"Citizens United 'Dark Money' Could Be Revealed By States, NYC Public Advocate Report Finds"

[applegrove]

Citizens United 'Dark Money' Could Be Revealed By States, NYC Public Advocate Report Finds

by Michael McAuliff at Huffington Post

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/08/citizens-united-dark-money_n_3725363.html?utm_hp_ref=politics

"SNIP..............................


Undisclosed donations poured into electoral politics after the Supreme Court's 2010 decision in the Citizens United case, which allowed corporations and certain tax-exempt charities to spend unlimited amounts to influence outcomes. Proposals to require disclosure, much less turn off the spigot, have gone nowhere.

But according to a new analysis by New York City Public Advocate Bill de Blasio that was provided to HuffPost, more than half the states already have it within their power to start compelling disclosure from groups like Karl Rove's Crossroads GPS, which spent more than $70 million during the 2012 elections.

Indeed, the report, called "Building A Frontline Defense To Stop Secret Political Spending," found that 28 states already have many of the tools and laws on the books that they need to tighten rules around campaign finance. These states can require groups to unmask their donors when they seek to sway local election contests, according to the report.

In many cases, the officials in charge could do so without any outside approval, including in such battleground states as Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina and Ohio, the report says. And that requirement would reveal to voters the identities -- and potentially the motives -- of the outside groups and individuals seeking to determine who wins local elections.

............................SNIP"