This month marks the 50th anniversary of the break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate complex that eventually led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon.
A stunning, but mostly forgotten, aspect of the broader Watergate scandal was the revelation that the Nixon administration conspired to use the federal government’s contracting and grant-making authority to reward supporters, punish enemies and solicit campaign contributions.
Some of those contributions led to indictments under a statute prohibiting federal contractors from making political expenditures. That statute remains in effect today. But, thanks to the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision, a contractor can now make unlimited political expenditures without violating the law — and keep it all a secret.
