Days Old Corporation Donates $5 Million to GOP Cause

Mystery firm formed days before $5M campaign gift

A shadowy Tennessee company donated more than $5 million to a prominent conservative super political action committee days after establishing itself.

By JACK GILLUM

Associated Press

http://seattletimes.com/html/politics/2019538384_apuscampaignmysterydonor.html

WASHINGTON —

A shadowy Tennessee company donated more than $5 million to a prominent conservative super political action committee days after establishing itself.

So who's behind one of the largest batches of election contributions this year? There's a questionable trail.

Campaign finance reports filed late Thursday show that the political committee, FreedomWorks for America, received seven donations totaling $5.28 million from Knoxville-based Specialty Group Inc. The money, which accounted for about 90 percent of FreedomWorks for America's donations during the first 15 days of October, is helping pay for TV ads supporting conservative candidates for federal office.

An Associated Press review of Tennessee business records showed that Specialty Group filed its incorporation papers on Sept. 26, less than a week before it gave several contributions to FreedomWorks worth between $125,000 and $1.5 million apiece. The Specialty Group appears to have no website detailing its products or services. It is registered to a suburban Knoxville home.

Specialty Group's opaque contributions provide another example of the marked changes to the campaign finance system, in which corporations and individuals can spend unlimited sums of money to support candidate. Major donors, including those to a super PAC benefiting Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, have been caught routing significant donations through corporate entities, effectively cloaking their identities.

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