After The Lever, ProPublica, and The New York Times exposed the largest known donation to a political advocacy group in American history, there’s a big question: Can anything be done to stem the tide of dark money that is buying elections, legislation, and court rulings?
The answer is: Yes, there are plenty of ways to address this threat to democracy — and The Lever just published two new articles to get the word out about what all of us can do.
In Rolling Stone, we spotlight initiatives inside and outside the political arena that can force dark money groups to disclose their donors, and end the tax loopholes that effectively subsidize billionaire donations to those groups. This article provides a comprehensive roadmap for real reform.
Read the Rolling Stone article here.
In The Guardian, we look at the role that news organizations should play in this battle. Too often, media outlets are covering dark money disclosure legislation as just another he-said-she-said story, but the journalism industry must discard this fake objectivity. Journalists can no longer truly follow the money because so much of the campaign finance system is now shrouded in secrecy. News outlets shouldn’t have to rely on occasional leaks — we should be aggressively advocating for stronger disclosure laws so that reporters can do their jobs and hold politicians, billionaires, and corporations accountable.
Read The Guardian article here.
Over the last week, our reporting has been cited by Democracy Now, MSNBC, The Washington Post, The Daily Beast, and Politico. We are continuing to report out this story — and we are proud to be a voice for stronger disclosure laws. We encourage other news outlets to speak out.
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