Lakhota
Diamond Member
- Jul 14, 2011
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By Josh Israel
In a letter opposing the DISCLOSE Act of 2012 a bill to allow citizens to know what corporations and wealthy donors are paying for the independent expenditure attack ads enabled by the 5-4 Citizens United ruling the National Rifle Association (NRA) is warning Senators it will score the issue in its legislative scorecard for this Congress.
The NRA opposes the measure arguing that its provisions require organizations to turn membership and donor lists over to the government and would unconstitutionally abridge the right of citizens to speak and associate privately and anonymously. The legislation would merely require groups that opt to run outside political ads to tell voters which donors funded those efforts. By setting up a separate bank account for independent political spending, a group like the NRA would be able to keep its membership list private and would need only disclose the large money donors paying for the groups campaign ads. Far from being unconstitutional, this sort of disclosure was explicitly endorsed in Justice Anthony Kennedys Citizens United majority opinion as the less-restrictive alternative to more comprehensive speech regulations.
In other words, vulnerable Senators facing re-election may face secret-money attack ads should they back transparency for secret money attack ads.
More: NRA Warns Senators Not To Support Disclosure | ThinkProgress