THURSDAY, JULY 14, 2011
THE RECORD
Corporations would have to get shareholder approval for campaign spending under a bill U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez unveiled Tuesday in response to a 2010 Supreme Court ruling.
Corporations had been barred from spending on federal campaigns before the 2010 Supreme Court ruled last year they could fund non-profit groups running issue-based advertising.
That kind of spending, however, is largely shielded from public disclosure laws governing campaign contributions, and Democrats have tried unsuccessfully to get Congress to approve new laws requiring disclosure of such spending.
The measure proposed by Menendez, D-N.J., and Rep. Michael Capuano, D-Mass., would require corporations that want to spend on campaigns to secure approval annually of a campaign budget from shareholders. Corporate boards of directors also would have to approve, then make public disclosure, of any expenditures of more than $50,000.
"We must be certain at the very least that if corporations are allowed to spend unlimited funds on elections — something I personally oppose but nonetheless we are dealing with the realities of the Supreme Court's decision — they are doing so only after their shareholders have had an opportunity to weigh in," Menendez said in a news conference.
Menendez, who is seeking reelection next year, said that while chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee he saw corporate funding of $70 million to $75 million against candidates he supported.
He said it was "fundamentally wrong" that corporations could make decisions on United States policy by influencing elections.
"I can see very easily as someone who's trying to undo the $21 billion in tax breaks to the big five oil companies how they would like to influence an election to make sure that those with my views are not around, and those with their views to keep those corporate tax breaks stay," Menendez said.
According to filings available from the Federal Election Commission, Menendez is the only New Jersey candidate raising money to run for Senate next year. He said his quarterly report for the period ending June 30, which will become public later this week, will show he raised $2.1 million and had about $5.5 million on hand for the campaign.
He rejected the suggestion he was trying to handicap a potential opponent by seeking limits on corporate spending.
"We're operating under a system where there are limits … up to $5,000 for an individual," he said.
The bill, he said, deals with "tens of millions of dollars being spent by a corporation, should they choose to do so, to influence an election or a series of elections. So that's fundamentally different," he said.
Corporations had been barred from spending on federal campaigns before the 2010 Supreme Court ruled last year they could fund non-profit groups running issue-based advertising.
That kind of spending, however, is largely shielded from public disclosure laws governing campaign contributions, and Democrats have tried unsuccessfully to get Congress to approve new laws requiring disclosure of such spending.
The measure proposed by Menendez, D-N.J., and Rep. Michael Capuano, D-Mass., would require corporations that want to spend on campaigns to secure approval annually of a campaign budget from shareholders. Corporate boards of directors also would have to approve, then make public disclosure, of any expenditures of more than $50,000.
"We must be certain at the very least that if corporations are allowed to spend unlimited funds on elections — something I personally oppose but nonetheless we are dealing with the realities of the Supreme Court's decision — they are doing so only after their shareholders have had an opportunity to weigh in," Menendez said in a news conference.
Menendez, who is seeking reelection next year, said that while chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee he saw corporate funding of $70 million to $75 million against candidates he supported.
He said it was "fundamentally wrong" that corporations could make decisions on United States policy by influencing elections.
"I can see very easily as someone who's trying to undo the $21 billion in tax breaks to the big five oil companies how they would like to influence an election to make sure that those with my views are not around, and those with their views to keep those corporate tax breaks stay," Menendez said.
According to filings available from the Federal Election Commission, Menendez is the only New Jersey candidate raising money to run for Senate next year. He said his quarterly report for the period ending June 30, which will become public later this week, will show he raised $2.1 million and had about $5.5 million on hand for the campaign.
He rejected the suggestion he was trying to handicap a potential opponent by seeking limits on corporate spending.
"We're operating under a system where there are limits … up to $5,000 for an individual," he said.
The bill, he said, deals with "tens of millions of dollars being spent by a corporation, should they choose to do so, to influence an election or a series of elections. So that's fundamentally different," he said.
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