NEW YORK – Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman wrote an op-ed Politico on the need for an executive order that would disclose “dark money” payments from federal contractors. Highlights from the op-ed are below.
ON THE HISTORY OF CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM: The campaign finance system was far from perfect. But with improvements over time, including the 2002 McCain-Feingold legislation, prosecutors, watchdog groups, the media and ordinary citizens had the ability to see whether financial entanglements were driving government decisions. That is, until the system was upended by a series of Supreme Court rulings, most notably Citizens United v. FEC, which struck down limits on third-party spending on behalf of campaigns and candidates.
ON THE RISE OF DARK MONEY: Outside spending on campaigns soared, with a significant share going to dark-money groups — industry associations and politically active nonprofits that can accept contributions of any size from virtually any source, including government contractors, without disclosing the identity of their contributors. Although independent from the candidate, these shadowy groups otherwise function as additional arms of the campaign — running ads, blanketing voters with direct mail and deploying workers to elect or defeat political candidates. And while the public is in the dark, it has become clear that candidates buoyed by dark money often know full well who footed the bill.
ON THE NEED FOR DISCLOSURE OF GOVERNMENT CONTRACTORS CONTRIBUTIONS: Of course, state efforts cannot address the role of dark money in federal elections. Obama predicted in his 2010 State of the Union address that the Citizens United decision would “open the floodgates for special interests” and allow them “to spend without limit in our elections.” He was right.
Fortunately, the president has the power to tackle this problem in federal elections with the stroke of a pen. He can blunt the potential for dark money to corrupt the federal contracting process by signing an executive order requiring government contractors and their subsidiaries to publicly disclose all dark-money spending. This simple step would end a particularly disturbing aspect of the dark-money problem — all within the legal parameters set by Citizens United.
The full op-ed can be read here.