Republicans Join Democrats to Back Ending Donor Anonymity
By Jonathan D. Salant - Feb 22, 2013 12:01 AM ET
As spending by outside groups financed by anonymous donors has escalated in election campaigns, some Republican lawmakers are rethinking opposition to legislation requiring organizations that run political advertisements to identify who’s paying for them.
“I saw really for the first time how funding directed in a very anonymous way can so significantly influence an election,” said Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, re-elected in 2010 as a write-in after losing the Republican primary to a Tea Party- backed opponent.
Murkowski and Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, are drafting legislation to require disclosure of political donors. In the House, Republican Representative Walter Jones of North Carolina said he is talking with colleagues about a similar effort. Murkowski and Jones voted to thwart previous disclosure legislation.
Their new efforts follow a 2012 election in which the spending edge enjoyed by outside groups backing Republicans failed to win the party the White House or control of the Senate, and as Democratic-leaning secret-money groups spent millions themselves on attack ads.
“While there is a fundamental constitutional freedom of speech to write that check, there is a discomfort without any transparency,” Murkowski said.
The congressional discussions are taking place at the same time the Securities and Exchange Commission is considering whether to require publicly traded companies to disclose their contributions to outside political groups.
more:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-22/republicans-join-democrats-to-back-ending-donor-anonymity.html
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