill will force political groups to disclose some big donors. According to President Biden too much money that influences our elections “flows in the shadows”.
Disclosing the nonprofit special influence groups will put pressure on them and may prevent the interest of many groups to have a say. there would be boycotts to close down the interest of so many, if full disclosure was required.
There you have a debate, but it does not end there. Dark Money being kept secret has some very valid reasons but it also leads to the possibility of monies coming from criminal organizations. That is not a discussion for this article. If you would like a video by Maibort Petit speaking before the Institute for Democracy on the dangers of Dark Money to Democracies.