Tester: Montanans deserve transparency in elections

Senator votes for Disclose Act again

BILLINGS, Mont. – Montana farmer Jon Tester voted tonight to bring accountability and transparency back to America’s political campaigns by once again supporting the Disclose Act.

The Senate legislation would require any organization or entity that makes a campaign-related expenditure of $10,000 or more to disclose their contributions and their donors within 24 hours.

The Disclose Act is a response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s unpopular Citizens United decision, which allows corporations to spend unlimited money on political campaigns with no transparency.

Tester, a champion of government and campaign transparency, supports overturning the Citizens United decision through a constitutional amendment.

But Congressman Dennis Rehberg is a staunch opponent of the Disclose Act, calling it “unnecessarily difficult.”

However, as a Senate candidate, Rehberg tells Montanans he supports “100 percent transparency” in campaign fundraising.

“Congressman Rehberg has failed to hold himself accountable to Montana with the transparency we value and unlike Jon Tester, Congressman Rehberg believes campaign disclosure is too difficult,” said Montanans for Tester spokesman Aaron Murphy. “We encourage Dennis Rehberg to follow Jon’s lead in supporting this simple measure to bring accountability and transparency back to our elections.”

Rehberg got caught hiding $25,000 in donations from registered lobbyists last year and consistently fails to disclose the occupations of his campaign donors. [The Hill, 2/23/12]

Rehberg even voted against provisions requiring out-of-state groups to disclose their locations when running a political advertisement. He also voted against requiring foreign entities donating to presidential campaigns to disclose their identities. [H.Amdt.714, H.R. 5175, Vote #389, 6/24/12; CQ Weekly, 1/31/11; HR 359, Vote 24, 1/26/11]

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