The controversy about the independent political group Restoring America is about to come to an end. The Kentucky Democratic Party is dropping the case after Restoring America disclosed that their major (and virtually only) donor was Terry Stephens, David Williams' father-in-law. Stephens had previously donated over a million dollars to the Republican Governors Association, which then paid for ads supporting Williams.
There are limits as to what someone can give to a campaign, but they can give an independent political group whatever they would like (thank you, Citizens United). When something as blatantly coordinated as the Restoring America situation occurs, you hope that the courts would take action, which they did by issuing a restraining order against the conservative political group.
Perhaps the Democrats feel like they might as well drop the charges and save face, especially considering the governor's massive lead in the polls. Maybe they felt that by getting Restoring America to reveal the embarrassing nature of their donations, that was victory enough. There's always the possibility that this is a road they don't want to go down because of their own discrepancies with independent political groups, though there's been no indication or evidence of such discrepancies. Regardless of the KDP's rationale, if this method of conducting campaign finance continues, then we, as voters, will continue to see our role in this democracy diminish to a point of absolute futility.
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