Business lobby opposed to order requiring government contractors to disclose political donations

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce made it known to the Obama administration that they oppose its plan to require government contractors to disclose their political donations. The Chamber argued that disclosures would chill the free speech rights of businesses and cited the case of Target which suffered boycotts and protests after the revelation that the [...]

Transparency: Democrats want sun to shine on secret flow of corporate money to Republicans

Democrats are suing the Federal Election Commission to force them to disclose which private companies and nonprofit groups are contributing millions of dollars in secret donations to Republican causes. There has been an avalanche of spending after the Supreme Court decision granting First Amendment rights to corporations, and Republicans have blocked legislation in Congress requiring [...]

If newspapers won’t defend free speech, no one will

Commentary by editor Thomas Mitchell on freedom of speech and the press. -SMD Las Vegas Review Journal Commentary July 11, 2010 By Thomas Mitchell The concept of open government and its ancillary principles of access to public information, campaign finance disclosure and limitations and general transparency seem to befuddle some people, who overreach and try [...]

Congresswoman offers key amendment for bill requiring disclosure of corporate and union campaign expenditures

In the wake of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling, Representative Susan Davis has proposed an amendment to strengthen a new law to require disclosure of campaign expenditures by special interests. The amendment would require mandatory disclosure reports to be filed electronically with the Federal Elections Commission so they could be posted expeditiously on their [...]

No system allows voters easy access to identities of special interests funding campaign ads

The Supreme  Court ruling in the Citizens United case opens the door for corporate and union interests to produce ads to influence elections in 2010, and Congress is working on a bill to shed light on sources of the ads. But a Sunlight Foundation blogger says Congress needs to amend the DISCLOSE Act to make [...]