Five weeks after the general election, its biggest mystery is still unsolved: Who spent more than $1 million trying to influence a race for the Pennsylvania Supreme Court?

In the final two weeks before the election, a Virginia-based organization called the Center for Individual Freedom (CFIF) bought about $1.2 million worth of television advertising, showering praise on Superior Court Judge Maureen Lally-Green, one of two Republicans seeking a spot on the state’s highest court.

But the CFIF never registered with state officials as a political committee or filed any campaign-finance reports saying where its money originated.

Democrats cried foul, and state officials – including Attorney General Tom Corbett, a Republican – unsuccessfully asked Commonwealth Court to stop the TV spots.

Lally-Green lost the election in spite of the mysterious ad campaign. She finished third in the race for two seats, nearly 235,000 votes out of the money.

Next month, Republicans will lose control of the high court.

But the legal dispute over CFIF’s activities is still going strong, and the controversy is shaping up as a fundamental challenge to Pennsylvania’s campaign-finance laws.

Last week, CFIF’s lawyers filed a motion in federal court, Philadelphia, accusing state officials of violating CFIF’s First Amendment rights by disregarding a stipulated judgment that Corbett had agreed to in August.
Source Link