Campaign Legal Center ● Common Cause ● Democracy 21 League of Women Voters ● Public Citizen ● U.S. PIRG
September 26, 2006
Dear Senator:
Our
organizations strongly support S. 1508, the Senate Campaign Disclosure
Parity Act, and urge that the legislation be enacted by this Congress.
S. 1508 would require electronic filing of the campaign finance
disclosure reports filed with the Senate under federal campaign finance
laws.
This
is non-controversial disclosure legislation with strong bipartisan
support. The sponsors of the bill include Senators Russell Feingold
(D-WI), John McCain (R-AZ), Thad Cochran (R-MS), Richard Durbin (D-IL),
Dick Lugar (R-IN), Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Joseph Lieberman (D-CT), Chuck
Grassley (R-IA), Wayne Allard (R-CO), Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-TX) and
Lincoln Chafee (R-RI).
Currently, all federal candidates, party committees and federal PACs
are required to file their campaign finance disclosure reports
electronically — with the sole exception of Senate candidates who are
still filing paper reports. This exception for Senate candidates has no
rational basis, makes no sense and is not defensible.
Most
importantly, the Senate filing exception deprives the public of
meaningful and timely disclosure of the campaign finance activities by
Senate candidates during the critical period close to the election.
That is because the paper reports filed by Senate candidates require
weeks to be transferred by the FEC into a searchable electronic
database that can then be used by the public and media.
According
to a 2003 survey conducted by the Campaign Finance Institute,
furthermore, 98 out of 99 Senators who participated in the survey were
already engaged in computerizing their campaign finance information.
Instead of simply providing this electronic information to the Senate,
however, Senators were proceeding to print and submit hard copies,
thereby depriving the public and the media of meaningful and timely
access to this information. This practice by Senators is seriously
undermining the campaign finance disclosure laws at a critical stage of
Senate elections.
We
strongly urge you to support S. 1508 and ensure that citizens have the
access to campaign finance information about Senate candidates that
they are entitled to receive.
Campaign Legal Center
League of Women Voters
Common Cause
Public Citizen
Democracy 21
U.S. PIRG
