From the Sunlight Foundation:

Last April the Campaign Disclosure Parity Act of 2007, which would require Senators to file their campaign disclosure forms electronically, was blocked by a Republican Senator. The Sunlight Foundation launched a campaign called What’s McConnell Hiding? to find out who that Senator was and why they would object.

On September 24th, 2007, Sens. Russ Feingold and Dianne Feinstein offered the Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act of 2007 for Unanimous Consent again, however, it was blocked again by an objection from Sen. John Ensign (R-NV). Unlike previous objections to the bill, Sen. Ensign’s objection was not anonymous. This is likely due to the ban on secret holds, imposed by the recently passed Honest Leadership and Accountability Act of 2007.

Sen. Ensign objected to the bill and offered an irrelevant poison pill amendment. Ensign’s amendment would require outside groups filing ethics committee complaints to disclose their funding. Rather than vote on this unrelated amendment Sens. Feingold and Feinstein pulled their Unanimous Consent request. Sen. Ensign has since stated that he is unsure if he was the senator who placed the original anonymous hold on the bill. Staffers in his office claim he wasn’t.

A document circulated among Democratic Senate offices indicates that the efforts to block passage of the Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act originate from the office of the Minority Leader Mitch McConnell himself. The document, a Unanimous Consent agreement, labels the amendment offered by Ensign as a “McConnell amendment.” So, McConnell wasn’t hiding the identity of a fellow senator. He was hiding himself!

We still feel this bill is important to create a more transparent Congress. Please call Sen. McConnell and tell him enough is enough pass S.223 and stop hiding.

Washington Office: (202) 224-2541
Western Kentucky Office: (270) 442-4554
South Central Kentucky Office: (270) 781-1673
Louisville Metro Office: (502) 582-6304
Bluegrass Area Office: (859) 224-8286
Northern Kentucky Office: (859) 578-0188
Eastern Kentucky Office: (606) 864-2026

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In an editorial today, the Sacramento Bee calls on Senator Mitch McConnell to use his influence — you know, the influence that he says is so important and powerful that it alone is reason enough for us Kentuckians to return him to the U.S. Senate next year — to stop the Republican hold that has been anonymously placed on legislation that would require senators to be more transparent about their campaigns’ finances.

Editorial: Phantom still at large

As noted on this page Friday, a single U.S. senator continues to hold up passage of a bill that would enable quicker disclosure of campaign dollars to Senate candidates. This unnamed senator — whom we’ve dubbed The Phantom — has placed what is known as an “anonymous hold” on the bill. By doing so, this senator hopes to keep voters in the dark by preventing Senate candidates from filing their disclosure reports electronically.

Who is this masked man or woman? On Friday, we suggested that Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee presumably knows The Phantom’s identity. He, after all, was the first senator to “act on behalf” of a fellow Republican senator and place a hold on the bill. But the senator, according to press secretary Scot Montrey, doesn’t know The Phantom, doesn’t want a hold on the bill in question and only acted because of archaic Senate procedures that allow for anonymous holds. Yet there are reasons to believe the good senator from Tennessee has been entangled in The Phantom’s web of deceit. Under the Senate’s convoluted and closeted procedures, a single senator can place a hold on a bill simply by requesting it of the Senate floor staff. Whenever the bill comes up for a vote, the floor staff then randomly picks a senator of the same party to issue the hold. Montrey claims that Alexander was this unlucky senator.

On Monday, Sen. Dianne Feinstein sent a letter to Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and asked for his help in removing the hold from the campaign reform bill. Whether or not McConnell knows the identity of The Phantom, he should use his considerable influence to put an end to this obstruction immediately.

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