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Outside groups spend more than $15M on WV races

BECKLEY, W.Va. — With nine days until the election, outside special interest groups spent more than $15 million trying to influence voters’ decision on who can best lead West Virginia, three times the amount spent four years ago.

That amount nearly rivals what candidates for the executive, legislative and judicial offices have spent, a total of $16.3 million, a new study by WV Citizens for Clean Elections found.

This election cycle, political action committees, better known as PACs, spent $5.3 million in the attorney general’s race, $3.7 million for the governor’s contest, and $3.6 million on Supreme Court candidates, the study found.

 Third party organizations doled out approximately $2.5 million in various Senate races – more than a third, $900,000, on the 4th Senatorial District, currently held by Senate Majority Leader Mitch Carmichael, R-Jackson.

According to the report, the top five spending groups this election cycle are:

• Mountaineers Always Free PAC, part of the Republican Attorney Generals Association (RAGA) to help Patrick Morrisey retain West Virginia’s attorney general office. The group, which has received much of its funding from coal and electricity companies, has spent $5.3 million supporting Morrisey and attacking his opponent, Delegate Doug Reynolds.

• The Republican State Leadership Committee’s Judicial Fairness Initiative doled out $2.6 million supporting Beth Walker, who won the May Supreme Court race by attacking two of her opponents, Darrell McGraw and Bill Wooton. The RSLC’s top donors are the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the nation’s two largest tobacco companies, Wal-Mart, and Koch Industries.

• The Republican Governors Association, through its Right Direction PAC, has spent approximately $2.5 million to help Senate President Bill Cole in his race against Democrat Jim Justice. The politically neutral Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) states the RAGA, the RSLC, and the RGA have several major donors in common.

• West Virginia Family Values is super PAC funded by labor unions and trial attorneys spent $2.2 million in several state Senate races, primarily in support of Democrats and against Republicans.

• Good Jobs West Virginia has spent more than $900,000 in the governor’s race attacking Bill Cole. The group’s top donors are the Democratic Governors Association (DGA) and Jobs and Opportunity, a federal PAC funded primarily by the DGA. The DGA’s top donors include Blue Cross/Blue Shield and several major pharmaceutical companies, according to Center for Responsive Politics.

 The spending figures, the report states, come from an analysis that only includes amounts filed with the Secretary of State’s Office.

“Unfortunately, under current law it would be impossible to fully determine the amount of money being spent on our elections or even to know the identity of who is behind some of the groups that have filed disclosure reports. A first step to fight back against big money in our elections is to make sure that every group – liberal and conservative – attempting to sway our elections has to disclose where the money came from,” said Julie Archer, coordinator for WV Citizens for Clean Elections.

Studies show special interest spending has a good rate of return for the investors. One study cited in the report found that in 2014, incumbent legislators supported by super PACs won more than 83 percent of the time, while incumbents who relied solely on their personal campaigns won around 67 percent of the time. However, super PAC spending had the biggest impact on candidates challenging incumbents. With the help of super PACs, challengers won nearly half – 47.6 percent – of their races, while challengers who lacked super PAC support won only 15 percent of the time.

The study included a couple recommendations. First was a full disclosure of each PAC that spends more than $1,000 in West Virginia. Second, the Secretary of State’s Office needs the resources to enforce current and future laws regarding PACs and political spending disclosures.

See more from The Register-Herald. 

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