Dark Money. Karl Rove may not have invented the term, but he is a master at the art of keeping the names of political donors secret. He’s the man behind a new conservative fundraiser, One Nation, which has applied for approval as a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization whose mission is “issue advocacy.”
Its president is Steven Law, former Chief of Staff to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. One Nation has bought several interesting political ads lately such as:
- $2.3 million on a month-long advertising push supporting Republican Congressman Joe Heck in his Nevada reelection campaign because of his work on legislation to bring hi-tech jobs to the state.
- $2.71 million on a month-long campaign supporting the reelection of Sen. Pat Toomey (R- Pa.), touting his work on legislation to require background checks of all public school employees.
- $4.6 million to run ads for Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), discussing her work on opioid addiction legislation supported by an organization of police chiefs.
- $4.8 million on anti-Obamacare advertising in support of the re-election of Sen.Rob Portman (R-OH).
Section 501(c)(4), social welfare organizations of the Internal Revenue Code, don’t have to disclose their donors. And donors can give as much as they like. That’s what dark money is: funds raised from anonymous donors who may make unlimited contributions.
Perhaps Rove started a new organization hoping that we all would have forgotten about his last 501(c)(4) organization.
Rove’s 2012 Failures
Rove’s previous 501(c)(4) organization was Crossroads GPS (and its affiliate, American Crossroads). The website says GPS means Grassroots Policy Strategies, but there’s nothing grassroots about it.
In 2012, American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS raised over $300 million to defeat President Obama and regain Republican control of the Senate. It didn’t work out as well as Rove planned. As you remember, President Obama won despite the $91 million these two organizations spent against him. And Crossroads didn’t do any better in the Senate and House races.
As the Sunlight Foundation reported, the Crossroads organizations spent $4 million to defeat Florida Senator Bill Nelson, but Nelson won Florida even more easily than President Obama. Only 14.43 percent of the money Crossroads spent was successful (opposing people who lost, supporting candidates who won).
Crossroads was more successful in 2014, when it won most of its bets.
One Nation is not spending much, if anything, on the 2016 presidential race. The expenditures it has announced recently all were for down-ballot candidates for the House and Senate. Apparently Rove has decided to stay away from actively supporting Trump; he recently criticized Trump for failing to stay on message. Take a look:
