Media Center

Americans expect and deserve to know who is bankrolling the political ads that follow them around the internet. In the wake of revelations about Russian use of internet ads to sway the 2016 presidential race, Common Cause and 17,945 members and supporters made that expectation very clear to the FEC, filing comments with the agency last week. In total, more than 150,000 Americans spoke out in comments and petitions with the agency—an FEC rulemaking record.

The American people do not expect that their charitable contributions will be used for partisan political ends. The tax bill amendment offered by Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX) and passed on a party-line vote expands the bill’s previous rollback of the Johnson Amendment – buried more than 400 pages into the legislation – to now allow all charities to enter partisan politics, including well-funded front groups like the American Legislative Exchange Commission (ALEC). This takes the bill beyond just a massive giveaway to the nation’s billionaire class to now allow wealthy special interests to manipulate the charitable sector for partisan political ends, all with a subsidy from American taxpayers.

Today, Common Cause and 17,945 members and supporters filed formal comments urging the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to open a rulemaking to update its rules by requiring online political advertisements to include “paid for by” information just like TV, radio and print ads.

The Wisconsin Legislature’s vote yesterday to call a constitutional convention under Article V leaves the nation in a perilous position, just six states shy of calling a convention that could lead to the rewrite of the U.S. Constitution.

Today, Common Cause will release a new report - “Putin, Trump and Democracy’s Slippery Slope Toward Oligarchy”- that examines Russia’s attacks on the 2016 presidential election, the continuing threats to our democracy and solutions to address these threats. It also examines how the campaign and Administration of Donald Trump have harnessed our system’s weaknesses to their political and personal benefit.

Americans have a right to know who is using political advertising to influence their votes and their views. As technology changes and political advertising shifts to online platforms, our transparency laws should keep pace. The recent revelations of Kremlin-connected influence operations on Facebook and Twitter underscore how important it is for Congress to take meaningful action. The bipartisan HONEST Ads Act is a critical step forward in enhancing the transparency of online political advertising. Common Cause commends Senators Klobuchar, Warner and McCain for their strong bipartisan leadership in introducing this important bill to bolster the integrity of our democracy.