If you've never heard of them, they will be pleased. They choose to fly below the radar and don't grant media interviews. What little has been published about them offers that they are free-market entrepreneurs in the mold of Ayn Rand. According to a recent Philadelphia Magazine profile (written without the support of Susquehanna's partners), Yass is a board member at the Cato Institute, and Susquehanna donates more than $500,000 each year to that libertarian think tank.
What we also know, by virtue of their donations to Williams, is that Dantchik, Greenberg, and Yass are believers in school choice and education reform - to the point of playing a role in the launch of a local charter school. Williams is also a charter-school founder and ran in the Democratic primary as a champion of school choice.
Through a properly registered PAC called Students First, the three local businessmen supported Williams' candidacy, turning what would have been a late-entry long shot into a campaign with a chance, albeit slim, of making a statewide impression.
Advocates of campaign-finance reform believe such extravagant donations breed backroom deals and pay-to-play politics. They say running a campaign on the backs of a few wealthy donors can leave candidates beholden to those powerful interests, leaving little fanfare for the common voter. I disagree. To the extent the system needs reforming, it should be in the direction of less, not more, regulation.
In Buckley v. Valeo, the landmark 1976 case regarding campaign finance, the Supreme Court disagreed. The court upheld the constitutionality of restricting campaign contributions, while striking down any limitation on the amount of money that candidates can spend on their own behalf.
