A bill that would make it clear who the major donors to
political ads really are is scheduled to be heard by the
Assembly Appropriations Committee today. San Fernando
Valley Assemblyman Felipe Fuentes, chairman of the
committee, should see that the bill makes it out of the
committee intact.
If Fuentes doesn't support AB 1148, it would likely die in
that committee. That would be shameful because this bill
would allow voters to know which major donors are behind
political ads in state and local elections.
AB 1148, the California DISCLOSE Act, is sponsored by Los
Angeles Assemblywoman Julia Brownley. It would require that
the three largest donors to any political ad include their
names in large type and display their logos on all
political ads - wherever they occur, even on TV. Currently,
big donors tend to be grouped into vague organizations with
deliberately oblique or deceptive names, such as
"California Jobs Initiative," which give voters no
information about the real identities of those who pay for
the ads.
The need for this bill stems from a U.S. Supreme Court
ruling two years ago in Citizens United vs. Federal
Election Commission case. The high court found that there
could be no limits on spending for political campaigns by
corporations and unions. That opened the floodgates for
large donations such as those that super PACs are using in
the presidential campaigns.
Misleading political ads are a huge problem in California.
In 2010, more than $235 million was spent on state ballot
measure advertisements. Most of the ads were paid for by
groups with mysterious origins and innocuous-sounding
names, according to the California Clean Money Campaign,
which is the force behind this bill. We're not going to get
money out of elections. The only solution is to make
campaigns more transparent. When voters are clear about who
is paying for which candidates and initiatives, they can
make more informed decisions at the ballot box.
In one example from 2005, a measure to create a state
prescription drug-discount program was defeated thanks in
large part to $123 million from three of the largest drug
companies, which were never identified. Instead, the donors
were identified with the umbrella organization,
Californians Against the Wrong Prescription.
If AB 1148 makes it through the Appropriations Committee
today, it still would face an uphill battle in both the
Assembly and the Senate. These lawmakers are the folks who
benefit the most from political ads on their behalf. It
would need a two-thirds majority to put the measure on the
ballot, where, chances are good, it would win
overwhelmingly.
California needs AB 1148. Fuentes, who has expressed
concern about the cost of putting the measure on the ballot
if it passes in the Legislature, hasn't said whether he
supports the bill. For the sake of voters, he should.
