Secretary of State ruling does not increase disclosure in wake of Citizens United

In response to a request for a ruling by the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land passed on the opportunity to require more campaign finance dislcosure.

“There’s been a very large percentage of campaign spending that is anonymous and unaccounted, and I think that percentage is going to increase now,”  said Rich Robinson, executive director of the Michigan Campaign Finance Network, according to MLive.com.  “I am disappointed, but it is not entirely unexpected.”

The MCFN released a statement claiming the Chamber of Commerce’s request ignores campaign disclosure laws and allows the Chamber’s impending political committee to exist outside of the 501 (c) (6)  corporation

“The Department of State’s draft response is surely cause for celebration among the special interests who gain anonymity for their campaign spending by channeling money through nonprofit aggregators,” said Robinson. “Secrecy makes government actors more accountable to special interests than voters. If this flawed interpretation is not corrected, more campaign spending than ever will be off-the-books, and that is a deadly prospect for democracy.”

Land’s preliminary ruling does not subject the state Chamber to any new disclosure requirements. In February, the Chamber posed nine legal questions to Land regarding the political action committee the chamber intends to register, including about campaign reporting and disclosure.

Overall,  Robinson told MLive.com,  “there were no meaningful restrictions” placed on the chamber. He said the Chamber still is allowed to sponsor negative ads while protecting the identity of those who actually paid for them, such as the 2008 state Supreme Court election. Commercials characterized Supreme Court Justice Diane Hathaway, who was nominated by the Democratic Party, as soft on sex predators. The ads were officially paid for by the Michigan Republican Party and the Michigan Chamber.

The Citizens United v.  Federal Election Commission decision meant Michigan’s Campaign Finance Act was unconstitutional as it relates to prohibiting corporations,  unions and domestic dependent sovereigns (tribes) from using their treasury funds for independent expenditures on behalf of state or local candidates.

The Detroit Free Press chimed in with its editorial: Don’t give big political donors more clout an anonymity