Democrats go after political 'dark money' with anti-corruption measure
Source: The Guardian
HR1 is designed to combat the secret political funding illustrated in the John Doe Files, leaked to the Guardian in 2016
The influence of “dark money” in American politics that allows billionaires to fund political campaigns through third-party groups without disclosing their involvement will be put under the spotlight at a congressional hearing on Thursday as the Democrats crank up their sweeping new anti-corruption measure, HR1.
In the first hearing on the bill, the House Administration committee will explore how undisclosed donations from some of the country’s richest individuals is distorting they way politicians are elected. Under the title, Our American Democracy, the committee will hear from a range of election experts as well as from civil rights activists who will illuminate the impact of such “dark money” on the lives of ordinary people.
A key example of the corrosive influence of secret political funding that will be presented to the committee will be the John Doe Files, the vast tranche of documents leaked to the Guardian in 2016 and posted in their entirety on the Guardian website. The 1,500 pages of material exposed how big corporations and some of the wealthiest rightwing donors in the US used their fortunes to prop up prominent politicians, in some cases going on to extract political favors in return.
One of the panelists at the Our American Democracy hearing, Peter Earle, will describe to the committee the revelations of the John Doe Files. A civil rights trial lawyer in Milwaukee, Earle has been suing the historic manufacturers of lead paint in a long-standing case designed to secure compensation for poisoned children as well as to generate funds needed to remove still existing toxic paint from hundreds of thousands of homes across the US.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/feb/13/political-funding-dark-money-anti-corruption-trump
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