Devise ways to rein in Super PACs

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Nov 11, 2012

~~<p>One story line that developed after the election is that the concern over campaign finance was unwarranted. In the case of the GOP-leaning national political action committees ("super PACs"), the argument goes, the goal of capturing the presidency and a majority in the U.S. Senate was not achieved, demonstrating that money cannot actually buy elections.</p>
<p>This would be the wrong conclusion to draw. The landmark 2010 ruling by the nation's high court that disabled many curbs on political spending by corpora- tions, wealthy individuals and organizations such as unions did, in fact, warp the 2012 political process, contributing to spending that surpassed the $1.5 billion mark.</p>
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One story line that developed after the election is that the concern over campaign finance was unwarranted. In the case of the GOP-leaning national political action committees ("super PACs"), the argument goes, the goal of capturing the presidency and a majority in the U.S. Senate was not achieved, demonstrating that money cannot actually buy elections.

This would be the wrong conclusion to draw. The landmark 2010 ruling by the nation's high court that disabled many curbs on political spending by corpora- tions, wealthy individuals and organizations such as unions did, in fact, warp the 2012 political process, contributing to spending that surpassed the $1.5 billion mark. Login for more...