California donor disclosure case exposes how nonprofits play in politics A pair of conservative nonprofit groups at the heart of the effort were fined a record $1 million after a year-long state investigation, while two political committees were ordered to repay the state for $15 million in donations they received. "It is clear that people are willing to use circuitous routes to avoid telling the voters who's behind campaigns," said Ann Ravel, a new Democratic appointee to the Federal Election Commission who helped oversee the California inquiry as a state official. Several of the advocacy groups at the center of the California case - Americans for Job Security, Americans for Responsible Leadership and American Future Fund - have played significant roles in national elections, reporting more than $68 million in campaign-related expenditures during the past two elections, according to data from the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. Because they are set up as nonprofit organizations rather than political committees, the groups are not required to disclose their financial supporters to the FEC. The details of the California scheme, revealed in interviews and a cache of investigative documents, show how political operatives casually shuffle around massive sums with little accountability. At one point, a consultant involved in the project sent a text message to another requesting $11 million. The case also spotlights the extreme measures that operatives took to skirt disclosure regulations, passing along funds through a daisy chain of organizations, often without knowing which groups would get the cash or whether the money would end up where it was intended. The episode was set in motion by Tony Russo, a Republican political strategist in Sacramento, who sought to spend $25 million on issue ads last fall on two state ballot initiative campaigns without reporting who gave the money. He turned for help to Sean Noble, a GOP operative plugged into a national network of conservative advocacy groups. The two agreed to a money swap that Russo hoped would allow his group to avoid disclosure requirements. "I said, "Sean, you know, I have a big hiccup in California," " Russo later recounted for state investigators. " "Can we support some of your national efforts and, in turn, do you have groups that can help us in California?" That was pretty much as simple as it was. But the plan was far from simple, or effective. In the end, about $10 million of the nearly $25 million that Russo's group transferred to Noble's operation never made it back to California. Outmatched by labor unions and other supporters of Gov. Jerry Brown (D), Russo and his allies lost both initiative campaigns.