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BANKERS PREPARE TO SPEND…ANONYMOUSLY: Earlier this year Earlier this year we reported on what appeared to be an attempt by a group of banks to form a super PAC , which they said would let them “carry a big stick” and convince lawmakers that they’d work to kick them out of office if need be. As it turns out, that effort was put together by a collection of smaller community banks whose professed goals (collecting many smaller donations from many community banks) could have been accomplished with a regular PAC. And, sure enough, the super PAC they founded hasn’t done a thing

But critics’ concerns about that plan may not have been in vain. Yesterday, the American Bankers Association (the national trade association that represents all banks, but particularly big banks) voted to form a new 501(c)(4) group — a politically active nonprofit that can collect unlimited sums of cash to run politically-oriented advertisements, and, thanks to IRS rules about nonprofits, doesn’t have to disclose any of its donors.

According to Bloomberg, the purpose of the group will be to collect donations from the ABA’s member banks and then donate the money to super PACs that will attack or support various U.S. Senate candidates. While super PACs have to publicly disclose their donors, because the money will be coming from the 501(c)(4), the original source of the funds will remain anonymous.

Why go to the extra step of giving the money to a 501(c)(4) group and not just give directly to a super PAC? As we’ve seen recently, shareholders of big companies might take issue with large political donations from corporate coffers, and Wall Street’s somewhat diminished reputation these days might make politicians less enthusiastic about having big banks on their side. But pushing the money through 501(c)(4) organizations, which we’ve dubbed shadow money groups for their lack of disclosure, wipes away any negative connotations — for both the donors and the politicians who benefit.

JEWELRY HEIR BEHIND ANTI-GAY MARRIAGE AD: A conservative super PAC called Campaign for American Values released an ad yesterday attacking President Barack Obama on the issue of gay marriage. Judging by some commentary on the Internet, the ad may be most notable for the less-than-convincing job the actors are doing (see the ad for yourself below), but it does represent one of the first major outside group attacks on Obama on the issue of gay marriage.

Campaign for American Values is headed by Gary L. Bauer, a prominent conservative Christian activist, former presidential candidate and high-ranking official at the Department of Education under President Ronald Reagan — but who is putting up the cash for all this? According to OpenSecrets.org , the group has raised more than $630,000 this cycle and the bulk of it came from one company — Corporate Land Management, Inc. A quick search of the Internet finds almost no information about the company other than its funding of this super PAC, but we dug into the corporate records (pdf) of this Texas-based company and found it has one man on its board of directors — Tim Horner. Horner is also the president of Premier Designs , a multi-level marketing jewelry company with a strong Christian ethos. The company was founded by his parents in the 1980s and has a non-profit arm that supports churches and missionary work.



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About The Author Russ joined the Center in March 2012 as the money-in-politics reporter. His duties include reporting for OpenSecrets Blog and assisting with press inquiries. Russ has a background in investigative journalism, having worked as a reporter for the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University, and he spent five years as a newspaper reporter in New Hampshire. He has a degree in political science from Muhlenberg College and a M.A. in journalism and public affairs from American University. Follow Russ Choma

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