Activists Call on President to Ban Secret Money Contributions by Federal Contractors

CWA and a coalition of 57 organizations delivered more than 851,000 petition signatures to the White House this week urging President Obama to sign an executive order requiring federal contractors to disclose their secret political spending.

The groups collected signatures and encouraged activists to call the White House on Nov. 10, the national call-in day, to urge President Obama to take action.

CWAers signed nearly 6,000 petitions and made 513 calls to the White House.

Corporations can spend hundreds of millions of dollars on elections with no public knowledge or accountability. More than 40 percent of the outside expenditures in the 2014 elections were made by groups that did not fully disclose their donors. The amount of money in elections skyrocketed after the U.S. Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United decision, which permitted corporations and the wealthy to spend unlimited sums to influence elections.

Under current law, federal contractors receiving taxpayer funds are not required to disclose information of their political contributions to non-profit organizations that in theory spend money to promote business interests, like the Chamber of Commerce, or "social welfare" issues. However, these organizations play a major role in financing political campaigns.

CWAers were a big part of the action this week to get big money out of politics. The giant searchlight was driven past media outlets like the Washington Post and Politico and near the White House to build public support to for restoring our democracy.