New York Times editorial, Jimmying the Tax Code for Votes:

Bare-knuckled political machines masquerading as nonprofit social advocacy organizations are romping through the tax code on the strength of their own avowals that their blind attack ads serve the public interest. The social advocacy cover allows them to ludicrously claim a nonpartisan’s status under tax law and avoid disclosing bankrollers the way formal political committees must

Karl Rove’s Crossroads vehicles are aiming to spend about $52 million this year for Republican causes — and is using this dodge to mask the donors of more than half of that money. Democrats, who first pioneered this tax code abuse six years ago, are racing to catch up. Some of their misleadingly named groups paid $1.3 million in fines as the cost of doing $150 million in campaign monkey business. …

Congress needs to pass the campaign finance bill known as the Disclose Act — so voters can at least know which donors are behind the attack ads. …

Meanwhile, the regulators are clearly not up to the task. The FEC is an embarrassment, with Republican members blocking enforcement recommendations from the commission’s own investigators. The IRS is spread too thin. …

The IRS needs to investigate shady groups now. If the tax code is buckling under the strain, Congress should strengthen it. Lawmakers should also replace the hack-infested FEC with something that favors voters over politicians.

(Hat Tip: Ann Murphy.)