Litigation

Disclosure Rules Advance in Wisconsin

By Peter Hardin

The agency that polices elections in Wisconsin has approved new rules closing an “issue ad” loophole, according to a statement by the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, a partner group of the Justice at Stake Campaign.

?Issue ads? typically attack or support candidates without explicitly advocating a vote. The Democracy Campaign  said that the loophole was exploited by special-interest groups to avoid disclosing election-related activity and operate outside campaign finance laws.

“This is a reform the Democracy Campaign has sought for years and is an important step toward repairing the damage done by the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission,” the group said.

The Government Accountability Board unanimously approved new rules that close the loophole, the Democracy Campaign said. The board had approved the rules last year, and submitted them to the state legislature for approval before asking lawmakers to return them to the board pending the outcome of the campaign finance case before the Supreme Court.

When the Supreme Court handed down  Citizens United in January, it upheld disclosure of corporate spending on election advertising and cleared the way for the Government Accountability Board to reapprove its rules and resubmit them to the legislature, according to the Democracy Campaign. Now the new rules will take effect unless the legislature votes to block them.

The rules would require groups that run issue ads before elections to disclose who is behind them, according to an Associated Press report.

At the same time the board agreed to end enforcement of the state’s ban on corporate spending on elections, to comply with Citizens United, the AP said.

An interim policy adopted by the board encourages corporations to take the voluntary action of registering with the state and disclosing political spending. Disclaimers on political advertising, naming the ad sponsors, are required under the policy.

The board will weigh adopting tougher disclosure requirements in May through the use of emergency rules. To learn more about the Wisconsin legislation, click on Gavel Grab.

Full post as published by The Gavel on March 23, 2010 (boomark / email).