White House Backs Campaign Finance Bill
The Obama admin is taking a greater role in pushing a key campaign finance bill in spite of a provision aimed at exempting the NRA and other groups from disclosure requirements, the WH said today, even as other key liberal organizations came out against the measure.
The DISCLOSE Act, aimed at addressing the Supreme Court's Jan. Citizens United v. FEC ruling by requiring additional campaign finance disclosures from outside organizations that can run political advertisements, ran into snags last week.
After chief sponsor Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) announced a deal with the NRA, liberals and the Congressional Black Caucus balked at backing a bill they once supported. A planned Friday vote was scrapped, though supporters hope to round up the votes this week.
Over the weekend, Van Hollen made dozens of calls trying to salvage the measure. Still, progressives like Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) and a hodge podge of gun control advocates and those pushing their own measures, including Reps. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), Mike Quigley (D-IL) and Donna Edwards (D-MD) present obstables.
Now, according to sources involved in legislative strategy, the WH has signaled it is fully engaged. On Monday, the OMB issued a Statement of Administration Policy (SAP) offering support. And backers are circulating a memo from pollster Joel Benenson, who headed Obama's polling during the WH'08 campaign, touting the bill's popular support.
The bill "is a necessary measure so that Americans will know who is trying to influence the Nation's elections," the WH said in the SAP. It "prevents those who should not interfere in the Nation's elections -- like corporations controlled by foreign interests -- from doing so. Unless strong new disclosure rules are established, the Supreme Court's decision in the Citizens United case will give corporations even greater power to influence elections."
The admin acknowledged the NRA deal, admitting the bill "is not perfect." "The Administration would have preferred no exemptions. But by providing for unprecedented transparency, this bill takes great strides to hold corporations who participate in the Nation's elections accountable to the American people."
In the polling memo, Benenson asserts voters "overwhelmingly oppose the Supreme Court's decision in the Citizens United case and show extremely strong support for measures contained in the DISCLOSE Act."
Also on Monday, Van Hollen's office issued their own memo, asserting that even with the NRA carve-out the bill is the strongest piece of campaign finance legislation since the McCain-Feingold bill.
Outside groups are continuing to push against the bill. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, among the most vocal opponents of the measure, is running a full-page ad in several Beltway publications, and it will make the vote on the bill one of the few they highlight, or score, as an indicator of how supportive a lawmaker is of the Chamber's goals.
But it's not just GOP-leaning groups that have come out against the bill. A bevy of liberal groups, ranging from the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence to the Sierra Club, are against the measure after the NRA provision came out. The ACLU, in a letter to lawmakers, has also added itself to that roster.
"We acknowledge that the DISCLOSE Act seeks the laudable goal of fair and participatory federal elections. However, despite some elements that enhance participation in federal elections, we believe this bill fails to improve the integrity of our campaigns in any substantial way while significantly harming the speech and associational rights of Americans," ACLU officials Laura Murphy and Michael Macleod-Ball write in a 6-page letter to members.
To understand compelling (not righteous) forces in "flip" of Obama for-against-for, go to site,
www.richardcharlesnorton.com or call me at 423-361-0430. McCain forced Mukasey to assign Special Counsel Nora Dannehy to "Polticization of DOJ" matter. I am the one that forced Gonzales' resignation. But, IT IS Holder who is king of OxyContin scam, beginning in '90s with Clinton/Kagan regime.