Common Cause, the citizen lobby group that works in part to curb the influence of special interests in elections, has released a lengthy report detailing the life and work of conservative lawyer Jim Bopp. Titled “The Man Behind our Secret Elections: James Bopp Jr.,” the 37-page report is an More…
Now that Congress is back in session, so too are calls to revive the DISCLOSE Act, a bill intended to mandate disclosure of the primary donors behind political spending — and one which fell just two votes shy in the Senate before recess. The Washington Post’s E.J. Dionne notes More…
From Friday, but still worth noting, is a rather comprehensive list compiled by the Think Progress blog of all the monetary pledges conservative groups have made for spending in the upcoming November election:
I wrote before the recess that it appeared likely that the DISCLOSE Act wasn’t dead yet, but now it’s official: Senate Dems plan to bring it up for another vote when Congress resumes next month.
As always, the usual GOP suspects are being singled out in hopes that More…
The New York Times editorializes today about the failure of the DISCLOSE Act, chastising Republicans for seeking “the right to poison the political atmosphere without being held accountable for their speech.” That said, the Times also noted that the bill’s supporters didn’t help their cause by tacking on a More…
Ever since Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) indicated he would vote “yes” on financial regulatory reform, a number of government transparency advocacy groups have been hoping he might be their golden ticket to getting the DISCLOSE Act through a seemingly intractable Senate. The groups, which include Democracy 21, the More…
Following up on Sahil Kapur’s excellent piece on the expansion of gun rights under the Obama administration’s watch, The New York Times has a nice overview today of the all-powerful National Rifle Association that basically follows the format of saying, “We all know about its role in crafting More…
Last week, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal signed a bill allowing gun owners in his state to carry firearms into houses of worship. Just days earlier, the Supreme Court extended federal gun rights provisions to city and state governments. And last summer, Arizona legislators voted to allow More…
Yesterday, we reported that in response to pressure from the National Rifle Association and other groups, House Democrats decided to exempt the NRA and some other large organizations from the DISCLOSE Act, which will require corporate funders of campaign ads to attach disclosure messages to the ads.
It seems More…
Two weeks ago, we ran a piece on lobbying efforts to derail the DISCLOSE Act, which would roll back the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision by forcing companies that finance campaign ads to issue disclosure messages. One of the main opponents of the measure was the National Rifle Association, More…
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