Federal super PACs spend big on local elections

• A federal super PAC spent more than %24150%2C000 to help oust school board members in N.J. last year
• Super PACs can raise and spend unlimited amounts to influence elections but must operate independently of candidates
• Contests to pick 36 governors and thousands of state lawmakers could spark more down-ballot spending

WASHINGTON — The campaign fliers landed in mailboxes last September and October, urging voters in Elizabeth, N.J., to toss out several members of the school board.

The source of the glossy mailers: the Committee for Economic Growth and Social Justice, an innocuously named super PAC registered in Washington to accept and spend unlimited amounts of campaign cash to influence politics — in this case, who would win three unpaid positions on a board that runs a 25,000-student school district.

By Election Day, the group — tied to a powerful New Jersey state senator and heavily funded by the bail bond industry — had spent more than $150,000, federal campaign records show. The effort largely succeeded. Two of the targeted incumbents lost their seats.

"We've never experienced or expected that outside interest groups would come in and invest this kind of money into a local school board race," said Elizabeth School Board president Tony Monteiro, a political ally of the losing candidates. "It boggles the mind. ... The whole landscape has changed."

The torrent of outside money that has flooded presidential and congressional races in recent years is flowing into down-ballot contests coast to coast — driven by new, well-funded super PACs and court decisions easing restrictions on corporate and union spending in American elections. Outside political spending topped $1 billion in the presidential and congressional races in 2012, more than three times what such groups spent in the previous election cycle.

The spending is moving to mayoral elections and school board contests in places such as Elizabeth, N.J., and Burbank, Calif., where a group started by former Washington schools chancellor and education activist Michelle Rhee outspent the candidates themselves last year to help people who share her views on school testing and accountability.

Another super PAC has pumped money into a constable race in Texas. Outside spending in the Boston mayoral race hit nearly $4 million last year. In Nevada, a gun rights group launched a political action committee this month that will target a state senator who sponsored a bill to expand background checks for gun purchases.

Independent spending has been a fixture in politics for years. But super PACs, as many of these turbo-charged independent groups are known, first burst into politics in 2010 after a pair of federal court rulings, including the U.S. Supreme Court's Citizens United decision that allowed unlimited corporate and union donations to independent political groups. Super PACs can spend unlimited amounts as long as they don't coordinate with the favored candidates.

Even as outside groups spend unlimited amounts, candidates themselves face strict caps on the size of their donations. In places such as Connecticut and Michigan, individual donations to candidates for the state Legislature are capped at a few hundred dollars each.

"It seems as if the back door has gotten larger than the front door," said Kenneth Gross, a Washington lawyer and former Federal Election Commission official. "While the money may not be at the eye-popping level we've seen at the federal level, it can change the course of what seems like a small election."

There's more to come. Experts predict a bigger super PAC onslaught this year, when 36 governors' posts and more than 6,000 state legislative seats are up.

SETTLING SCORES

In New Jersey, outside groups spent a record $41 million to influence state-level races and ballot initiatives last year — nearly three times what independent organizations spent in Garden State races four years earlier, according to a tally by state regulators. They swamped the $14.7 million spent by Republican and Democratic Party committees.

In Elizabeth, Anthony Padlo, one of the two school board members ousted last year, said he expected a competitive race but was "surprised that a super PAC has such an interest in a local school board."

The Committee for Economic Growth and Social Justice is at the center of a long-running political feud. It was launched last August by allies of state Sen. Raymond Lesniak, an influential Democratic lawmaker whose district includes the city and who has battled for years with his political rivals on the Elizabeth Board of Education. A candidate backed by the school board tried unsuccessfully to oust Lesniak during the Democratic primary in 2011.

"My decision was to fight fire with fire," Lesniak said of authorizing the super PAC, which is run by his former campaign consultant.

(Lesniak said his goal is to clean up the school board, which has been the target of investigations — including a criminal probe into misuse of the federal school-lunch program. Monteiro, the board's president, said the allegations, which involve former members, have been overblown for political reasons.)

Lesniak has served in the state Legislature since 1978, is chairman of the Senate's economic growth committee and sits on a judiciary panel. In recent years, he spearheaded the legislation that legalized online gambling in the state.

Mark Tenner, a Nevada gambling consultant working to expand online poker, was among the super PAC's donors, giving a combined $15,000, Federal Election Commission records show.

Other donors include development companies and Lesniak's law firm. The biggest donation came from the American Bail Coalition, which represents bail-bond companies. The Pennsylvania-based group contributed $75,000 — more than 40% of the group's total receipts last year, the federal records show.

Nicholas Wachinski, the bail coalition's executive director, said the group had never contributed before to a super PAC but decided to do so after several bail agents who operate in Lesniak's legislative district encouraged the national group to get involved.

Despite last year's gains, Lesniak's foes still maintain the majority on the board. More school board positions are up again this fall, and Lesniak said he expects the super PAC will be active again to "finish the job."

FRESH FLOOD OF SPENDING

There's no central repository with data showing how much super PACs have shelled out in state and local races. There's growing evidence, however, that political strategists and deep-pocketed interests plan a fresh flood of spending this year.

In Connecticut, a law firm representing Democratic candidates and groups has urged regulators to write rules that pave the way for more super PAC activity in the state. In New York, where a federal appeals court struck down the state's $150,000 cap on donations to outside political groups last year, two Republican consultants have started an independent group to help retain the GOP majority in the state's Senate. Early donors include two groups representing New York City landlords.

In Louisiana, a super PAC backing Sen. David Vitter, a Republican, filed a federal lawsuit last week to toss out the state's $100,000 cap on donations to independent political action committees. Vitter is running for governor in the 2015 election.

The pro-Vitter super PAC has stockpiled $1.5 million, most of which came from energy interests. Charles Spies, a prominent Republican election lawyer who started the super PAC, said the group operates independently of Vitter, making it harder for any industry to curry favor with Vitter through its super PAC donations.

In Texas, the Liberty for All super PAC is gearing up to support candidates in four legislative races in the state and two others in Maine and West Virginia, said Preston Gates, the group's executive director. It also plans to get involved in municipal races.

The goal is to bring accountability to politics at every level, said Gates and John Ramsey, 23, the PAC's founder, who runs a private-equity firm and has supported Libertarian candidates.

The super PAC has made a big splash. It pumped more than $1.7 million into several congressional races in 2012, including a primary in northern Kentucky to help Republican Thomas Massie. Massie went on to win the general election. (Much of the money came from Ramsey, then a college-student, who funded his political activity with inherited money.)

In a little-noticed move, Liberty for All spent $35,000 that year in a Democratic primary for constable in Travis County, Texas — exceeding the incumbent's fundraising. The ads targeted the officeholder over a 15-year-old charge of cocaine smuggling that was later dropped. The incumbent prevailed, but Gates said the spending was effective because it helped force a runoff.

Ramsey said local races offer the super PAC a "big-time" return on a relatively small investment. "We can incubate candidates who are committed to a better tomorrow," he said. "All politics is local at the end of the day."

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