Already under fire for mismanaging the Republican National Committee, Chairman Michael Steele displayed his bizarre and badly-uninformed take on the election yesterday on Meet the Press. Not only is there overwhelming evidence that groups that do not disclose the sources of their funding are participating in the election at unprecedented levels, but the Citizens United and SpeechNow decisions have allowed such groups to be more powerful and less transparent. When asked about the flood of money from outside groups in the election, Michael Steele inexplicably responded: “I don’t know what they’re talking about. No one’s produced one shred of evidence that any of that’s happening.”
Even though Republicans twice voted lockstep in the US Senate to filibuster the DISCLOSE Act, which would have made these groups reveal their donors, Steele tried to portray the Democrats as the opponents of disclosure legislation. In a disheartening lack of follow-through Gregory did not challenge Steele on this statement.
Steele ended the segment by calling for transparency and legislative fixes if necessary: “Absolutely, I am all for transparency, I think it is an appropriate part of the system, it instills the trust that people have in the system and it also avoids questions like this because that information is out there…but the law is what the law is right now, and if people are that bothered by it then the Congress needs to change it.”
For so-called “Super PACs” that are required to disclose their donors, like American Crossroads and the First Amendment Alliance, we have ample evidence that corporate and special interest money is flowing in. A recent New York Times report also demonstrated that corporate money is flowing into the US Chamber of Commerce’s electoral spending. But for 501c4 “social welfare” organizations, such as Crossroads GPS and the American Action Network, we do not know the identity of the donors.
Gregory pointed out to Steele that by law 501c4 groups “do not have to disclose,” and asked, “is that a problem in our politics when you can put a great deal of money into a campaign without disclosing your agenda or who you are?” Steele then said that Congress should “put up” and “change the law,” but that the lack of disclosure may not be a problem anyway: “we haven’t seen any evidence that it is, why are you saying that it is a problem?”
Polling confirms that the public is “bothered by it.” Numerous polls reveal that the vast majority of Americans disagree with the Citizens United decision, regardless of their political party, and oppose the inundation of special interest money in elections. Will Steele now call upon Republicans in Congress to end their filibuster of the DISCLOSE Act and stop resisting transparency in the system?
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy