Politico<...>
With the Crossroads fundraising team, led by Rove, emphasizing to prospective donors the ability to give to Crossroads GPS anonymously, fundraising took off.
Through Oct. 12, more than 57 percent of the $56 million
raised by the two groups had come through anonymous donations to Crossroads GPS, according to an analysis by POLITICO of Crossroads public statements and records on file with the Federal Election Commission and Internal Revenue Service.
The success Crossroads has had in attracting anonymous donors highlights a broader trend on the right in which political activity has increasingly shifted to non-profit corporations that can conceal donors’ identities. Republican finance insiders interviewed for this story say it is easier to get major GOP donors to contribute when there’s no risk of having their identities disclosed and being subjected to either additional appeals for money from other groups, or to
criticism from President Barack Obama and other Democrats.
“Whether it’s legitimate or not, there is this near-hysteria, this belief that the Democrats are going to come after us,” if donors disclose their contributions to GOP-allied groups, said one person who was asked to donate the Crossroads groups. “Everybody is truly afraid that the Obama administration is going to target them.”
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Center for Responsive Politics:
American Crossroads Spends Big Bucks in Hopes of Helping GOP Regain Control of Congress