Much corporate political spending stays hidden

Los Angeles Times / latimes.com ^ | April 23, 2011 | By Noam N. Levey and Kim Geiger, Washington Bureau

[thecodont]

Reporting from Washington— Despite mounting calls for greater transparency, only a few of the country's 75 leading energy, healthcare and financial services corporations fully disclose political spending, according to a review of company records and state and federal campaign finance reports.

While complying with legal requirements to report direct donations to candidates, the vast majority of these companies — many of which are seeking legislative favors from the new Congress — do not reveal information even to their shareholders about support for politically active trade associations like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Groups such as the chamber, some of which spend millions of dollars on elections, are not required to reveal their financial supporters. And companies are not required to report their donations to those groups.

The money fuels a parallel, opaque system of political giving that plays a growing role in national elections and is emerging as a 2012 campaign issue. President Obama is considering an executive order requiring government contractors to disclose political donations, and congressional Democrats have filed a lawsuit against the Federal Election Commission demanding more disclosure.

What information is publicly available suggests that substantial corporate political spending remains in the dark, leading to an incomplete, and at times misleading, picture of companies' efforts to influence legislation and elections, the Times review indicates.

[goodnesswins]

LOTS of DEMOcrats are going to get caught in that trap, LATIMES....you better be careful what you wish for..on the other hand, they probably won’t report the Dems contributions...(This is all about the DISCLOSE act.)

[stubernx98]

What I want to know is how much reporting as a percentage supports DemocRATS - That should be translated into corporate contributions to the candidate. Add to that percentage the negative reporting on the Tea Party, and 3 times the percentage on obvious errors.

I will be the judge _ hey am just as qualified as Sotemeyer or Kagen