Not knowing the identity of the group made accountability and verification of the ad's truthfulness impossible. The American people do not benefit from anonymous attack ads that are not meant to educate or inform, but to elect or defeat candidates. The Freshman bill would for the first time, provide important information about the identity of third party organizations that run advertisements to influence public opinion. This modest reform is a good start in providing the public with basic information about the advertisements they see and hear. The Freshman bill makes modest increases in hard money contribution limits to the parties.
Parties have a legitimate interest in funding their candidates.
The Freshman bill also indexes contribution limits prospectively. In twenty years, the current candidate limits will be substantially devalued and will make it harder for candidates to finance their own campaigns. The Freshman bill improve candidate and party disclosure. All of these reforms function on the premise that accurate, timely information will improve our political process. Our goal from the start was to craft a proposal that could pass the House of Representatives.