We need disclosure on campaign financing
Tom DeLay leaves court in Austin, Texas, where he was convicted of illegally funneling funds to Texas candidates. Credit: AP Photo
Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay faces up to 99 years in prison for funneling corporate contributions to Republican candidates in Texas in 2002. Had he waited a few years, it wouldn't have taken a money-laundering conspiracy to put that money to work for his favored candidates.
In January, in the latest in a series of recent decisions, the U.S. Supreme Court loosened all the restraints on independent political spending by corporations. And now the court has agreed to hear a case challenging the constitutionality of a public campaign financing law in Arizona that gives additional public money to candidates based on the amounts spent by privately funded opponents or independent groups.
In this increasingly unregulated environment, Congress should at least make sure that voters know who's paying to sway elections.
An attempt last year to require such disclosure was doomed by a shameless exemption for the National Rifle Association and a ban on spending by companies with federal contracts or more than 20 percent foreign ownership. Congress should try again, with a bill limited to simple disclosure.
DeLay violated what was Texas law in 2002 and should be punished accordingly. But now that the nation's top court has given corporations and unions the same free speech rights as individuals - including the right to independently spend as much as they want in elections - disclosure is a must. hN
