Republicans’ obsession with secrecy is about to be put to the test once more on Monday when the Senate will vote on the DISCLOSE Act -- a bill to make the corporate special interests behind the endless smear ads by outside political groups come out of the shadows.
Twice in 2010, Republicans in the Senate succeeded in filibustering the DISCLOSE Act. Since then, spending by outside groups like Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS, the Koch brothers’ Americans for Prosperity and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has skyrocketed -- all in support of extreme right-wing candidates and policies, and funded by money that is largely secret from the public.
It’s time that Republicans feel the heat for their unprecedented obstruction and it’s time that voters, who deserve to be able to make informed choices, get to know who is behind all the money.
Republicans have fought tooth and nail to keep secret the whole truth behind all the unlimited, post-Citizens United spending in elections since 2010. They want to keep voters in the dark ... not unlike the way GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney is trying to keep the public in the dark about his own financial records, especially pertaining to the taxes he has paid and the ones he’s reportedly used sneaky loopholes to avoid.
Democracy works best when it’s transparent -- that goes for the funding sources behind the messages that voters are bombarded with on the airwaves and in the mail, as well as the records of and important information about candidates. And government works best when one party is not so hell-bent on partisan obstruction that they won’t let common sense measures like the DISCLOSE Act, that serve the public good, even get a simple up-or-down vote!
Thank you for standing up for transparency in democracy and voters’ right to know -- the American Way.
-- Ben Betz, Online Strategy Manager
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