Up to two PACs a day

Republicans in Tennessee have found a new way around limits on campaign contributions:

[John] Gregory, a longtime Republican supporter and former CEO of King Pharmaceuticals of East Tennessee, has Democratic leaders worried. Gregory has donated more than $600,000 to five different political action committees (PACs) in recent months.

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State Democratic Party Chairman Randy Button says Republicans are planning to organize dozens of PACs through which the money may be distributed to individual candidates.

"What they're doing is every two weeks we're seeing a new PAC come up. We may see another 10 or 15 [Republican] PACs between now and the November election," Button said last week. "They're getting around those limits. You just funnel another $100,000 into a PAC and then spread it out again, $7,500 or $15,000 at a time."

A PAC may only give a total of $15,000 to a state Senatorial candidate through the primary and general election cycles. However, Democrats are theorizing that the Republican Party could set up an endless array of PACs through which an individual could funnel money into campaigns. For example, if an individual gave $15,000 to three different PACs, in effect these PACs could turn around and give it all to the same campaign. It's a way around individual contribution limits, which are $1,000 per cycle.

Violates the spirit of the law, but not the letter. And is further proof that where there is a will, there will be big money in politics.