While campaign finance reformers were busy fighting off an attempt by Sen. McConnell to include a rider in the omnibus which would allow for unlimited coordinated party spending with candidates, three other very bad campaign finance provisions slipped into the must-pass congressional omnibus as riders. All three relate to disclosure. Via Jason Abel, one provision stops the IRS from engaging in rulemaking on 501c4 activity, which would rein in shadow Super PACs who have been engaging in heavy federal election activity without publicly disclosing their donors.
A second provision bars the SEC from adopting campaign disclosure rules for certain corporations (something that campaign finance activists have been agitating for for over a year). A third provision would prevent a White House executive order (which the White House so far has shown no indication of enacting) requiring certain campaign finance disclosures from government contractors.
Together, assuming these remain in the omnibus signed by the President, these provisions will ensure that the American public has much less information than it needs to make informed and responsible choices about who is funding the groups that are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to influence our federal elections.
Full Article: BIG: Campaign Finance Disclosure Efforts Dealt Severe Blow in Omnibus | Election Law Blog.