White House: Congressional Support for Proposed Executive Order for Transparency of Secret Campaign Spending by Government Contractors

Today a coalition of reform groups hailed Reps. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), Michael Capuano (D-Mass.), and 23 other Members, who wrote a letter to President Obama expressing their strong support for the April 13 draft executive order to require full disclosure of campaign spending and contributions by business entities that seek federal government contracts. 

The letter states, “This executive order, if finalized and implemented, would represent a big step forward. Political contributions should not affect the awarding of federal contracts. The best way to guard against this is through disclosure of contributions and any possible conflicts of interest. President Obama is right to address this current gray area and he deserves to know that there is backing for such disclosure on Capitol Hill.”

“Support for the Executive Order from Capitol Hill is important as opponents have completely mischaracterized the order,” said Campaign Legal Center Policy Director Meredith McGehee.  “The claims that the order would politicize the government contracting process are laughable.  The order would actually bring transparency to what is already a highly politicized process.  Only the American people are currently left in the dark in the pay-to-play world that is the status quo in Washington.”

The Campaign Legal Center, Common Cause, Democracy 21, Public Citizen, U.S. PIRG and the Brennan Center strongly support this important anti-secrecy effort and join in urging President Obama to sign the Executive Order promptly.

To read the letter from Members to President Obama, click here.