Sunlight Foundation

WASHINGTON, DC - Senator Chuck Schumer and Congressman Chris Van Hollen released a legislative framework yesterday meant to address the potential flood of corporate and union money into the political system as a result of the Supreme Court's decision on Citizens United v. Federal Election Committee (FEC). Senator Schumer and Congressman Van Hollen addressed several critical new reporting and disclosure rules which mirror many of the recommendations that the Sunlight Foundation offered (http://sunlightfoundation.com/policy/documents/comprehensive-disclosure-regime-wake-supreme-court/) just two weeks ago. The Sunlight Foundation renewed its call for disclosures to be electronically filed and publicly available online within 24 hours.

"The framework that Senator Schumer and Congressman Van Hollen released yesterday in response to Citizens United is a great start and shows that they agree with our concern that robust disclosure is a first step in addressing the multitude of problems the Supreme Court's decision created," said Ellen Miller, executive director and co-founder of the Sunlight Foundation. "The devil is in the details, and we must make sure that Congress creates new laws that reflect both the new reality of expanded independent spending, as well as the existing array of money-driven influences on public officials. Now more than ever, we need a new disclosure regime that takes advantage of the speed of the Internet to give Americans the opportunity to hold elected officials, corporations and unions accountable."

The Sunlight Foundation is pleased that the lawmakers included a "stand by your ad" provision that would require corporate CEOs or labor leaders to "approve" of ads publically, much like candidates do. This provision was a key recommendation made by the Sunlight Foundation a few weeks ago. To be meaningful, disclaimers on ads run by third party groups must be coupled with real disclosure of who is funding the ads. Sunlight is calling for a stronger disclosure system so that political spending can be effectively tracked online. In order to make this happen, new reforms will need to significantly improve the current disclosure system administered by the FEC.

Additionally, Sunlight believes the framework shortchanges shareholders by requiring only quarterly reporting of corporate expenditures. Instead, these should be disclosed within 24 hours on the corporate Web site that shareholders can access through a comprehensive disclosure database on the Securities and Exchange Commission's Web site.

The enhanced disclosures of lobbyists' campaign expenditures included by Schumer and Van Hollen in this framework is a good start, though Sunlight believes that for them to be meaningful, the disclosures must be in real time, online and publicly available in a user-friendly, searchable database. But, the lobbying disclosure requirement should go much further. Sunlight is asking that within 24 hours of a lobbying contact, lobbyists be required to electronically report the name of the official being lobbied, a summary of the action requested, and the name of the lobbyist's client or employer.

The Sunlight Foundation is a non-partisan, non-profit that uses cutting-edge technology and ideas to make government transparent and accountable. Visit SunlightFoundation.com to learn more about Sunlight’s projects, including Transparency Corps and Party Time.