Most attention given putative new laws passed in the waning
moments of this year's legislative session in Sacramento
has gone to items like a "sanctuary state" compromise
making California safer for non-criminal undocumented
immigrants and measures to move the state's next
presidential primary up into early March.
But the one bill with the most potential to improve this
state's politics is the long-sought "DISCLOSE Act," which
-- if Gov. Brown signs it before an Oct. 15 deadline --
could do more than any modern measure to clean up
California's money-dominated initiative process.
This bill "will fundamentally change how campaign financing
is disclosed," said its latest sponsor, Assemblyman Kevin
Mullin, D-San Mateo, the No. 2-ranking Democrat in the
Legislature's lower house.
It just 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 no one able to hide behind phony names like
"Californians for Purity," or anything of that sort. 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
exposed as leading donors.
If Brown signs it, this will let voters know exactly who is
trying to influence their decisions. From the "who," it's
usually only a short distance to discern the "why," which
could then see voters cast their most educated ballots
ever. In short, this proposed law could make California
politics not only more transparent than ever before, but
also might go far toward cleaning up the state's
special-interest-driven politics.
Voters will know, for example, when industrialist Eli
Broad, who has financed many charter school backers in
local elections, is at work. They'll also know when
teachers unions -- which often oppose charter schools --
are the biggest supporters of candidates aiming to feather
the nests of their members.
Brown has long claimed to favor transparency in politics
and government, but has not always acted accordingly. Yes,
he helped write the state's Political Reform Act, passed as
an initiative in 1974 while he ran for governor for the
first time. That measure not only created the Fair
Political Practices Commission, which polices campaign
spending, but also imposed spending limits (later tossed by
the courts), restricted what lobbyists can give to
officials and banned anonymous campaign donations of more
than $100.
But lately Brown has been secretive about some of his
communications with state officials on utility rate cases
and other big-money issues. With only about a year left in
office, if he wants to be remembered as a good-government
advocate, rather than a transparency obstacle, he must sign
the DISCLOSE Act. Unlike his handling of the sanctuary
state bill, Brown has not yet indicated whether he'll sign
or veto this one. His decision here will reveal a lot about
his true priorities -- whether he favors voters and
consumers or the big donors who often want anonymity.
It's true the measure could have been better than it is. It
could have demanded that disclosures of donors be made in
print equal in size to the largest anywhere else in an ad.
Instead, the meaning of the vague words "clearly and
prominently," will no doubt be litigated for years if Brown
signs.
Similarly, the original goals of this plan were to expose
the largest contributors to candidates. That went by the
boards during the legislative process, but plenty of major
improvements remain.
What's more, legislative passage of the DISCLOSE Act was
pretty bipartisan, with every Assembly Democrat who voted
saying yes and five Republicans from swing districts
joining them.
Said Trent Lange, president of the California Clean Money
Campaign, who has pushed the DISCLOSE Act for almost a
decade, "We've never been closer, anywhere in the country,
to shining a light on dark money by making it illegal for
voters to be misled about who is truly paying for ballot
measure ads."
It's up to Brown now, and what he does on arguably the most
important bill to pass the Legislature in years will go a
long way toward defining how he'll be remembered.
