Liberal ‘dark money’ group scrutinized in Pennsylvania
PHILADELPHIA — State election regulators will soon investigate whether Pennsylvanians for Accountability, a liberal nonprofit that repeatedly criticized former Pennsylvania GOP Gov. Tom Corbett and other conservative politicians, violated political disclosure laws.
Pennsylvania's Department of State will initiate an "inquiry into apparent discrepancies" in the political spending reports filed by Pennsylvanians for Accountability, spokeswoman Adriana Arvizo said in response to questions raised about the group by the Center for Public Integrity.
It’s the latest trouble for the union-backed Pennsylvanians for Accountability, an organization that also failed to file a mandatory federal tax return — exposing it to up to $50,000 in Internal Revenue Service fines, as the Center for Public Integrity reported earlier this year.
At least one Republican state lawmaker is also considering holding a legislative hearing to, in part, probe the group’s actions.
According to recently submitted tax records, Pennsylvanians for Accountability spent more than $1 million during late 2012 and early 2013 on advertisements targeting Corbett, who lost re-election in November, and a handful of state lawmakers.
Pennsylvanians for Accountability characterized nearly $475,000 of this sum as “independent expenditure efforts” that consisted of “direct mail and digital advocacy” in nine state House and state Senate races.
Yet the group reported making only $61,000 worth of independent expenditures in two races to the Pennsylvania Department of State.
Pennsylvania law defines an “independent expenditure” as spending “made for the purpose of influencing an election” not done in “cooperation or consultation” with any candidate.
Related: Liberal ‘dark money’ group could face IRS fine
There’s more to this story. Click here to read the rest at the Center for Public Integrity.
This story is part of Primary Source. Primary Source keeps you up-to-date on developments in the post-Citizens United world of money in politics. Click here to read more stories in this blog.
Copyright 2014 The Center for Public Integrity. This story was published by The Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative news organization in Washington, D.C.
