"Independent spending in California: Money talks, candidates listen"

More great reporting by Laurel Rosenhall. 

In a hotel ballroom blocks from the state Capitol, nearly three dozen wannabe legislators gathered recently to learn the ways of Sacramento. They were members of city councils and school boards, ranchers and attorneys, Republicans and Democrats, moms and dads -- all candidates for the Legislature who had signed up for this crash course in how things really work.

High on the agenda: money.

...
"The accountability behind that is much less," said Jessica Levinson, a professor of election law at Loyola Law School. "We have candidate campaigns and then we have these shadow campaigns."