The Fight for Increased Transparency in Senate Campaign Finance Reports

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While presidential and House candidates file their campaign finance reports electronically, Senate candidates file theirs on paper. It takes the Federal Elections Commission months to process these paper records and put them online, where the public can see them. The upshot: voters don’t know who donated to Senate candidates in the last three months of their campaigns. Did Republicans fund Joe Lieberman’s last minute push, for example? You could only find out after you’ve voted.

The good folks at the Sunlight Foundation have identified which Senators are working for more transparency (primarily Russ Feingold) and which ones are working for less (primarily John Ensign). And they also know how you can take action. Check out their web video.

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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