Dave Levinthal for CPI:

Basking in the sunny side of the corporate political disclosure spectrum are household names such as AT&T, HP Inc., Capital One Financial Corp., General Electric Co. and Google parent Alphabet Inc.

Comparatively slinking through the shadows? Netflix Inc., Dollar Tree Inc., M&T Bank Corp., Monster Beverage Corp. and billionaire Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

The disparity — detailed in a new report by the Center for Political Accountability and Zicklin Center for Business Ethics Research at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School — underscores the flaccidity of federal laws and regulations governing what public corporations must publicly disclose about their politicking.

As the nation enters the teeth of Election 2020, corporations are again largely allowed to volunteer as much — or little — information as they please about, for example, how much cash they’re pouring into secretive, “dark money” nonprofits that may in turn advocate for the election or defeat of candidates.