LANSING – Corporations spending money to influence elections or political decisions would have to acknowledge and report that spending under a proposed constitutional amendment unveiled Thursday.
The Corporate Accountability Amendment, co-chaired by Jocelyn Benson, the 2010 Democratic secretary of state candidate, and Melanie McElroy, executive director of Common Cause Michigan, would require any corporation spending money on elections or lobbying to report that expenditure to the Department of State within 24 hours.
“As voters and consumers, we have a right to know when companies are spending money to influence our elections and politicians,” Benson said.
McElroy said the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that allowed companies to spend money on elections has opened the door to millions of dollars in unreported influence.
“This amendment will shed light on shady political spending,” she said.
And the effort appears to have to come from the people because efforts have stalled at the state, Benson said. “We’ve heard plenty of calls for reform,” she said. “But we’ve seen no change, we’ve seen no reform.”
In addition to requiring that electioneering and lobbying expenditures be reported, the proposal would also require corporations to include disclaimers on any political advertisements they run, with the head of the company taking credit for the message in the piece.
Benson said the amendment would not apply to individuals or campaign committees because they are already regulated. It also would not apply to unions because they are not incorporated, she said, though adding they also currently have reporting requirements for their political spending.
But Republicans jumped on the exemption as hypocritical.
“Today, another anti-voter constitutional amendment was unveiled by union activists promoting the protection of unions from having to report the money they are donating to political candidates,” said Ari Adler, spokesperson for House Speaker Jase Bolger (R-Marshall). “In the amendment announced today, labor organizations are specifically and expressly exempted from reporting campaign contributions. This proposed manipulation of the state Constitution for the political gain of unions is deceitful and despicable.”
Republican Party spokesperson Matt Frendewey said it was disingenuous for the group to push for disclosure when one of the partners in the group, Common Cause, accepts anonymous donations.
“Jocelyn Benson’s announcement amounts to hypocrisy at its greatest,” he said. “Jocelyn Benson proposes a ‘transparency ballot initiative’ with an organization that explicitly advertises on its site that it accepts anonymous donations. It is clear Jocelyn Benson has zero credibility when it comes to election issues. In 2010, her campaign staff was directly involved and convicted of voter fraud, and today she announces a ‘transparency initiative’ while partnering with a shady organization that accepts anonymous donations.”
The dig at Ms. Benson’s staff is a shot at Michael McGuinness, who worked on Benson’s bid to win the Democratic Party’s backing at its spring endorsement convention. McGuinness was later charged and pleaded no contest for a fraudulent scheme he helped engineer while Oakland County Democratic Party chair to file the names of people for office without their knowledge.
On its website, Common Cause says it will accept anonymous donations “under certain circumstances upon request of the donor.” Such donations have to be approved by the group’s president or vice president of finance if less than $25,000 and by its executive committee if more than $25,000.
Benson said the group chose a constitutional amendment as the appropriate vehicle for the change because the disclosure is such an important issue. “Because we’re talking about a root problem in our political system, it requires a root solution,” she said.
The committee backing the amendment was working with elections officials Thursday on the petition form to determine exact timing to begin circulating, but officials said the forms were essentially ready.
Benson and McElroy called on the public to volunteer to help circulate petitions once they are available, saying the campaign is looking to collect 450,000 signatures to be sure it has the 322,609 valid signatures needed by July 9 to make the November ballot.
But Benson said the effort also will require some paid petition circulation, and the committee is seeking contributions to fund that effort as well. She said she is starting with the list of people who has supported her campaign, but would welcome any other support the group can find.
As to disclosure, she would commit only to disclosing what the law requires. Current state law does not require ballot committees to disclose what they raise and spend drafting petitions and collecting signatures, only what they spend on the campaign once the petition has been certified to the ballot.
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