Although campaigning against big money in politics while on the campaign trail, before he was elected, Joe Biden experienced a windfall of benefits from a record-breaking haul of “dark money” contributions to his 2020 presidential campaign.
Biden’s campaign was backed by an unprecedented $145 million in dark money donations, dwarfing the $28.4 million spent on behalf of President Trump. It also tops the record of $113 million in anonymous donations that US Se. Mitt Romney (R-UT), saw in his failed 2012 campaign for the presidency.
The Biden campaign’s willingness to accept even a dollar of dark money contributions spotlights the campaign’s core hypocrisy in that Democrats – on the whole – have insisted they want to ban dark money citing its corrupting influence in politics.
“Dark money” allows supporters to quietly back a candidate without scrutiny by donating to nonprofit organizations – for example, 501(c)(4), 501(c)(5), and 501(c)(6) groups. Under current tax law, those groups are not required to disclose their donors. Read more…
