The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals recently upheld a majority of West Virginia’s disclosure law in a victory for transparency in elections. The decision agreed with several arguments the Brennan Center made in an amicus brief filed in December 2011.
Last week, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman held a public hearing on his proposed regulations to require charities operating in New York to disclose their political spending.
Despite changes to campaign spending disclosure rules, moneyed interests have remained able to spend tens of millions of dollars on elections without having to publicly reveal who is doing the spending.
Transparency is vital to our democracy. The SEC must require disclosure of corporate political expenditures to give shareholders and citizens the information they need.
Even Justice Scalia endorsed disclosure in Citizens United, but the reality is we will never know the sources for millions of dollars spent in this year's election.
DISCLOSE presented Senators with a stark choice: do they favor transparent and accountable elections, or a secret-money auction of government to the highest bidder. The right choice for democracy was clear. Too bad they didn’t make it.
There are no winners or losers in the outside spending race to the bottom. Everyone loses when our democracy is damaged by the outsized role of unlimited, undisclosed spending, no matter the ideology of the spender.
If Sen. Mitch McConnell is sincere in his desire for strong campaign finance disclosure that applies equally to all similarly-situated organizations, then he should join forces with Senate Democrats in modifying and passing the DISCLOSE Act.
Strengthening disclosure laws will help the state combat corruption and empower regular citizens by giving them a bigger voice in the democratic process.
