GRAND RAPIDS (WZZM) -- In the 2012 election, it will be more difficult to find out who is funding your candidate, and there's no limit to the amount of money donors can give.
Some political experts say it's a threat to democracy. It's called a Super PAC (political action committee). Comedian Stephen Colbert mocks it in his show saying, "They can buy your vote with their unlimited Super Pac money."
Still, West Michigan is starting to see pricey ads from Super PACs. This first quarter, just one ad funded by a Super PAC was one-third of West Michigan's political ad revenue-- about one-hundred-thousand-dollars.
Back in the day corporations could give an unlimited amount of money. GRCC professor Keith St. Claire says, "They were basically owning these candidates in the 19th century."
That's why laws were passed so corporations couldn't give their profits to influence a candidate.
But corporations got around that by using not their profits, but their employees' money as donations. But that tactic soon hit a road block, too. PACs were formed which required transparency on who was giving, and capped how much you could give.
A 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision threw campaign reform out the window, according to experts. Now anyone can donate an unlimited amount of money, and corporations are getting around giving out their identity, too.
St. Claire says, "They still have to record where these Super PACs get their money from, but because of the leniency in the law, some are not filing their donors until the election is over."
Many political analysts worry that people with money will have a louder voice in our democracy than the average Joe.
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