Super political action committees, which provide a major loophole for donors trying to get around limits on donations to candidates, is likely to have a big influence in the Detroit mayoral election in November.
And so far, it looks as if candidate Mike Duggan will have the edge in that arena.
Darrell Nichols of the Detroit News reports that more than $1.5 million was given to PACs supporting the two top vote-getters in the Aug. 6 mayoral primary. The lion's share of that money went to Duggan.
The PAC Turnaround Detroit supports Duggan, and Detroit Forward backs Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon.
Nichols writes that Turnaround Detroit tapped into $1.4 million in contributions to spend more than $200,000 on media buys and $125,000 for mailings leading up to the primary. Napoleon had about $120,000 in PAC money.
Political observers say that PAC money helped Duggan get out the word about his write-in campaign.
“It was crucial to the write-in campaign,” said Detroit political analyst Steve Hood. “There’s no way under normal financing that we’re used to that (Duggan) could have amassed that amount of cash that quickly.”
The PACS “had a huge impact, and you’ll see more (leading up to November),” Hood said. “You’ll see both camps ramping up to full speed.”
A U.S. Supreme Court ruling allows an unlimited amount of money from business owners, unions and other groups be spent in favor of or against candidates through the political action committees, Nichols writes.
The limits are tighter for direct contributions to the candidates. An individual can donate $3,400 to a candidate and a group can donate $34,000.
Duggan has the backing of some of the area's prominent business people including Roger Penske, who gave $250,000 to the Duggan PAC.
So it's likely those folks will pony up more money for Duggan's PAC in the general election. -- Allan Lengel
