Disclosure & Transparency

Americans expect and deserve to know who is bankrolling the political ads that follow them around the internet. In the wake of revelations about Russian use of internet ads to sway the 2016 presidential race, Common Cause and 17,945 members and supporters made that expectation very clear to the FEC, filing comments with the agency last week. In total, more than 150,000 Americans spoke out in comments and petitions with the agency—an FEC rulemaking record.

There’s a bombshell buried in the second-to-last page of the House tax “reform” bill.

The American people do not expect that their charitable contributions will be used for partisan political ends. The tax bill amendment offered by Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX) and passed on a party-line vote expands the bill’s previous rollback of the Johnson Amendment – buried more than 400 pages into the legislation – to now allow all charities to enter partisan politics, including well-funded front groups like the American Legislative Exchange Commission (ALEC). This takes the bill beyond just a massive giveaway to the nation’s billionaire class to now allow wealthy special interests to manipulate the charitable sector for partisan political ends, all with a subsidy from American taxpayers.

Democracy activists hit Capitol Hill this morning with personal messages from more than 150,000 Americans – including nearly 18,000 Common Causers – who want the Federal Election Commission to require disclosure of the purchasers of online political advertising.

Today, Common Cause and 17,945 members and supporters filed formal comments urging the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to open a rulemaking to update its rules by requiring online political advertisements to include “paid for by” information just like TV, radio and print ads.

Common Cause is calling on Congress to delay any vote on the president’s tax plan until the president releases his tax returns.