buylotrogold

Exclusive: How corporations secretly move millions to fund political  ads _http://rawstory.com/2010/02/exclusive-trade-groups-swiss-bank-account... aign-finance/_ (http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103001560589&s=1911&e=001CnnaXoWOkLVZyv... IXw79ciSzPoXDy_l_6-x8lh4O_Lfr2lDBwqylOVLz2-yLciwLUpH-DJNy4hudS7R1USt1DLX9mF F vuvbxPw_MDtkg3owlyWMFHc4-MZMJYSVrPtsJjb0WISDSU=)   The  Supreme Court's seismic January ruling that corporations are free to spend  unlimited amounts of their profits to advertise for or against candidates may  have been the latest shakeup of campaign finance - but gaping holes already  allow corporations to spend enormous sums without leaving a paper trail, a Raw  Story investigation has found. Campaign finance experts confirmed that though disclosure rules remained   intact in the new Supreme Court decision, there are effective methods to   circumvent them. Ciara Torres-Spelliscy, an attorney and campaign finance expert at New York  University's Brennan Center for Justice, said corporations already effectively  end-run campaign finance law by shuffling money through trade associations. One of their favorites right now is spending through trade associations,   Torres-Spelliscy said. Trade associations are considered tax-exempt non-profit organizations under  US law. While they must report contributions received from other corporations to  the Internal Revenue Service, the document itself remains confidential and is  not made available to the public. Money coming through the trade association doesn't get disclosed,   Torres-Spelliscy explained. You can't tell if it came from particular   corporations. For example, she said, The disclaimer form is likely to just say, 'This is  brought to you by the Chamber of Commerce,' with no extra ability to see behind  that. The Chamber of Commerce is the world's largest trade association representing  300,000 businesses and organizations. A fellow non-profit that works on campaign finance, the Center for Political  Accountability, calls trade associations the Swiss bank accounts of American  politics. What was the lesson from Watergate? Torres-Spelliscy quipped. Follow the  money? Health  insurers, pharmaceutical companies embrace loophole Trade associations such as America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) and   Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) have had an   enormous impact on the health insurance reform bills pending in Congress. In   fact, AHIP was _recently  found to have solicited_ (http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103001560589&s=1911&e=001CnnaXoWOkLU-ig... UTITiQxkDUNR7WTaIcrF8Q_79cNS1O5sLMGwNQLiqKZFGKoesoGqrFJsKGX30OaQpkZ7olffXtz 1 0-BBe5KRAmBgb3wQfZi8fmgRHn8jVSxvwZ53l8kfAz4t_LR08nAp6DbBMKDajR21glC1vYd-SVg T AA=)  $10 million to $20 million from leading health  insurance companies