Democrats’ campaign-finance plan: Put the donors on camera

By Kim Geiger and Clement Tan

Senators led by Charles Schumer offer a proposal in which the chief executive of a corporation or group that is the primary financial sponsor of a political ad would have to claim responsibility for it by appearing on camera. GOP leader Mitch McConnell calls the idea ‘beyond suspicious.’

Reporting from Washington — If corporate and union officials want to pour money into election campaigns, they would have to disclose who they are — and perhaps appear in an ad — under legislation introduced in Congress on Thursday.

The bill is a response to a controversial U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing unlimited corporate and interest group spending on elections. In Citizens United vs. the Federal Elections Commission, the court in January struck down most federal limits on corporate spending as a violation of free speech.

Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), in an announcement at the steps of the Supreme Court, said the measure would “shine a light on the flood of spending unleashed by the Citizens United decision.”

He hopes to win passage of the bill by July 4, in time for any flow of corporate money into the 2010 midterm congressional elections.

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Campaign Finance Legislation Faces Tricky Issue of Foreign Corporations

Reporting from Washington – Proposed legislation to block foreign companies from contributing money to U.S. elections could end up affecting well-known companies such as Chrysler, Anheuser-Busch and Citgo, according to legal experts and company representatives.

The legislation is a reaction from key House and Senate Democrats to a Supreme Court decision in January that struck down a portion of the nation’s campaign funding laws, allowing corporations to freely contribute to political campaigns.

The high court’s 5-4 decision in Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission seemed to open the way for U.S. subsidiaries of foreign corporations to also contribute to campaigns.

The legislators say they are now considering a broad definition of foreign corporations — companies that are more than 20% owned by non-American entities. That could end up banning thousands of corporations from contributing to political activities.

Chrysler would be affected because the Italian automaker Fiat has a 35% stake. The oil company Citgo Petroleum Corp. was started by an American oilman but has been wholly owned by the Venezuelan state-owned petroleum company since 1990. St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch, the company that brews Budweiser, was bought by Belgian brewing giant InBev for $54.8 billion in 2008.

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