Feb 3, 2012
Securities and Exchange Commission
Dear Commission,
Right now, Super PACs don't have to disclose their unlimited corporate donations. That means they can keep the public in the dark about who's funding the attack ads that bombard their TV screens daily.
That's why I'm joining with the 14 United States senators who formally asked you to use your regulatory authority to require that corporations disclose their spending in elections.
SEC: Please exercise your regulatory authority to require public disclosure of corporate political contributions.
We've already had 4 dishonest and misleading pro-Republican attack ads (source of ad funding unknown, but I suspect it might be the oil energy billionaire Koch brothers or Crossroads GPS Super PAC) accusing President Obama of "several billion dollar waste of taxpayer funds" and "crony capitalism" over the Solyndra debacle. Now Mitt Romney has already parroted the "crony capitalism" talking point to attack President Obama during a campaign stop. And this is only the primaries.
If several corporations worked together or coordinated their activities in a similar fashion to their mutual benefit, wouldn't that be considered collusion which is illegal? This is why we citizens would like to know which corporations spent some of their huge profits on political contributions or attack ads and how much. Because every dollar spent by corporations to buy an election (or influence its outcome) to elect like-minded people to cut their taxes and reduce oversight is also one less dollar spent on hiring American workers or reinvesting in local businesses.
Sincerely,
Lawrence Wong