Super-PACs release finacial records, highlight rising tide of big money in U.S. politics

Super-PACs, also known as political fundraising organizations, have begun releasing financial reports for the second half of 2015 as U.S. voter concern about big money's influence in the 2016 presidential elections becomes a campaign issue.

After the last release of such reports last July, Sunday was the first time in six months that U.S. voters, curiously eyeing which candidates would stand out in Monday's Iowa caucuses, could get a glimpse of the biggest donors behind presidential candidates.

On the Democratic side, Priorities USA Action, a super-PAC supporting Hillary Clinton, got six million U.S. dollars last December from billionaire investor George Soros, according to the organization's new finance report filed on Sunday with the Federal Election Commission.

So far, the Hungarian-born financier had given seven million dollars in this election cycle to Priorities, which raised up to 41 million dollars in 2015.

According to Priorities' new report, 29 donors gave 20 of the 24.8 million dollars to the organization in the second half of 2015, with Hollywood mogul Haim Saban and his wife offering three million dollars and investor Donald Sussman giving 1.50 million dollars.

Unlike Clinton, super-PACs of key Republican candidates noticed reduced big money donations in the second half of 2015, compared to the first half.

Though locking down a record 103 million dollars in the first half of 2015, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush's super-PAC Right to Rise received 15.10 million dollars in the second half of last year.

Two-thirds of the 15.10 million dollars came from a single contribution by a company owned by a U.S. insurance mogul. In total, Right to Rise raised a total of 118 million dollars on behalf of Bush.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's super-PAC America Leads also raised less money between July and the end of last December compared to the first half of 2015, according to new figures filed on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the Freedom Partners Action Fund, a Republican super-PAC controlled by the billionaire industrialists Koch brothers' donor network raised more than 11 million dollars in the second half of 2015, with 14.8-million-dollar cash on hand at the end of December.

It was expected that the Freedom Partners Action Fund would continue to raise and ramp up its spending in 2016 to ensure the control of the White House and Congress by Republicans.

Meanwhile, Senator Bernie Sanders, Clinton's main rival in the Democratic primary election, announced here on Sunday at a rally to a cheering crowd that his campaign had raised nothing from super-PACs.

For many voters, the fact that Sanders' campaign was mostly funded by small donations instead of big money matters a lot as their concerns about big money's influence on U.S. politics have intensified.

"I'm proud to tell you that our average individual contribution is 27 dollars," said Sanders, adding that his campaign had surpassed three million contributions from mostly small donations.

"I support Bernie because he fights for the ordinary Americans and if you are a genuine champion for us, you need to stand up to big money and a rigged economy that only favors the rich," said Alex Harris, a local college student at Sanders' rally at Grand View University in Des Moines in the north-central state of Iowa.

"What do I expect from Sanders? I expect President Sanders to break up the big banks and rein in Wall Street," said Lisa Rugaber, a retiree who said she would not vote in this election cycle if Sanders couldn't get the nomination.

"How can you achieve these goals," said Rugaber, "when you actually get money from those hedge-fund managers and billionaire donors." Endi