With the 2010 election now more than two months behind us, attention has shifted toward a new administration and policies. But questions linger about the source of some campaign funding that came to Maine through the Republican Governors Association--specifically, why was one the biggest donors to the RGA PAC in Maine a state chamber of commerce from the Midwest? Campaign finance watchdogs say the states are becoming a tool to move policital contributions to candidates in ways designed to skirt contribution limits and disclosure requirements.

In all, the Republican Governor's Association delivered close to $1.8 million dollars to Maine in the effort to help elect Paul LePage. The largest block of that funding came from the pharmaceutical industry. But the second-largest single contribution disclosed by the RGA Maine PAC--$225,000--came from the Michigan Chamber of Commerce.

"Although we've lost a little population lately, Michigan continues to be one of the 10 largest states in the country," says Rich Studley, president and CEO of the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, which he says represents 6,800 employers in that state.

Studley says while the decision to direct funding from the Michigan Chamber to Maine was made by the RGA, it has the full support of his members.

"The direction we've been given by our members is to be very actively involved and to provide business leadership in the area of both legislative and political action," he says. "Mostly that means in our state, but sometimes it means directly or indirectly becoming involved and being helpful in other states where we see pro-taxpayer, pro-jobs, or pro-business candidates that deserve support."

The Michigan Chamber contributed $5.4 million dollars to the Republican Governor's Association national organization last year. But all of that money, and more, ultimately came back to Michigan, says Rich Robinson of the Michigan Campaign Finance Network, a watchdog group based in Lansing.

"Eight-point-four million dollars came to the RGA Michigan PAC came from various individuals from around the country, very few of whom were Michigan residents, and $3 million dollars of that $8.4 moved to the gubernatorial campaign of incumbent Gov. Rick Perry of Texas.

And, Robinson says, another $1.6 million dollars went from the Michigan Chamber to the RGA PAC in Florida, as well as the $225,000 in Maine also attributed to the Michigan Chamber.

Robinson says it's possible that the real reason for this shuffling of money has less to do with Michigan's business interest in these state's governor's races, than it does with a larger strategy for political parties and special interest groups to work around the national patchwork of state and federal campaign spending rules

"In Michigan, corporations can't contribute to a plain vanilla political action comittee, and so it seemed to me that that was a way for the corporate money to be redistributed to a place like the Maine RGA Pac, to the Florida RGA PAC, and for it to be replaced by contributions from individuals here," Robinson says. "It's a very complex kind of situation. An awful lot of money was sloshing around and the real why's and wherefore's do remain somewhat of a mystery, if there's anything more to this than a simple currency exchange."

Made more mysterious, perhaps, because the Michigan Chamber is a non-profit 501 (c) (6), and does not have to disclose the identity of its donors.

"These groups were major players in the 2010 elections, both at the state and federal level, and the public has no idea how these groups are funded because they don't have to report that," says Denise Roth Barber, managing director of the National Institute on Money in State Politics, based in Helena, Montana.

And the stakes are about to get higher, says Barber says. According to a new report, the Institute finds that presidential hopefuls are busy setting up state committees and raising millions of dollars in contributions that don't show up on their federal PAC reports.

"Presumably these presidential contenders can form 50 state-level PACs, and the regulations reguarding the reporting of that money varies from state to state," Barber says. "And in some states--Ohio, for example--do not require that this information be reported.

Back at the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, CEO Rich Studley says there's nothing underhanded about his group's political action strategy this past year.

"The contributions we made in Michigan, the contributions we made to the Republican Governor's Association in many cases were equaled or exceeded by contributions from organized labor, from environmental groups, from trial lawyers and others," Studley says. "So I want to emphasize that this is a legal activity that both business and labor and Democrats and Republicans participate in, more or less equally, if you look at the money across the country."

In an email to MPBN, Mike Schrimpf of the Republican Governors Association writes, "The donors which appear in RGA Maine 2010 PACs reports contributed to the Republican Governors Association and the attribution of their donations in this manner are long established by Maine law and custom."