My name is Nancy Morgan, coordinator of BigMoneyOutVA, a non-partisan, all volunteer group advocating for campaign finance reform. We support these bills (HB2173, HB2484, and HB2670), the objectives of which are to protect legislators & candidates from obscure attack ads which have proliferated since the Supreme Court’s ruling on Citizens United. Many of your colleagues from this body have been subject to these types of attacks, especially before primaries.
Just to remind you, after Citizens United was passed in 2010, the justices on the Supreme Court voted 8-1 in favor of full disclosure. Justice Scalia was quoted that “requiring people to stand up in public for their political acts fosters civic courage, without which democracy is doomed”. If donors want to influence an election and our public policies, fine but they shouldn’t hide behind anonymity. I think that both citizens and candidates are sick of anonymous ads which usually negatively attack candidates anonymously.This bill protects legislators when they are running for office and among voters it builds trust in government. It’s a win-win for voters and legislators.
My name is Nancy Morgan, coordinator of BigMoneyOutVA, a non-partisan, all volunteer group advocating for campaign finance reform. We support these bills (HB2173, HB2484, and HB2670), the objectives of which are to protect legislators & candidates from obscure attack ads which have proliferated since the Supreme Court’s ruling on Citizens United. Many of your colleagues from this body have been subject to these types of attacks, especially before primaries. Just to remind you, after Citizens United was passed in 2010, the justices on the Supreme Court voted 8-1 in favor of full disclosure. Justice Scalia was quoted that “requiring people to stand up in public for their political acts fosters civic courage, without which democracy is doomed”. If donors want to influence an election and our public policies, fine but they shouldn’t hide behind anonymity. I think that both citizens and candidates are sick of anonymous ads which usually negatively attack candidates anonymously.This bill protects legislators when they are running for office and among voters it builds trust in government. It’s a win-win for voters and legislators.