House Democrats aren't backing down in their push to get the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) to compel political advertisers to name the major donors behind their spots.
One hundred-and-sixty-eight House Democrats, almost the entire Caucus, are signed onto a letter led by House Energy and Commerce Committee ranking member Anna Eshoo (Calif.) and Rep. John Yarmuth (Ky.) urging FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler to compel broadcasters to make advertisers identify the donors behind political ads.
They argue that the FCC has the authority to do so as a result of rules requiring disclosure of the identity of ad sponsors. But the FCC currently only requires them to identify the person with "editorial control" over the ad, which allows the disclosure to include the group behind the ad, which may not have to identify its donors.
"In the new era of non-disclosing political organizations with intentionally opaque names, this interpretation is woefully out of date," the lawmakers said. "While a non-disclosing organization may in fact have had editorial control over the advertisement, the true sponsors of the advertisement are those who contributed the money to pay for it."
CLICK HERE to read the 11 page (PDF) letter from Congress to the FEC.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
No comments:
Post a Comment