New Initiative Marks First Anniversary of Historic Citizens United v. FEC Decision
One year ago, the Supreme Court issued its game-changing decision on Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission (FEC), giving corporations the right to make unlimited campaign ads—often without disclosing the donors who funded the ads. Today, to combat such unregulated and often anonymous spending, the Sunlight Foundation is kicking-off a new initiative that advocates for meaningful lobbying reform, and is crowdsourcing public review of its proposed Real-Time Online Lobbying Transparency Act that would create a new system of disclosure of all lobbying activities.
“As a result of the Citizens United decision, lobbyists now have a powerful new means of persuasion. To counteract the new, radical power lobbyists have to influence public policy, through the very real threat of unlimited spending on campaign ads, we need real-time, online reporting of lobbying contacts by anyone who lobbies,” said Ellen Miller, co-founder and executive director of the Sunlight Foundation.
Lobbying disclosure is one arena where information about who is meeting with Congress and federal officials to influence policy matters and government spending should be available. Yet, the current lobbying disclosure requirements must be strengthened to be more comprehensive, detailed and timely. Sunlight is calling to stop the practice of stealth lobbying by those who skirt around the 20 percent time exemption. Additionally, real-time, online disclosure is needed for the registration of lobbyists, reports of significant contacts with government officials and contributions made by lobbyists, among other reforms.
Miller discusses plans on how to enact these reforms on the Sunlight blog at: http://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/2011/01/20/after-citizens-united/.
The following projects are part of Sunlight’s lobbying reform initiative:
Lobbying Transparency Act — Citizens can visit PublicMarkup.org to review and comment on Sunlight’s proposed Real-Time Online Lobbying Transparency Act, which would create an entirely new system of real-time, online disclosure of lobbying activities by all who are paid to do so. The bill would deter and root out corruption, and more importantly, improve the democratic process. Additionally, the bill would create an ongoing policy dialogue by providing the public a clear understanding of the issues that have the attention of lawmakers and the interests that are lobbying in support or opposition to them.
Lobbyist Registration Tracker — This website is a go-to resource on federal lobbying where users can find information on recent registrations made by lobbyists and lobbying firms, the client who hired them and what issues are being lobbied.
Super PAC Sleuth — This people-powered project is looking for a few good sleuths to unmask anonymous donors by researching and documenting the names and relationships behind shadowy Super PACs and report their findings.
Influence Explorer — This website provides vital disclosure data of the largest donors to all federal and state politicians and candidates, PACs and political parties, as well as the biggest spenders among lobbyists.
Sunlight Live — Sunlight’s award-winning online service will continue to showcase money in politics disclosures along with live events, adding essential context to 24-hour news cycle.
Sunlight is also hosting a Citizens United Twitter chat on Friday, January 21 from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Follow @SunFoundation #sunchat and #opengov on Twitter.
The Sunlight Foundation is a non-partisan non-profit that uses cutting-edge technology and ideas to make government transparent and accountable. Visit http://SunlightFoundation.com to learn more about Sunlight’s projects, including http://PoliticalPartyTime.org and http://InfluenceExplorer.com.
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