FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: William Gray, Deputy Communications Director, wgray@issueone.org, (202) 204-8553

—

Just 15 dark money groups in the post-Citizens United era accounted for over 75 percent of the more than $800 million in political dark money spent between January 2010 and December 2016, according to Issue One’s new year-long investigation, “Dark Money Illuminated.”

During this period, these groups — some of which spent to help Democrats and some of which aided Republicans — reported spending more than $600 million in political dark money to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and were ranked as the top 15 dark money spenders, according to an Issue One analysis of data from the Center for Responsive Politics and FEC.

“Dark Money Illuminated” shines light on approximately 400 donors and donor organizations who have funded these leading dark money groups that specialize in the attack ads and negative campaigns that are poisoning our elections. These donors are being made searchable in an extensive, first-of-its-kind database containing nearly 1,200 transactions, each supported by primary source documents. You can also see these records in ProPublica’s FEC Itemizer database.

At its core, “Dark Money Illuminated” also highlights how little even the most seasoned experts are able to unearth about the secretive, dark money groups that are coming to define congressional elections.

“If you have the guts to play in politics or attack a candidate running for office, you should have the courage to put your name on it,” said Issue One CEO Nick Penniman. “Right now, the dark money groups and anonymous donors behind them that endlessly bombard Americans with television ads spouting half-truths and outright lies do a disservice to voters. In the internet age, every American should be able to know where the money is being spent and who is giving it in near real-time.”

Nearly every one of these top 15 dark money groups are still active in elections today.

Among them: the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the nation’s largest lobbying organization for businesses, which ranks as the top-spending dark money group since Citizens United. It spent approximately $130 million on political advertisements to promote and attack candidates between January 2010 and December 2016, in addition to the direct political contributions it made to candidates from its political action committee. That’s about $1 of every $6 spent on political ads by all dark money groups during this time.