Testimony by Catherine Turcer, Common Cause Ohio, On Senate Bill 347

Ohio Senate Government Oversight and Reform Committee

September 16, 2020

Chairman Coley, Vice Chair Huffman, Ranking Member Craig, and members of the Government Oversight and Reform Committee, thank you for allowing me to testify today. My name is Catherine Turcer and I am here on the behalf of Common Cause Ohio which has 30,000 members to urge you to pass Senate Bill 347. I am the author of a number of money in politics reports and first worked on improving the transparency in elections in the late 90s. It was a struggle then to generate support for online disclosure of campaign finance filings. Legislators had worries about uploading their reports and some had anxiety about computers in general but they made a commitment to online disclosure because they believed in Ohioans right to “follow the money.”

A lot has changed since then, but voters continue to have a strong commitment to transparent election funding. Requiring strong disclosure rules is supported by a bipartisan super majority among voters. A 2019 年 11 月民意调查 由无党派竞选法律中心委托进行的一项民意调查发现，83% 的选民支持要求公开披露向选举中花钱的组织捐赠的情况，其中包括 85% 民主党人、83% 独立人士和 81% 共和党人。同样，2015 年对 2016 年初选选民的民意调查发现 民主党的 91% 和 91% 共和党 同意投放竞选广告的外部团体应该披露其资金来源。

A decade ago, Citizens United v. the Federal Elections Commission ruled that corporations have the right to fund political advertisements. Justice Anthony Kennedy, now retired, writing for the majority surprisingly expressed no concerns about corruption:

“此外，影响力或渠道的出现不会使选民对我们的民主失去信心。根据定义，独立支出是向选民发表的与候选人无关的政治言论。”

It is important to note that Kennedy also highlighted the importance of transparency in the funding of political expenditures:

“随着互联网的出现，及时披露支出可以为股东和公民提供必要的信息，让公司和民选官员对自己的立场和支持者负责。股东可以确定他们公司的政治言论是否促进了公司的盈利利益，公民可以看到民选官员是否‘落入’了所谓金钱利益的口袋。”

In 2010, 参议院第 240 号法案 sponsored by Jon Husted passed unanimously out of the Ohio Senate, but never moved in the Ohio House. Many legislators who co-sponsored SB 240 are still elected officials including Auditor Keith Faber, and Congressman Bob Gibbs.
It is time to close the dark money loophole. We are now experiencing the consequences of not having adequate disclosure. I urge you pass Senate Bill 347 and shine a light on the funding of all political advertisements.

Transparency is key to a healthy and strong democracy. Here are a few ways that Senate Bill 347 could be improved:

1. 该法案应要求披露独立支出的原始资金来源。俄亥俄州人应该能够追踪资金和支出情况。否则，富有的特殊利益集团将试图通过创建临时空壳团体来避免披露。
2. 俄亥俄州人应该在看电视或阅读邮件中的广告时获取信息。仅仅提供非营利组织或实体的名称并不能为选民提供他们需要的工具。许多名称与 Generation Now 相似且完全无害。免责声明至少应提供联系信息，但真正的公开披露将包括广告或宣传材料的三大资助者。
3. While transparency is important and candidates are broadly prohibited from coordinating with activities paid for by corporate funds. Ohio law needs to be strengthened to establish clear boundaries between candidates and independent expenditures. This can be done by prohibiting fundraising for independent expenditures by candidates and their staff and family.

Once again, I urge you to pass Senate Bill 347. Ohioans have been waiting for you to act and now is the time. Thank you very much.