President Obama should waste no more time and sign an executive order requiring government contractors to disclose any checks they write to the newly legal troughs of secret campaign donations. House Republicans, who in the past loudly supported such transparency, are holding hearings to push the absurd claim that Mr. Obama is aiming to violate donors’ free speech.
Government contractors are already required to disclose their spending through political action committees. The order would extend that requirement, and transparency, to money going to new groups shrouding donors and their true political goals.
Voters certainly have a right to know which companies doing business with the federal government — and paid with tax dollars — are also trying to curry favor with politicians.
If Mr. Obama fails to issue the contractors’ order, he will underline the hypocrisy of his own campaign supporters’ decision to go all out for their piece of the secret money torrent. Representative Steny Hoyer, the Democratic whip, certainly didn’t help when he recently questioned the propriety of the disclosure order.
Politics’ new supersized casino was legitimized by the Supreme Court’s decision to end decades of restrictions on corporate and union campaign spending. As Republicans offer a free-speech smoke screen, it is imperative to note that the Supreme Court also upheld the constitutionality of disclosure, so “citizens can see whether elected officials are ‘in the pocket’ of so-called moneyed interests.” In the pocket, indeed.
Republicans blocked the last Congress from mandating full disclosure. President Obama has the authority and responsibility to shine the light on contractors. That’s not enough, but it is a start.
No comments:
Post a Comment