Loot for Legislators

We've all been hearing more and more about how this year's midterm elections are the most costly ever, at almost $4 billion for the Senate races ~ and that's just the baksheesh that had to be disclosed. Will 2014 be the straw that broke the camel's back? “I think the increasing degree of interaction between candidates and outside groups is rendering the candidate contribution limits meaningless,” says Campaign Legal Center senior counsel Paul S. Ryan. And it's not just big money's ability to buy a candidate that's problematic. “Some of the key strategic decisions you need to make when you’re thinking about running are not only about your own campaign but, ‘Who is going to head up a super PAC for me, and how are they going to raise money?’ ” explains former FEC commissioner Michael Toner. “That’s no longer a luxury—that’s necessity.” Larry Norton, a campaign finance lawyer at Venable who was the FEC's general counsel for six years, sums it up: "It's bordering on just an incomprehensible system." Bordering? (story, video): http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/election-2014-a-new-level-of-collaboration-between-candidates-and-big-money-allies/2014/11/03/ec2bda9a-636f-11e4-836c-83bc4f26eb67_story.html
   From the $43 million doled out since the beginning of the year by former hedge fund manager Tom Steyer and the equal amount from Karl Rove's American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS, to the relatively paltry $66,000 from investment manager Foster Friess, FEC filings and data reveal the sources of at least some of the money: http://america.aljazeera.com/multimedia/2014/11/big-election-donors2014.html