Secret campaign money undermines role of voter
The League of Women Voters supports U.S. Senate Bill 2219, which would restore transparency to U.S. elections by requiring complete disclosure by those funding election advertising at the $10,000 level or higher. Voters need to know who's spending big money on advertising in candidate elections in order to make informed decisions. Secret campaign money undermines the role of the voter and corrupts the election process. It should have no place in our democracy.
We're seeing huge sums of money from secret sources going into election advertising. Much of it is the negative advertising that poisons the airways. Special interests are spending millions of dollars in this election, threatening to drown out the voices of individual voters. Because of changes in the law, there are now no disclosure requirements. We don't know which big corporations and rich lobbyists are paying for these ads.
The League of Women Voters calls on Congress to pass this bill and we call on all candidates to disavow secret advertising.
Mary Jo Neal, TulsaKaren Melcher, StillwaterNeal and Melcher are co-presidents of League of Women Voters of Oklahoma.
Read more: http://newsok.com/secret-campaign-money-undermines-role-of-voter/article/3676636#ixzz1wb3xghYX
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Bring back Senator McCain is correct! When Campaign Finance Reform was passed, I thought it was a mistake but after what we have been witnessing with Romney buying the primary with the big donors from Wall and K Streets, I no longer feel that way. Why are the wealthy allowed to donate millions and the rest of us $2500 for the primary and another $2500 for the general? Super PACs have made the Republican Primary a nightmare and given us a candidate that before the others dropped out couldn't even get 40% of the vote.
This editorial is as timely today as when I first read it but because of other stories, it was shoved aside. This editorial is correct that voters have a right to know who is giving the big bucks to run these ads. The fact that an organization like Crossroads run by Karl Rove is sitting on $100M for ads for Romney yet we have no idea who donated is just wrong. Money has corrupted this election. I said it with Soros in 2008 but it is worse this time with Republicans. We knew Soros was giving but now people hide behind phony names and addresses provided for $500 by the Romney Super PAC. Now we learn that Republicans want no part of supporting McCain in the Senate on Campaign Finance to shine the light of day on donors. Why? How corrupt is this campaign for Romney? Is it because they know he needs the big money to buy false advertising to win? That's my guess. No one on the GOP will be willing to cross Romney which begs another WHY?
Wall and K Streets are out to buy this election along with the elite for Romney but they forget there are a lot of voters like me who are fed up with big money trying to buy this election, the elites telling us we will support Romney or we are called names, and Obama is the most evil person ever according to some of the emails from Republican/conservative groups for starters. Would have to throw the RNC attacks right in there. The powers at be in the GOP don't seem to care about the truth but their narrative. To use an old word many of their comments about Obama are balderdash. The attacks have gotten very personal not just about issues from some of the conservative sites.
As we saw yesterday with President Bush, he gets along fine with President Obama and so do the two wives. Why all the hatred from the GOP, the lies, mistruths, innuendoes all to make Obama look like this horrible person? I have heard more than one Republican say if they had to choose between Romney and Obama to have a beer, they would choose Obama. You don't have to agree with a candidate but to the personal attacks are so unbelievable that it makes me wonder just what makes these people ticks. Is buying an election the American way -- not in my book.
Romney bought the primary with the help of his Super PAC, Rove, Bush 41, Roger Ailes, the RNC and countless others and now that same group wants to buy the Presidency. Why do they risk splitting the Republican Party to put Romney in office who is beholden to Wall/K Streets? Makes no sense this long-time Republican who never registered independent but I can understand today why so many people have had it with the Republican Party today who no longer seems to believe in small government.
Bring Back the Real Maverick Published: May 19, 2012
Senator John McCain has retreated from the campaign finance fight, once his signature issue. He may finally be ready to get back in. He told the newspaper The Hill that he had been talking with Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat of Rhode Island, the sponsor of a much-needed bill requiring timely public disclosure of donors writing checks of $10,000 and more for election ads, plus “stand-by-your-ad” identifications from the five biggest donors.
Mr. McCain said he was seeking firm guarantees that the measure would treat the labor movement’s campaign spenders the same as corporate donors. That seems reasonable. The public has a clear and urgent need to know who are the hidden donors bankrolling the salvos of attack ads. But the Senate measure is reported stalled, with no Republican willing to join as a co-sponsor. Senator Harry Reid, the majority leader, and Senator Charles Schumer, a principal force behind the bill, must push to have it brought to a vote.
Mr. McCain could help drive the issue by defying his party’s monolithic dedication to unlimited and undisclosed political donations. He castigated the Supreme Court for arrogance and naïveté in throwing open the corporate money gates in its Citizens United decision, predicting “huge scandals because there’s too much money washing around.” Now he needs to put his reputation and his vote behind that warning.
Full disclosure of donors was the one positive option the Supreme Court endorsed in its misguided decision. Last week, the legality of donor transparency was stressed in a preliminary decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. It cited Citizens United in upholding Representative Chris Van Hollen’s challenge to the Federal Election Commission for arbitrarily weakening disclosure requirements.
Mr. Van Hollen, a Democrat from Maryland, is also the chief sponsor of a matching sunlight measure in the House. Win or lose, Americans need to know who is for disclosure and who wants to hide the truth about big donors and misleading ads.
New York Times Editorial
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