Brad Smith breaks down the mysterious contribution, he explains why it is probably a violation of existing law -- and hurts Romney more than it helps.
"A million dollars, and nobody knows who gave it! Doesn't W. Spann, LLC show the disaster of Citizens United?"[1] Well, no.
First, W. Spann, LLC is quite possibly in simple violation of existing law. The law defines a political committee as an organization formed for the purpose of influencing elections, and spending over $1000 to do so. It appears, if first news reports are true, that W. Spann, LLC fits that description. If so, it would have to register with the Federal Election Commission and report all of its contributions and expenditures to the FEC. Further, if the business was simply the alter ego of the founder - if the man who contributed funds to the LLC also controlled the LLC - it is possibly the making of a campaign contribution in the name of another, another violation of the law.
But let's push this a bit further. Suppose it is all perfectly legal, and we'll never know the true identity of the donor behind W. Spann, LLC: what does that tell us?
First, we know that the donor probably hasn't done Restore Our Future, let alone good old Mitt Romney, any favors. Restore Our Future appears to have complied with the law, reporting its donors. Romney - well, he has nothing to do with it. The entire concept of a "SuperPAC" such as Restore Our Future is that the candidate has no role in the organization. But you can bet your a-- that Romney is going to take a political hit for this - indeed, he already is.
