Updating last week’s digest, a new Washington Post investigation finds growing use of limited liability companies to make large political contributions–a practice which shields the identity of the donor or donors who capitalized the LLC. Even still, a New York judge this week dismissed a lawsuit challenging a provision of that state’s campaign finance law that expressly permits LLCs to make political contributions, and to do so at higher individual limits (up to $150,000 per year, versus $5,000 per year for corporate contributions) and without disclosing their funding sources.
(I still think it’s only a matter of time until a state regulator tags one of these LLCs as a political committee–and penalizes it for failing to register as a PAC, failing to report, and making excessive contributions.)