Yesterday, we reported on the "secret hold" which an anonymous Republican Senator has placed on the Senate electronic disclosure bill, preventing it from being called up for consideration. (Or "a hold which has been placed secretly but is not a 'secret hold'," if I'm understanding Danny Glover correctly.)
The WaPo editorial page brought down the hammer yesterday:
THE U.S. SENATE hit a pothole on the road to modernity on Tuesday. A request for unanimous consent by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) for a bill that would require candidates for the Senate to file campaign finance reports electronically was blocked by an anonymous Republican senator hiding behind Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), who announced the move. Would that this Luddite had the courage of his or her convictions to explain publicly said opposition to 21st-century custom....
What could be the fear? It's not as if senators would be alone in this practice. Filing campaign finance reports electronically is standard for candidates for the House of Representatives and the White House. Political parties, political action committees and "527" groups have to do the same. The point is to make it easier for the public to see who is giving to whom and how the money is being spent. In our up-to-the-minute world, the Senate's insistence on maintaining its cumbersome obstacle course of disclosure procedures, which starts by sending the paper forms to the Senate Office of Public Records, makes no sense.
"This is exactly the type of good-government law that the Senate could adopt as a stand-alone measure," Ms. Feinstein said. She's right. All in favor ought to be given a chance to say yea. All opposed ought to have the guts to come forward and explain their antipathy to sunshine.
I've been working with the Sunlight Foundation on this issue, and we've been trying to uncover the anonymous Republican responsible for blocking this simple, bipartisan legislation. There are 12 suspects remaining, and here's the Big Ten:
Senator | Contact |
Jon Kyl (R-Arizona) | (202) 224-4521 |
Mel Martinez (R-Florida) | (202) 224-3041 |
Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) | (202) 224-6142 |
Pat Roberts (R-Kansas) | (202) 224-4774 |
David Vitter (R-Louisiana) | (202) 224-4623 |
Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) | (202) 224-5344 |
Trent Lott (R-Mississippi) | (202) 224-6253 |
John Ensign (R-Nevada) | (202) 224-6244 |
Judd Gregg (R-New Hampshire) | (202) 224-3324 |
John Warner (R-Virginia) | (202) 224-2023 |
In addition, Senator
s Thad Cochran (R-Mississippi, (202) 224-5054) and Chuck Hagel (R-Nebraska), (202) 224-4224) haven't denied putting on the hold, but both are cosponsors of the bill, so they're unlikely.
Take a minute. Give their offices a call, and ask "has the Senator placed a hold on S. 223, the electronic disclosure bill? Does s/he support passage of the bill?" And get back to us. We've done this before, and can succeed on this one with your diligent efforts.
Because once you see how easy it is to work with the Presidential electronic filings, you've got to wonder what some Senators want to hide.