Civil Beat is working hard this year to track the flow of dollars from special interests to those they’d like to influence i.e. candidates for public office. But as the New York Times reports this morning it’s harder than ever to keep up with the enormous amounts of money being spent on independent advertising, mailings or whatever by corporations, unions and other special interests advocating for or against a candiate. The U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the Citizens United case essentially said the sky’s the limit because money is free speech.

We haven’t seen big spending yet in Hawaii on TV ads or direct mail pieces but one of Senate GOP candidate Linda Lingle’s PAC contributors is featured prominently in the NYT piece. That’s Contran Corp.’s PAC, a company controlled by Texas billionaire Harold Simmons that has been a supporter of Mitt Romney, the Times reports.