At yesterday’s House Judiciary Hearing on H.R. 1, the For the People Act, ranking member Representative Doug Collins (GA-09) took a jab at disclosure for grassroots, small-dollar donors while staying mum about his record of protecting dark money donors. The truth is that Collins has a terrible record of rigging the system to let big money special interests hide their political spending. And he has an even a worse record when it comes to his own campaign’s transparency.
REP. COLLINS’ CLAIM:
“‘If Democrats wanted to work on true campaign finance transparency, HR 1 could require all donations to congressional candidates be disclosed, from $1 to $2,700,’ he said.
…
“‘The only listed donor was ActBlue,’ Collins said. ‘That tells voters nothing about who is supporting candidates, why and to what end. HR 1 would take more money from voters, but shines no light on the hidden web of anonymous donations that it would support.” [Roll Call, 1/29/18]
SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT:
1) The identity of a donor and the money that person donates through ActBlue, the online small-dollar platform, is fully disclosed. Federal law, however, does not require candidates to disclose donations under $200 with the FEC.
2) Rep. Collins called for disclosure of small-dollar donors but has a record of protecting mega-donors:
-In 2016, Collins voted for a Koch-backed bill to prevent the IRS from requiring political nonprofits to disclose their donors. The bill made it virtually impossible to determine who funds dark money groups while making it easier for foreign governments and corporations to secretly spend unlimited money in our elections. [H.R. 5053, Vote #303, 6/14/16; Reuters, 6/14/16]
-Collins has voted against the DISCLOSE Act, which would limit the influence of big money special interests and shine a light on election spending. [H. Res. 732, Previous Question, Vote #196, 5/17/16]
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