BEAUFORT, S.C. – Siding with special interests instead of American taxpayers, yesterday Representative Joe Wilson voted against a bipartisan plan, the DISCLOSE Act, that requires transparency and disclosure in campaign spending.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its Citizens United decision giving corporations, including foreign corporations, major influence over the political system by allowing unlimited, secretive spending.  The DISCLOSE Act – opposed by Wilson – provides new rules to make political spending by corporations and interest groups transparent, and prohibits foreign countries from influencing U.S. elections.

“Joe Wilson has shown once again that he fights for Wall Street special interests instead of South Carolina taxpayers” said Marine combat veteran Rob Miller, who is running for U.S House of Representatives in the Second Congressional District.  “First, Wilson voted to bailout big banks, and now he believes that those corporations should be allowed to spend taxpayers’ money in political elections.”

Background

The DISCLOSE Act (H.R. 5175) responds to the Supreme Court’s decision on Citizens United v. the Federal Election Commission and provides new rules for political spending by corporations, labor unions, and interest groups [H.R. 5175, #391, 6/24/10]

The measure requires CEOs to stand by the political advertising funded through their corporate treasuries, expands disclosure requirements, and prohibits foreign countries from exercising influence in the funding of U.S. elections.

• Organizations that run political ads must disclose which corporation or individual is behind the ads.
• Foreign-controlled corporations, such as British Petroleum, are prohibited from spending money in U.S. elections
• Federal contractors receiving more than $10 million and corporations receiving taxpayer funds to stay afloat are prohibited from using American tax dollars to influence an election.

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