New York Times reporter Nicholas Confessore has a revealing story today about how the official campaign apparatus of the Republican party -- which is supposed to abide by explicit campaign finance limits -- fused during the GOP convention week with the super PACs and political non-profits that can rake in big bucks in unlimited and, in some cases, unregulated and unreported amounts.
A Republican lawyer quoted in the story, Robert Kelner, offers this eye-opening observation about all the schmoozing that went on in Tampa:
“Twenty years ago, there would have been much more aggressive F.E.C. investigations about what was said at those briefings,” he said. “So far we’re not just seeing much interest from F.E.C. enforcers.”
