NEW: Warren Supports Campaign Transparency Bill
Friday, July 13, 2012
The senate hopeful is hoping to cast light on election spending and special interest groups. The DISCLOSE bill would force third party interest groups to report their donors and stand by ads.
“The DISCLOSE Act will provide accountability, requiring that those who fund political advertising make their support public,” Warren said. “Citizens United unleashed a wave of special interest spending that threatens to drown out the voices of middle class families. Billionaires and big corporations can spend unlimited amounts of money during campaigns while they hide behind a curtain of secrecy,”
The Act also increases transparency by requiring organizations that sponsor political ads to disclose the top funders of the ads. It also requires that the head of the organization state his or her approval of the advertisement—as political candidates do now.
According to the release put out by the Warren camp, the legislation had majority support in 2012, but Scott Brown cast the deciding vote to kill it.
“Unfortunately, Scott Brown and Republicans in the Senate have blocked this common sense measure,” she said. “It’s time for them to stop protecting their influential friends by helping them hide their influence from the public.”
In response, Brown said, "The DISCLOSE Act is a cynical political ploy masquerading as reform and I continue to oppose it. Rather than treat all sides equally as a true reform bill would, it contains special carve outs for union bosses and other favored interest groups."
"In Massachusetts, I took direct action to limit the influence of outside spending and Super PACs, and I am glad my People's Pledge has kept third parties out of our state," he said. "I didn't wait for Washington D.C. to come up with a solution to the problem of outside money, and I would encourage other candidates running across the country to do the same."
The Senate is scheduled to begin consideration of the act which will call for outside groups that spend over $10,000 to report that spending to the Federal Election Commission within 24 hours and to disclose donors who give more than $10,000.
In 2010, Scott Brown joined two Republican filibusters of the bill, shielding powerful interests from any accountability for their campaign spending. On one of those occasions, he was the deciding vote to uphold the filibuster and block consideration of the bill.
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