Reform groups today wrote to President Obama strongly urging him to reject all riders in appropriations bills, including four damaging campaign finance riders, and to insist that clean FY 2016 appropriations legislation is sent to him for his signature.
The reform groups include: Campaign Legal Center, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, Common Cause, Democracy 21, Demos, Issue One, League of Women Voters, Public Citizen and U.S. PIRG….
According to the letter, “the four damaging campaign finance riders that have already been added to House and Senate appropriations bills” would:
– Prevent the White House from issuing an Executive Order requiring disclosure of campaign finance activities by government contractors;
– Prevent the IRS from issuing new regulations to stop nonprofit groups from misusing the tax laws to spend secret contributions in federal elections;
– Prevent the SEC from issuing regulations to require public corporations to disclose their campaign-finance activities to their shareholders; and
– Repeal longstanding limits on the amounts that parties can spend in coordination with their candidates.