Stepping Up Transparency in Political Spending

[Commentary] The Supreme Court’s wrongheaded Citizens United ruling in 2010 unleashed billions of dollars of unaccountable, anonymous spending on our campaigns. Each election season since has brought more smears from groups whose vague names tell the electorate little of their agendas or backing. Voters should know if groups with names like Citizens for Clean Waters are real grass-roots activists or disguised fronts for the chemical industry, bent on dumping waste in the Potomac River. This is not a theoretical problem.

Nearly three years ago, the Media Access Project asked the Federal Communications Commission to step up and bring accountability to political ad spending. The FCC chairman at the time, Julius Genachowski, chose not to act on this common-sense reform. More recently, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) nearly derailed Tom Wheeler’s confirmation to replace Genachowski as FCC chairman over this issue. With Wheeler now at the helm, the FCC has a renewed opportunity to act, and it should. In the words of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, “The only sure bulwark of continuing liberty is a government strong enough to protect the interests of the people, and a people strong enough and well enough informed to maintain its sovereign control over its government.”