Undisclosed money pours into Central Florida congressional races

Last week, controversy erupted over a report by the liberal blog ThinkProgress that accused the U.S. Chamber of Commerce of funneling foreign money into U.S. elections.

“So far, this strong charge is completely unproven,” Jake Tapper reported Monday for ABC News:

ABC News also reported:

“We have no idea if the Chamber or any 501(c) organization as defined by the IRS code, is taking foreign money for the purposes of playing politics,” said Dave Levinthal of the Center for Responsive Politics. “Saying that foreign money is actually going toward attack ads or any type of messaging in the political realm, you just don’t know. It’s speculation and nothing more.”

The report goes on to say that the White House believes “the lack of transparency makes it impossible to know for certain whether foreign funds are being kept separate — a claim which is largely true.”

Good-government groups have been pushing for stronger disclosure requirements, especially in the wake of the Citizens United Supreme Court decision, which removed limits on private campaign contributions. If private donations can’t be limited, the argument goes, they should at least be made public.

Congress recently tried to pass legislation that would have done just that, as Jesse Zwick reported for The Washington Independent:

The post-Citizens United bill, dubbed the DISCLOSE Act by its sponsors, sets a series of new disclosure rules to shed light on the sources of campaign commercials, issue mailers and other election-season speech. Corporations, unions and politically active non-profit groups would be required to report donors who finance such political activity above certain thresholds, and the company that primarily pays for TV or radio campaign ads would have to add a disclaimer message recorded by its CEO.

The act failed to pass in the U.S. Senate, in a vote largely along party lines. Both Grayson and Kosmas, along with most of their fellow Democrats, voted for the measure when it passed in the House of Representatives.

Also last week, Politico reported:

Central Florida appears to be ground zero for the outside group attacks, with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and 60 Plus Association set to spend at least $1.7 million by the end of next week battering Reps. Suzanne Kosmas and Alan Grayson.

OpenSecrets campaign finance data show that while both Kosmas and Grayson have raised more campaign contributions than their Republican challengers, the national party and independent groups — including the Chamber — are helping to make up the difference.

So far, the Kosmas campaign has out-raised and out-spent Adams. But the Chamber has spent $300,000 opposing Kosmas, and the national Republican Party and other groups have also poured money into the race, giving Adams and her supporters the spending edge so far.

The Chamber has also spent $300,000 so far opposing Grayson, who has out-raised and out-spent Republican challenger Daniel Webster nearly tenfold.