“Stand By Your Ad” Law Would Shine Light on Super PAC Abuses
Hartford, CT. – A coalition of good government groups including Common Cause, People For the American Way, Public Citizen, Demos, Credo Action, Democracy 21 and the New Progressive Alliance are calling on Connecticut Governor Dannell Malloy to sign H.B. 5556, “Changes to Campaign Finance Laws and other Election Laws,” which just passed just passed the General Assembly. The bill would require public disclosure of major corporate and individual donors to Super PACs and other independent groups, bringing increased transparency and accountability to Connecticut’s elections.
The bill would strengthen existing “Stand By Your Ad” provisions, which require political ads to disclose the five top contributors. Additionally, individuals and corporations would no longer be able to use intermediaries to shield campaign contributions from public view.
“Since Citizens United opened the floodgates to massive amounts of undisclosed, unaccountable political spending, Connecticut has been on the forefront of the effort to limit the outsized influence that corporations and special interests have on our democracy,” said Cheri Quickmire, Executive Director of Common Cause Connecticut. “By signing H.B. 5556 into law, the Governor can help us take an important step toward fairer elections. This bill would protect our candidates from anonymous attacks and corrupting ads. No longer would wealthy special interests be able to take advantage of the system by using shadowy front groups to evade Connecticut law and hijack our democratic system.
“We need H.B. 5556 to take effect and strengthen Connecticut’s disclosure laws before the 2012 elections. Secretive political spending has already had a major impact on Connecticut’s citizens, so we must act now to protect the integrity of our elections.”
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