UNQUESTIONABLY, THERE’S a lot of money in politics. Also unquestionably, much of it flows through corporations without the full disclosure that the Supreme Court assumed would occur when it liberated corporate (and union) donations in its Citizens United ruling six years ago. The latest manifestation is “dark money” flowing from large individual donors to campaigns via sham corporations set up to evade disclosure rules.
What is open to question is the best way to get more disclosure — which brings us to the current stalemate in the Senate over President Obama’s nominees to fill two vacancies on the five-member Securities and Exchange Commission. Three members is the minimum for the SEC to transact business, which means any member can block it from acting by refusing to show up for a vote. Sensing leverage, some Banking Committee Democrats, led by Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), are linking the corporate campaign finance issue to a confirmation vote on the president’s picks — law professors Hester Peirce, a Republican, and Lisa M. Fairfax, a Democrat. They want the pair to declare their views on greater disclosure by public corporations of political donations, including, possibly, an SEC rule requiring contributions to be reported in annual reports to shareholders.