MORAIN: Rulings let big campaign donors throw their weight around

Unless you're steeped in Idaho politics, you've probably never heard of Frank VanderSloot. But the wealthy Republican businessman and people like him around the country are wielding outsized influence on the 2012 presidential election.

VanderSloot is part of a new breed of high-end campaign donor, who gives to and raises large sums for candidates directly, and contributes far greater amounts to super PACs established specifically to help elect their candidates.

By law, candidates cannot coordinate with the amped- up political action committees. But there's nothing to stop donors from giving to both. As a result, caps on presidential campaign contributions, which date back to Watergate-era reforms, have been rendered meaningless.

VanderSloot's candidate is Mitt Romney. His rival, former Speaker Newt Gingrich, likely will remain in the Republican race, thanks to $10 million from his billionaire benefactors, Las Vegas casino mogul Sheldon Adelson and his wife, Miriam. And President Barack Obama has plenty of super-rich friends who will supercharge his super PAC.

VanderSloot's bank account cannot match Adelson's. But in Idaho, VanderSloot is perhaps the single most influential campaign donor. Over the years, he has helped fund an array of candidates, including governors and Idaho Supreme Court justices, and has taken on varied causes, challenging rules restricting the sale of raw milk and attacking public school teachers unions.

In 2008, he stepped into California politics when his wife, Belinda VanderSloot, gave $100,000 to help pass Proposition 8, the initiative that banned same-sex marriage and is the focus of an ongoing constitutional battle.

In the presidential campaign, he is co-chairman of Romney's national and Idaho fundraising team, and has given $2,500 to Romney for President, the maximum that can be given directly to a candidate per election.

Idaho Falls and Boise are hardly Hollywood or Wall Street for political fund-raising. But in part because of VanderSloot, Romney raised $404,000 in Idaho in 2011, four and a half times more than Obama, and 19 times more than Gingrich.

All that is dust in a presidential campaign in which donors will shell out far in excess of $1 billion.

VanderSloot's real contribution came in August when he gave $1 million to Restore Our Future, the super PAC established by former Romney aides to help elect Romney.

Aided by a dozen million-dollar donors, and several others who gave five- and six-figure sums, Restore Our Future raised $30.1 million in 2011, and is using the money to air television ads pummeling Gingrich.

The new campaign finance system came about because of federal court decisions issued since the last presidential election that have dramatically altered federal election rules, not for the better.

In early 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned century-old law by ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission that corporations and unions could donate to independent campaigns. Later in 2010, a federal appeals court ruled in Speech Now v. FEC that donors could give unlimited sums to independent campaigns. Those two rulings opened wide the money spigots and are making it easier to hide sources of big money.

Some donors conceal their identities under corporate shells. Something called Glenbrook LLC gave $250,000 to Restore Our Future, and offered the address of a Redwood City accounting firm. Entities called F8 and Eli Publishing, of Provo, Utah, each gave $1 million. The firms trace to a Utah attorney, according to press accounts.