'Dark money' bill finally gets hearing after secretive attack ads, Senate slowdown

JEFFERSON CITY — The omnipresent storm clouds vanished Tuesday, and a little light was shone on a "dark money" bill that had languished in legislative purgatory.

Way back in December, Sen. Rob Schaaf filed Senate Bill 73 to require certain politically active nonprofit organizations to disclose donor information. He told the Senate Committee on Rules, Joint Rules, Resolutions and Ethics that his bill would require 501(c)4 organizations who spend significantly on candidate-related political advertising to say who is footing the bill.

"The people of Missouri want to know who is giving money and spending money and affecting the outcome of our decisions," said Schaaf, R-St. Joseph.

Schaaf knows first-hand the effects of "dark money," a term referring to political contributions from undisclosed sources.

Schaaf recently was targeted by A New Missouri, Inc., a social-welfare nonprofit that is linked to Gov. Eric Greitens. Unlike Greitens' gubernatorial campaign committee or other state-level political action committees, the nonprofit is not required to disclose its donors through the Missouri Ethics commission. Greitens has said he is not involved with the day-to-day activities of A New Missouri, which is staffed by his senior adviser and his campaign treasurer.

A New Missouri posted Schaaf's cellphone number and paid for its attack ads to be seen by a wider audience after Schaaf, upset about the prospects of a state prescription drug monitoring database and the expansion of managed care health plans, occupied the Senate floor for extended periods of time in mid-April, slowing down the legislative process.

Schaaf's bill would require groups like A New Missouri to say who provides funding for ads directed at candidates. The St. Joseph Republican, who has publicly railed against "dark money" groups such as Greitens', said his bill is needed to prevent corruption and negative or dishonest campaigning.

"Without disclosure, voters lack the information that they need to have when making a decisions about how to vote," Schaaf said. "They have no way to monitor whether politicians are exchanging political favors for help from political spenders."

The hearing happened less than 24 hours after Schaaf and a few other senators used slow-down tactics — such as making grammatical changes to the Senate's daily record — to call for more ethics reform measures.

Others weigh in

Sen. Bob Dixon, R-Springfield, readied some legislative changes to protect members of organizations such as the National Rifle Association, which sent Dixon an email expressing concern that Schaaf's bill might infringe on the freedom of speech.

Dixon, a member of both the NRA and the NAACP, said his amendment would exempt nonprofit organizations that have existed more than 50 years, operate in every state and receive donations of more than $1 million annually.

Schaaf appeared to like the idea and agreed with Dixon that there's no reason to require disclosure from groups like the NRA.

Schaaf added that disclosure of the NRA's membership list would be tantamount to when Missouri turned over a list of people with permits to carry concealed weapons to the federal government.

He and Dixon were on the same page when it came to the anti-Schaaf attack ads.

"I wouldn't necessarily even call (the ads) advocacy, but rather skirting the campaign ethics laws," Dixon said.

Other Republicans offered words of caution.

Sen. Bill Eigel, R-St. Charles County, expressed concern about the possibility of unintended consequences and noted that the bill needed to perform "a careful dance between transparency and privacy."

Sen. Dan Hegeman, R-Andrew County, said disclosure of a nonprofit's donors could allow that information to be used as a "hit list" and also warned about the possibility of disclosing a list of NRA members.

Schaaf agreed and replied that he had included language in the bill to exempt contributions such as membership fees and noted that entities like the NRA's Civil Rights Defense fund are not nonprofits but PACs and as such are already required to disclose donors.

Against the bill

No witnesses came forward to support the bill, but two opponents showed up.

Jeremy Cady, state director of Americans for Prosperity, argued that nonprofits usually are advocating for or against specific issues as opposed to supporting or opposing certain candidates.

Cady also disagreed with an amendment Sen. Jason Holsman floated that would institute a $5,000 aggregate cap on expenditures. Smaller donors who give less than that limit would not have their identities disclosed, as the intent would be shining a light on those who give large sums.

The conservative advocacy group Cady represents does not reveal its donors, although it's known to be funded by Charles and David Koch. Asked by Holsman on Tuesday who contributes to AFP, Cady said, "a lot of great patriots across the state of Missouri."

Holsman, D-Kansas City, made a note that, in a hearing about dark money, it was unclear who was funding Cady's advocacy against a bill to require disclosure of such information.

Also against the bill was James Harris, a lobbyist representing the conservative Adam Smith Foundation. While Harris praised Schaaf's intentions, he echoed concerns the bill could have a chilling effect on free speech.

Harris also said he is concerned on behalf of conservatives who could face reprisal from liberals.

"The left has attacked anytime you stand up and advocate for conservative changes," said Harris, using as examples Republican efforts to reform Missouri's labor and tort laws as well as the backlash against Chick-fil-A when the company's CEO publicly opposed gay marriage efforts. "... That is what they do to bully and intimidate conservatives."

But Holsman pointed out that activity related to issues like "right-to-work" wouldn't trigger disclosure because those expenditures are not related to individual candidates.

Holsman, D-Kansas City, closed with ominous remarks about the possibility of future attacks like those against Schaaf.

"If we do not solve this problems with the time that we have now, the floodgates will open up," Holsman said. "And every national liberal organization who decides that they want to keep their donors anonymous will start, and it will not stop.

"And every legislator will be in a nonstop, 24-hour, 365-day campaign on every single issue (with) every means necessary, and that's not how you legislate."

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