Citizens United accounts for 78% of 2012 outside election spending

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Last edited Tue Sep 25, 2012, 07:44 AM - Edit history (1)

http://m.guardiannews.com/ms/p/gnm/us/sk8Ao3GRK94EPSkOd_cicLg/view.m?id=15&gid=world/2012/sep/24/super-pac-spending-2012-election&cat=world_us-elections-2012

Citizens United accounts for 78% of 2012 election spending, study shows

Impact of supreme court's 2010 ruling shown by report into outside money spent on this year's US presidential election


Almost $465m of outside money has been spent on the US presidential election campaign so far, including $365m that can be attributed to the supreme court's landmark Citizens United ruling, according to a report released on Monday.

Super Pacs, which came into effect following the 2010 Citizens United verdict, accounted for $272m of the expenditure in the study, conducted by the Sunlight Foundation, a non-profit organisation devoted to increasing transparency in government.

A further $93m has been spent by corporations, trade associations and non-profits which, according to the supreme court's decision, are able to spend unlimited amounts on political campaigning without disclosing the source of their funds.

"This cycle's outside spending mostly comes in the form of 'independent expenditures' supporting or opposing political candidates by unions, corporations, trade associations, non-profit groups and Super Pacs," wrote Kathy Kiely, managing editor of the Sunlight Foundation.

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