Until now, the Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell, has not seen a single member of his caucus dare to buck his fierce opposition to a law requiring fuller disclosure of campaign contributions. But last month, Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, broke through the partisan wall to propose a badly needed mandate for transparency by the growing army of unrestricted, unidentified donors who underwrite attack ads and other stealth tactics that have so disfigured American politics.
Connect With Us on Twitter
For Op-Ed, follow @nytopinion and to hear from the editorial page editor, Andrew Rosenthal, follow @andyrNYT.
The measure, co-sponsored by Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, would require any campaign organization spending $500 or more on federal political activity to disclose who its donors are, and to do so in "real time" at every point, from "candidacy to advocacy."
Ms. Murkowski learned about the power of unscrupulous money the hard way in 2010 when she lost her party's nomination for re-election because of a last-minute flood of primary ads from the Tea Party and other activists that distorted her record. She responded by waging a difficult write-in campaign that led to her being re-elected with a fresh sense of independence that has been put to good use in her campaign-disclosure proposal.
The measure would also require "joint regulations and guidance" from the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Election Commission to close the legal loopholes that enable dark-money campaign operations. This is a needed prod, since the commission is stultified by the inaction of its Republican members and the I.R.S. is too slow to challenge political front groups. A prime example is the $70 million spent by Karl Rove's transparently political Crossroads GPS organization, which ludicrously claimed tax-exempt status under the Internal Revenue Code as a "social welfare" activity.
Ms. Murkowski's move should be welcomed by Democrats like Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, sponsor of a worthy donor-disclosure measure that was blocked last July by blanket Republican opposition. A companion bill was just reintroduced in the House by Chris Van Hollen, Democrat of Maryland, because last year's "unprecedented secret spending" can only grow worse in future elections.
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Editorial: One Republican Steps Forward
Dengan url
http://opinimasyarakota.blogspot.com/2013/01/editorial-one-republican-steps-forward.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Editorial: One Republican Steps Forward
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
Editorial: One Republican Steps Forward
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar