November 18, 2010

Contact:
Gabriela Schneider
gschneider@sunlightfoundation.com
202-742-1520 ext 236

SUNLIGHT FOUNDATION URGES CONGRESS TO PASS DISCLOSE ACT

Lame Duck Congress Likely Last Chance for Passing this Crucial Transparency Bill

WASHINGTON, DC –Because the Senate failed to pass the DISCLOSE Act before the 2010
election, American voters do not know the full extent of who tried to influence their vote
through political spending. That is why the non-partisan Sunlight Foundation is now calling on
Congress to pass a targeted disclosure bill during the lame duck session. Unless Congress
enacts a robust, targeted disclosure bill now, the amount of secret money in the 2012 election
season will eclipse the spending in 2010.

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, this election season companies, unions and
wealthy individuals laundered nearly $300 million of dark money through outside groups, not
including the political parties. Sunlight’s own analysis of the outside spending this election
showed that $126 million of such funds were raised and spent without the disclosure of
donors.

“Disclosure remains a crucial antiseptic to the corrupting influence of money in politics. Those
who donated dark money will have access to and influence with the newly elected or re-
elected members of Congress whose campaigns they helped,” said Ellen Miller, co-founder
and executive director of the Sunlight Foundation. “Because there is no disclosure law in
place, Americans lack the access to the names or interests of contributors to the shadow
non-profits and Super PACs that played an outsized role in the midterm elections.”

Disclaimer and disclosure requirements—upheld as constitutional—remain the best option to

combat the power of unlimited campaign expenditures. Sunlight remains committed to
ensuring that all election-related information is available online in real-time to ensure our
campaign finance system is fully transparent.

Preventing this damage in the future is too important for lawmakers from either party to weigh
down a disclosure bill with extraneous provisions. A streamlined, focused disclosure bill that
still digs deep into the real contributors to campaign activity must be at the top of Congress’
must-pass list.

The Sunlight Foundation is a non-partisan non-profit that uses cutting-edge technology and ideas to make
government transparent and accountable. Visit http://SunlightFoundation.com to learn more about
Sunlight’s projects, including http://PoliticalPartyTime.org and http://InfluenceExplorer.com.

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