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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2019 - 2020
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | January 14, 2019 04:01 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Kevin J. Boyle |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Transparency in Political Communication |
| Nobody knows who is paying for those TV commercials and web ads – the ones that reap praise on a candidate but don’t ask for your vote or talk about Election Day. These ads are often indistinguishable from a typical political ad. Below are two examples for the same candidate. The biggest difference between the two ads is that one group is required to disclose the dollars spent, while the other is not. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qi2r76Sb1l0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnifj2A7Has Special interests shouldn’t be able to buy our elections by filling our TV shows and online news feeds with ads from behind a curtain of secrecy. My bill would require special interest groups to play by the same rules political candidates and political parties do by requiring them to register and file regular disclosure reports with the Department of State when they engage in organized political communication. These reports would disclose the names of all people and companies donating to the sponsors of the political communication. Any ad mentioning any elected official or candidate within 60 days of an election would be considered political communication. Giving the people of our state this information would restore some faith in our broken government and prevent out-of-state billionaires from buying our elections in secret. |