Hillary Clinton says she wishes super PACs were banned

MOUNT VERNON, Ia. — Hillary Clinton said Wednesday she wishes super PAC fundraising committees were banned, but she doesn’t intend to disown the ones supporting her while other candidates are benefiting from their own.

“I and others have said we’re not going to unilaterally disarm while the Republicans and the Koch brothers are out there raising money that they don’t even tell you where it came from,” the Democratic candidate told hundreds of voters gathered on the sun-dappled lawn of Cornell College.

Clinton was answering a question from Cornell senior Sam Stacy, who asked how she could “reconcile” her campaign’s finances with her calls for reforms.

She responded by noting that under federal rules, direct donations to presidential campaigns are limited to $2,700 per person during the primary season. Also, such donations must be reported. She touted how her campaign has raised $75 million that way, and she said most of her donors have given less than $100.

However, she acknowledged that her cause also is being supported by super PACs, which don’t face such limits on donations, although they do report donations. “I would hope that we would get to a point where those would no longer be operating,” she said. “But that’s not where we are today, and the bulk of the super PAC money is on the other side with the Republicans.”

She noted that there is an additional set of groups, purported nonprofits that are supposed to serve educational purposes. “That’s where the unaccountable, dark money really floods in,” she said. She said Republican interests, including the Koch brothers, intend to use such groups to sway the electorate away from her.

Clinton reiterated that she would only nominate Supreme Court justices who were in favor of overturning the “Citizens United” decision, which allowed more such spending. She also has said a constitutional amendment might be necessary.

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In an interview afterward, Stacy said Clinton’s response boiled down to other candidates are benefiting from super PACs, so she has to as well. “I think that’s probably a pretty fair answer,” he said.

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Stacy, 22, who is from Lincoln, Neb., is an economics major who has researched campaign financing. He said it’s important to make candidates explain how their own activities square with their public stances on the issue. He said he’s a registered Republican but considers himself an independent who could be persuaded to vote for Clinton. He dislikes the way rich individuals and corporations are able to use their money to amplify their interests over those of regular voters, though he doubts a constitutional amendment to change the situation is likely.

The interaction came at an event where Clinton took a range of questions from audience members. None asked about a simmering controversy involving her use of a private email server when she was secretary of state. Clinton did not take questions from reporters at the event.

The email story took another turn Wednesday morning, when national media outlets reported that employees of a firm managing her private server expressed concerns among themselves about the way her staff seemed to be trying to direct their responses to federal investigations.

Republicans have been using the controversy to try to raise doubts about Clinton’s trustworthiness. While Clinton was speaking in Iowa Wednesday, national Republican spokesman Fred Brown was emailing reporters with links to stories about the new developments in the investigation.

Poll numbers have shown some voters have increasing concerns about Clinton’s character, partly based on the email controversy. But she still leads the Democratic race, and many supporters see the issue as bogus.

Clinton backer Jean Rickert, who attended Wednesday morning’s campaign event, believes her candidate can get on top of the email controversy if she’s completely forthright about what happened.

Rickert, 76, of Lisbon, said other supposed controversies are even weaker tea. “I see that Benghazi thing as almost in the same category of Lewinsky,” she said, referring to dirt thrown against Hillary Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton. “I was never influenced by those smear jobs.”

Rickert said Hillary Clinton is not quite as eloquent and charismatic as Barack Obama was, but she is a smart, well-informed speaker who projects genuine concern for people.

AT THE EVENT

SETTING: The lawn of Cornell College in Mount Vernon.

CROWD: Campaign aides estimated it at 600. The midday crowd was a mix of college students and older voters, including quite a few senior citizens.

REACTION: The audience applauded heartily at several of Clinton’s points, including her calls to make college more affordable, to protect women’s right to choose abortion and to safeguard the rights of gay people.

OTHER STOPS: Clinton was scheduled to appear Wednesday afternoon in Council Bluffs.

WHAT'S NEXT: Democratic candidates will be preparing for their first debate, which will be next Tuesday in Las Vegas.