Formatting and Placing Disclosure So That It Is Most Effective
<br>
<br>
It's always nice to see clever, simple, effective forms of disclosure
that convey the most important information in the most readable,
quickly understandable way. Such a form of disclosure is suggested in <a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1676108" target="”_blank”">a
paper published a month ago by Justin Levitt</a>, a professor at Loyola
Law School, and summarized in <a href="http://electionlawblog.org/archives/017415.html#more" target="”_blank”">an
Election Law Blog post</a> that ran yesterday.<br>
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This particular form of disclosure, called Democracy Facts, is for
organizations that advertise independently for political candidates. It
provides the names of only the top five donors, and the total number of
donors who live in the candidate's district. It also shows the
percentage of total donations provided by the top five donors, and
tells readers or viewers of the ad whether the candidate authorized the
ad or not (usually not, or the expenditure would not be independent).<br>
<br>
A serious problem with disclosure is that even when it is accessible
online, it is often hard for ordinary people to read. Most campaign
finance disclosure is really for the news media and the very
politically involved. Democracy Facts is, as suggested by its familiar
format, for ordinary people. It can affect how they accept the message
in the ad. And the existence of such disclosure would likely make a
difference in how such ads would be presented, and even how such
organizations would fundraise.<br>
<br>
An ad from a few donors primarily outside the candidate's district will
be treated far less seriously than an ad from many donors in the
candidate's district. It is this fact, not privacy, that most leads
organizations to hide the names of their donors. But too much
information, in such a situation, is only a little more useful than
none at all. It certainly saves reporters a lot of footwork, but even
the best article about the donors to an organization will be missed by
most people and will be difficult to tie to particular ads.<br>
<br>
It's worth thinking how other sorts of government ethics disclosure can
be fashioned so that it provides the most important information in the right
form and context to the greatest number of people.<br>
<br>
Robert Wechsler<br>
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics<br>
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