Appeals Court: Funders of Electioneering Communications Must be ...

Are we getting closer to full disclosure? Perhaps.

On Monday, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals denied a motion to stay?a lower court ruling requiring comprehensive disclosure of ?electioneering communications.? In non-lawyer language, that means that nonprofit groups like the Chamber of Commerce, Crossroads GPS and Priorities USA that want to run political ads right before an election will have to disclose their donors.

The law closes a loophole that, combined with the Supreme Court?s 2010 Citizens United decision, led the percentage of?undisclosed independent campaign spending?to jump from 1 percent in 2006 to 43.8 percent in 2010, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Secret money has been a huge factor in the 2012 cycle already, and promises to be?a defining element of the general election. GOP political guru Karl Rove said he intends for his non-disclosing group Crossroads GPS, along with its disclosing sister group, to spend $300 million to elect Republicans. ?

Noting the requirement for non-disclosure established in the Citizens United Supreme Court decision ? a decision that, even while throwing out decades of campaign finance restrictions, sustained disclosure requirements ? the court wrote: ?Intervenors provided no evidence that their contributors ?would face threats, harassment, or reprisals if their names were disclosed,?? and thus they fail to demonstrate how the disclosure requirements ?prevent [them] from speaking.??

The court also noted that: ?In any event, they are free to create a separate ?electioneering communications? bank account funded by U.S. citizens or permanent residents if they wish to protect the anonymity of those who contribute for a purpose other than funding ?electioneering communications?.?

Read the full article??Campaign Finance Disclosure Decision Means Rove, Others Could Suddenly Have To Disclose Donors,? Dan Froomkin and Paul Blumenthal, The Huffington Post, 5/15/12??

According to?Trevor Potter, President of the Campaign Legal Center, ?This is a huge victory for voters, for disclosure, and for democracy because Americans deserve to know who is trying to buy results in our ?elections. This decision is an important step towards fulfilling the Supreme Court?s promise in?Citizens United?that all spending in our elections will be fully disclosed ? disclosure that has been frustrated until now by the FEC.?

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