Colorado State Senate Senate Republicans oppose disclosures of corporate and union spending on elections

Senate Republicans oppose disclosures of corporate and union spending on elections

Friday, May 7 2010

Senate passed Campaign Finance Transparency Act on party line vote

DENVER-- Today, Senate Republicans voted to allow corporations to spend unlimited money to influence candidate elections without transparency or accountability. By a party-line vote, the Senate passed SB 203, the Campaign Finance Transparency Act, sponsored by Senator Morgan Carroll (D-Aurora) and House Majority Leader Representative Paul Weissmann (D-Longmont).

SB 203 brings transparency to Colorado’s campaign finance laws and defends fair elections in Colorado. This bill will address the case of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, in which the United States Supreme Court held that corporations may spend money to influence candidate elections through the use of Independent Expenditures (“IE”). Without this legislation, corporations and labor unions will be able to spend an unlimited amount of money in Colorado elections this year, without disclosure or needing to identify themselves as the funders of an ad.

“I was shocked the Republicans voted against bill today,” said Sen. Carroll. “This bill is about transparency and allowing people to know where political support is coming from. It seems the Republicans would prefer to hide their contributions and keep doing their work in the shadows."

In 2008, businesses spent $1.9 billion on elections and labor unions spent $74 million in total contributions through PACs and 527s (with current restrictions in place). If Exxon Mobile contributed 3% of its profits ($45.2 billion) to politics, it would dwarf the amount spent by Barack Obama ($730 million) and John McCain ($333 million) on the 2008 presidential campaigns.

“We need to ensure that our democracy is really represented ‘by the people’ and not simply bought by the highest bidder,” said Sen. Morgan Carroll. “It should be one person one vote not one dollar one vote."

What the bill does:

Closes disclosure loopholes for independent expenditures and ads that can now be funded by corporations and labor unions.
Extends the current prohibition against contributions from foreign persons to foreign corporations and labor unions.

SB 203 passed 21-14 and will now head to the House.