Proft’s super PAC probed by state board of elections
In an interview with Crain’s Chicago Business about a new probe into Dan Proft’s super PAC, RFI Executive Director Alisa Kaplan spoke at length about how super PACs’ ability to raise and spend unlimited sums of money is predicated on the idea that they are truly independent organizations and not susceptible to the same quid-pro-quo corruption as regular candidate committees.
“If a candidate requests a specific campaign message from a super PAC, and the super PAC delivers that message, the super PAC is acting as an arm of the campaign, not as an independent organization. As such, it becomes susceptible to all the same dangers of corruption and the appearance of corruption as a regular candidate committee,” she said.
Kaplan’s thoughts on the current Proft case: “While the wall between super PACs and candidates is often pretty porous, this radio exchange — If it’s described accurately in the complaint — drives a bulldozer through it.”
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