Philly Council president trying to shine light on Super Pac money

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The president of Philadelphia City Council is trying to change how money from outside sources affects political campaigns.  This comes as super PACs are far outspending the candidates for Philadelphia mayor.

Council President Darrell Clarke said his bill is designed to show exactly where Super Pac funding is coming from — money given to independent groups, not to campaigns directly.

“I think it’s clearly a way of getting around the legislation enacted by the mayor and council some time ago,” Clarke said. “We think that if a person is interested in a candidate, they should disclose their support.”

The bill would require earlier disclosure of the people funding independent advertising in city races — but only contributions over a threshold.

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“By the contributors, we’ll set a number, we believe the number will be approximately 5,000, that will be flexible because we want to be able to capture those contributors who put significant contributions in,” he said.

Clarke hopes to have the change approved and ready for use in the November general election.

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story misidentified Super Pac money as “dark money.” Dark money is specifically reserved for funding coming from 501-c4 non-profit corporations.

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