Opposition to Political Spending Transparency is Bipartisan

As President Obama is poised to sign an executive order (EO) that would require potential federal contractors to disclosure certain political spending beyond what is already required by federal election laws, opposition to it is coming from both sides of the aisle. On Tuesday (5/10), House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) said that he was "not in agreement with the administration on that issue." Soon after, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) rushed to the mic to agree with Hoyer.

Now, four Senators have issued a letter to Obama expressing concerns about the EO. The missive was penned by one Democrat, one Independent who caucuses with the Democrats, and two Republicans. The authors, Sens. Claire McCaskill (D-MO), Joe Lieberman (I-CT), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Rob Portman (R-OH) worry that disclosure of political expenditures by businesses bidding on contract "risks injecting politics into the contracting process."

Of course, the unfortunate fact of the matter is is that there's already politics in the contracting process. Is there any other way to explain House Speaker John Boehner's (R-OH) undying support for the second F-35 engine -- a program Defense Secretary Gates wants to kill and that House freshman voted to end? The EO would potentially shed light on millions of dollars of political spending by federal contractors. And based on the bicameral, bipartisan opposition it's running into, indicates that the special interests who would rather hide their business secrets spending tracks have let their friends in Congress know how they feel.

Image by Flickr user Robert S. Donovan used under a Creative Commons license.

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