23 State and National Good Government and Progressive
Organizations Start Massive Online Campaign for AB 14 to Stop Dark Money in
Political Ads
CULVER CITY, CA -- One of the largest state and national coalition petitions
ever for state-level legislation was launched today to help pass AB 14, the California
DISCLOSE Act, a far-reaching bill to stop secret money in political ads.
Millions of emails will be sent to good government and progressive members of
coalition partners across California and the nation telling them about AB 14
and asking them to sign the petition and follow up with calls and social media
urging California legislators to pass it.
"As the coalition petition says, it's wrong to allow political ads to
intentionally mislead voters about who paid for them," said Trent
Lange, President of the California Clean Money Campaign, sponsor of AB 14. "This
broad coalition of many of the largest good government and activist
organizations in the country will show California's legislators that the nation
is watching whether they'll stand up for the voters instead of secret money by
passing AB 14."
The coalition includes California Clean Money Action Fund, American Family
Voices, Brave New Films, California League of Conservation Voters, Common
Cause, Courage Campaign, Daily Kos, Democracy for America, Fight for Reform,
Free Speech for People, GMO Free California, LegitAction, Maplight, Money Out
Voters In, Move to Amend, Organic Consumers Association, People Demanding
Action, People for the American Way, Progressive Democrats of America, Public
Citizen, Roots Action, Rootstrikers, Sandra Fluke, and SumOfUs. Over 20,000
people have already signed separate petitions for AB 14 on CREDO Mobilize and MoveOn.org .
"Our democratic legitimacy is under threat from many angles, including
the massive amounts of money pouring into our elections from billionaires and
corporations since the lawless Citizens United decision. Americans deserve
legitimate elections and voters deserve to know with certainty who is paying
for political messages. "Said Russ Feingold, founder, LegitAction, and
former US Senator from Wisconsin. "The California DISCLOSE Act is exactly
the kind of measure states should adopt. It will bring transparency to the
election process and help voters 'follow the money' when it comes to ballot
measures and SuperPAC ads."
Authored by Assembly members Jimmy Gomez (D-Los Angeles) and Marc Levine (D-San
Rafael), AB 14 will require all ballot measure committees and PACs supporting
or opposing candidates to display the names of their top 3 true funders on
separate lines against a solid black background on the bottom third of the
screen in television and video ads. Most importantly, AB 14 creates new rules
for earmarking contributions to ballot measures and independent expenditures to
identify their true funders when they try to hide behind front groups with
misleading names.
"Almost every issue that Americans care about is at risk when
billionaires and other powerful interests are able to deceive voters about
who's behind their political ads," said Charles Chamberlain, Executive
Director of Democracy for America. "Progressives everywhere in the
country are watching California's legislators and expecting them to lead the
nation against secret money in politics by passing the California DISCLOSE
Act."
"Californians overwhelmingly reject the politics of pollution, so it
comes as no surprise that Big Oil and their allies often play shell games to
hide who is really paying for political ads," said Andy Kelley,
Communications Director of the California League of Conservation Voters. "CLCV
urges the legislature to pass the California DISCLOSE Act to take down the
smoke screen hiding the true funders of political ads to protect our democracy
and our environment."
AB 14 is scheduled to have its first vote on June 14th, in the Assembly
Elections Committee, where Assembly Elections Committee Chair Marc Berman
(D-Los Altos) and committee member Assembly member Kevin Mullin (D-San Mateo)
are coauthors. Three other committee members -- Assembly members Ian Calderon
(D-City of Industry), Evan Low (D-Cupertino), and Shirley Weber (D-San Diego)
-- all voted Yes on last year's version, AB 700. New Republican Assembly member
Jordan Cunningham (R-San Luis Obispo) has not yet taken a position on AB 14,
but did vote Yes on another important campaign finance reform bill in the
Elections Committee this year, AB 1089 (Mullin).
The coalition petition for AB 14, which can be seen here , will generate emails not only to signers'
Assembly members and State Senators, but to Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon
(D-Paramount) and Senate President pro Tem Kevin de Leà �n (D-Los Angeles), both
of whom will play a key role in whether AB 14 passes or even gets floor votes.
"Americans despise the corrosive influence that unlimited secret money
has on our politics. Politicians who are in the pockets of Big Money special
interests are blocking progress." said Tiffany Muller, President and
Executive Director of Fight For Reform, a state-level project of End Citizens
United. "Passing state bills like the California DISCLOSE Act is the
way we fight back. This is a strong, substantive reform that restores the voice
of everyday families in our democracy so that our elections will no longer be
sold to the highest bidder."
"Political spending by shadowy outside groups has exploded in recent
years, "said Lisa Gilbert, Vice President of Legislative Affairs at Public Citizen.
"Passage of the California DISCLOSE Act would be a major milestone in the
fight to get secret money out of our elections."
DISCLOSE is an acronym for Democracy is Strengthened by Casting Light on
Spending in Elections.
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