But critics see the easing of disclosure requirements as opening the door to more dark money in political campaigns.
Oh, the door is already wide open. Citizens United took the thing clean off its hinges.
What Mnuchin is doing now is unscrewing the light bulbs, to make sure the room is nice and dark, so you can’t see what’s going on inside.
Qui male agit, odit lucem.
The GOP stands for open borders for foreign money to influence our elections
I stand corrected, and thank you. I thought that option had been removed.
Its Munchin’s response to the arrest of Russian Spy Mariia… who facilitated donations from Russia to middleman group to the GOP.
Now its allll Okey-Dokey. Munchin says so.
Okay, so first the Republicans argue that there should be NO restrictions on private contributions, because people can find out who gave what to whom and judge accordingly. Now they’ve moved on to no limits AND no disclosure. It’s Mitch McConnell’s “Long Game” in terrifying action.
This is my quote of the week. Thanks!
I really don’t understand how we can have a free, just, honest society when what is effectively secret bribes for elections are legal. Every single dollar given to a political campaign should be recorded and available to the public, and organizations giving money should have to list their donors. It’s such a simple principle, only people who want to do nefarious things without being held responsible want to do it this way.
That should help drain the swamp…
The change benefits groups that spend millions of dollars on political ads, such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and an organization tied to the billionaire Koch brothers.
I knew it was going to say that before I even pulled up the story. Total no-brainer.
Take that, Justice Kennedy.
The change benefits groups that spend millions of dollars on political ads, such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and an organization tied to the billionaire Koch brothers.
…and the NRA???
Contributions to campaigns are still disclosed, there is a ceiling on how much one can contribute, donations are not tax deductible, and campaigns can’t accept donations from foreigners (non-citizens? I’m not certain.).
These official campaign donations aren’t threatening our democracy. They also aren’t the donations that Mnuchin is trying to make secret.
The flood of money into our campaigns has been from non-campaign entities. Sometimes they identify explicitly as super-PACs or issue-advocacy groups. Others, though, claim to be charitable organizations that receive tax-deductible donations.These “charities” often claim to be educational, but their “educational” messages are well-aligned with those of a candidate (usually GOP). For example, a charity might “educate” us on the crime risk posed by current immigration policy, the security benefits of gun ownership, the link between lower taxes and job creation, and so on. They can’t directly advocate voting for or against a specific named candidate, but that’s a pretty minor barrier.
Mnuchin has made it open season for foreigners to fund (and therefore to influence) the political messaging we are exposed to. He also has made it easier for corporations and wealthy individuals to fund messaging with much less concern that they might be harmed by a negative public reaction to the messaging. For example, the wealthy founder or CEO of a cruise line that offers cruises planned for and marketed to gays could make large donations to support groups and candidates that actively work against full civil rights for gays. There will no longer be a money trail for gays and their supporters to follow back to the cruise line.
The Trumpp administration is giving the big-money donors an invisibility cloak. It is profoundly undemocratic, in line the GOP’s long war on democracy.
Excellent explanation.
I miss The Colbert Show, where he and his lawyer Trevor Potter cogently explained and illustrated the post-Citizens United world of dark money.
I guess I wasn’t clear…I think that all of the money being donated should be traced back to the original source. Laundering it through a PAC or whatever shouldn’t be allowed, all of their funding should be open as well.
Not only are they filling the swamp, but they’re building a toxic waste mountain on a secret island in the middle of it.
When your administration is indistinguishable from those donors, you gotta maintain the fictiopn somehow that they aren’t. Thus transparency becomes translucency. See, simple.
“I believe my intelligence agencies but it coulda been anybody.” See, simple.
No one has claimed that Mnuchin was anything other than a slimy mortgage banker rip off artist who now can do big time slimy deals with an unlimited greed horizon for him. And it is true. He ugly, real ugly, but the money is pretty.
The rule should be revocation of all special tax privileges for any exempt group who donates anything to any politicians.
I think this is the most important story on this page today.
Hidden donor names can work both ways. Organizations may sometimes be ashamed of their donors.
If names are needed for an investigation, I assume the records can be subpoenaed.