Money Spigot

The ‘Non-Candidate’ Money Spigot

By THE EDITORIAL BOARD The New York TImes

Campaign watchdog groups are wisely urging the Department of Justice to investigate the ever cozier relationships between candidates and their supposedly independent “super PACs,” which are reducing the presidential campaign to a free-for-all shopping mart for megadonors seeking influence.

The problem, spawned by the Supreme Court’s misguided Citizens United decision, is exemplified by Jeb Bush’s brazen strategy of personally raising scores of millions of dollars for his custom-tailored, supposedly independent super PAC, Right to Rise. Mr. Bush insists that this coordination is perfectly legal because he has not yet formally declared that he is running for president. As a candidate, which he obviously is, he should have to keep his distance from the super PAC, which can raise unlimited-dollar contributions while his own formal campaign would be limited to raising donations of a few thousand dollars per donor.

Mr. Bush’s cynical pretense has netted him the largest dollar haul of the campaign so far, with a reported take of $100 million in super PAC money this year to put him ahead of his rivals. Tactics like his “nondeclaration” have laid bare the Federal Election Commission’s abdication of its responsibility for policing campaign abuses. The bipartisan commission has been rendered “worse than dysfunctional,” in the words of its chairwoman, by party-line standoffs that invite further collusion between candidates and deep-pocketed donors.

Justice Department officials should step in to ensure that the law is being enforced. In February, the Justice Department vowed that it would take a tougher approach after it won the conviction of a campaign operative in Virginia who colluded with an “independent” super PAC in a 2012 congressional race.

Two political watchdog groups, the Campaign Legal Center and Democracy 21, cited the uselessness of the F.E.C. when they urged that the Justice Department appoint an independent special counsel to enforce federal laws that prohibit coordination between candidates’ campaigns and super PACs. Some of Mr. Bush’s trusted aides are already reported to be deeply involved in the Right to Rise super PAC, preparing to make it a strategy center and money engine in the overall campaign. There are similar ties between other candidates and loyalists to the candidates who have been implanted to manage “independent” super PACs as part of the candidates’ election machines. By having an independent counsel investigate a candidate’s practices, the Justice Department can avoid a conflict of interest or the appearance of a conflict.

Mr. Bush’s blithe insistence that he should be free to raise money without limit until he announces his candidacy is absurd. Even he has had a hard time keeping up the charade. This month, before a county Republican dinner in Las Vegas, he casually blurted to reporters, “I’m running for president in 2016.” Before they could shout “Gotcha!” he tried to retreat with a bit of verbal nonsense: “And the focus is going to be how we — if I run. …”

Ideally, the F.E.C. should be doing its enforcement job. Given that agency’s dereliction, the Justice Department must exercise its authority to enforce the law. The abuses of runaway political money will only grow when candidates believe there’s no one to stop them.