July 5, 2025 The Best Source of News, Culture, Lifestyle for Culver City, Mar Vista, Del Rey, Palms and West Los Angeles

Now We’ll See What Transparency Can Do

By Tom Elias

 

 

 

 

 

 

California will be exploring new ground as the impending election year builds to its climax in early November. For the first time ever, big donors to ballot proposition campaigns will not be able to hide behind phony campaign committee names like “Californians for Safe Streets” and the like when they put their money behind causes, many of which can be self-serving.

It will now be somewhat harder to keep dark money from having at least some light shined upon it.

But no one can be certain just yet how difficult it will be for real donors to hide and just how exposed they might soon be. That’s partly because of some rather vague language in the state’s new Disclose Act, quietly signed as Assembly Bill 249 by Gov. Jerry Brown, who issued no statement along with his signature, as he often does on important bills.

Advocates contend the language of the new law “will fundamentally change how campaign financing is disclosed,” as legislative sponsor Kevin Mullin, a Democratic assemblyman from San Mateo, put it.

And it might do that. The bill requires ads for ballot propositions and independent expenditure ads for and against candidates to identify their top three funders, with none able to hide behind sometimes-misleading committee names. The idea is to identify people and organizations actually trying to exert influence, possibly causing some to downsize their contributions if they don’t want to be listed publicly as leading donors.

This should let voters know exactly who is trying to influence them. From the “who,” it’s often easy to deduce the “why,” so California ballots could be cast in the most educated manner ever.

Of course, this measure might have been even better than what has now become law. It could have required that disclosures of donors be made in a print size equal to the largest anywhere else in an ad. But that was amended out of the bill as it progressed through the Legislature. Instead, disclosures must be made “clearly and prominently,” a vague phrase that will no doubt be litigated for years.

Expect some of the political consultants who conceive, write and approve the ads that will be ubiquitous as 2018 progresses to try to obfuscate matters. Their radio ads may feature the same kind of ultra-speed-reading often heard when pharmaceutical companies list drug side effects near the end of their ads.

But newspaper and television advertising will have to include printed information on true campaign funders. In the beginning, some campaigns may try to get away with small print, but that almost certainly won’t fly in the long run.

So while this law does contain some vagueness, it is far better than no law, a clear-cut case of not letting the perfect (identification in letters that match the largest elsewhere in the ad) outweigh the good.

The law’s other flaw is that it does not demand exposure of the largest direct contributors to candidates, whose donors often launder their contributions through the major political parties at both the state and country levels. But there is nevertheless plenty of improvement over the longstanding ability of big donors to remain almost completely anonymous.

Trent Lange, president of the California Clean Money Campaign, which pushed the Disclose Act for more than seven years before its final passage on a fairly bipartisan vote (five Republican assembly members from swing districts joined almost all Democrats in supporting it), called the new law “the biggest blow yet against the unlimited secret money unleashed by Citizens United.” That’s the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision declaring that corporations are like people when it comes to political giving.

The bottom line is that even with some vague parts of the new law likely to be disputed and litigated over the next few years, there will still be more disclosure of campaign finance information than ever before seen anywhere in America.

But we will all have to wait and see how much real voters care about this and whether it really affects the way votes are cast.

Vote
Related Posts

Michael Madsen, Star of Reservoir Dogs and Kill Bill, Dies at 67 in Malibu

July 4, 2025

July 4, 2025

Actor Remembered for His Intense Performances and as a Poet  Actor Michael Madsen, known for his distinctive gravelly voice and...

Los Angeles City Council Cracks Down on ‘Disaster Tours’ in Pacific Palisades

July 4, 2025

July 4, 2025

City Council Bans Commercial Bus Tours in Burn Zone Amid Community Backlash Tour buses that have been operating in fire-ravaged...

Tow Truck Scammers Target Crash Victims Across L.A.: Authorities Warn of Fraud at Accident Scenes

July 4, 2025

July 4, 2025

Officials Urge Drivers to Stay Alert After Collisions as Rogue Operators Demand Inflated Fees  Motorists involved in vehicle accidents are...

Woman Dies After Melrose Store Altercation: LAPD Launches Homicide Investigation

July 4, 2025

July 4, 2025

Critically Injured Young Woman Died July 2, After She was Badly Beaten at Work  The death of a woman critically...

CHP Officer Dies in Culver City Crash: Medical Emergency Suspected Behind Tragic Incident

July 4, 2025

July 4, 2025

Officer lost consciousness while transporting a suspect before crashing into a tree California Highway Patrol Officer Miguel Cano died early...

L.A. Beaches Brace for Holiday Rush: Over 1 Million Visitors Expected This Fourth of July

July 4, 2025

July 4, 2025

County Officials Urge Beachgoers to Pack Out Their Trash and  Monitor Water Quality More than one million visitors are expected...

(Video) A visit to New York Bagel & Deli in Santa Monica

July 3, 2025

July 3, 2025

Authentic NY Style Bagels with Extra Creamy Cream Cheese and Multi-Cultural Desserts. Located at 2216 Wilshire Blvd. A visit to...

Hot Dogs & Rosé: Something About Her and The Culver Hotel Roll Out Summer Specials

July 2, 2025

July 2, 2025

Westside Venues to Serve Playful Bites and Seasonal Sips For the Holiday Weekend A bold new offering is making its...

NeueHouse Hosts Bold One-Night Dinner With Culinary Phenomenon Diego Argoti

July 2, 2025

July 2, 2025

Acclaimed Chef Brings Culinary Mischief With a Five-Course Tasting Experience. NeueHouse Hollywood will host an exclusive, one-night-only dining event on...

(Video) Legacy, Reimagined: Architecture, Design & Construction by Home Front Build Los Angeles

July 2, 2025

July 2, 2025

Go To Homefrontbuild.com For More Information @home_front_build Legacy, Reimagined: Architecture, Design & Construction by Home Front Build Los Angeles Go...

405 Crash Near the Getty Sends Three to Hospital: Two Seriously Hurt Near Site Where LAPD Sgt. Died

July 2, 2025

July 2, 2025

Early Morning Multi-Vehicle Collision Shut Down Lanes Near Brentwood Three men were injured and traffic was snarled for hours following...

(Video) Jikoni, the AfriCali PopUp from celebrated cookbook author Kiano Moju Has Been Extended Until July 3 at Citizen Public Market

July 1, 2025

July 1, 2025

Bold Flavors and Spice Merge with Crisp, Chewy Chapati. Delicious With a Caring Chef and Staff. Jikoni, the AfriCali PopUp...

Pentagon Orders Troop Drawdown in LA: 150 National Guard Members Reassigned to Wildfire Duty

July 1, 2025

July 1, 2025

Federal Forces Begin Partial Withdrawal From Protest Response as California Leaders Push Back U.S. Northern Command announced Tuesday that 150...

California Highway Patrol Deploys for Independence Day Enforcement Surge

July 1, 2025

July 1, 2025

All Available Officers to Hit California Highways for Holiday Weekend As Californians gear up for Fourth of July festivities, the...

Court Postpones Arraignment for Driver in Malibu Crash That Killed Four Students

July 1, 2025

July 1, 2025

Fraser Michael Bohm Faces Murder Charges in Fatal PCH Wreck  The arraignment for Fraser Michael Bohm, the 23-year-old man accused...