Obama asks Congress to stop potential corporate takeover of polls

President Barack Obama today asked Congress to enact reforms to prevent a "potential corporate takeover" of US elections, days after a Supreme Court ruling gave corporations and special interests, including foreigners, power to spend unlimited money to influence the poll outcome.      

Calling for reforms to protect the integrity of American democracy, Obama said this will make "shadowy" campaign committees to reveal who is funding them and their leaders or financers will have to claim responsibility for their ads,

    
In his weekly radio address to the nation, he said the reforms will restrict foreign corporations and foreign nationals from spending money in American elections and help ensure the government works for the American people, not the special interests.

    
"The Supreme Court issued a decision that overturned decades of law and precedent - dealing a huge blow to our efforts to rein in this undue influence," Obama said.

    
In short, this decision gives corporations and other special interests the power to spend unlimited amounts of money - literally millions of dollars - to affect elections throughout the country. This, in turn, will multiply their influence over decision-making in US government, he said.

    
"In the starkest terms, members will know – when pressured by lobbyists - that if they dare to oppose that lobbyist's client, they could face an onslaught of negative advertisements in the run up to their next election," Obama said.

    
"Corporations will be allowed to run these ads without ever having to tell voters exactly who is paying for them. At a time when the American people are already being overpowered in Washington by these forces, this will be a new and even more powerful weapon that the special interests will wield," he said.

    
Obama argued that it's important that Congress consider new reforms to prevent corporations and other special interests from gaining even more clout in Washington.

    
"And almost all of these reforms are designed to bring new transparency to campaign spending. They are based on the principle espoused by former Supreme Court justice Louis Brandeis - that sunlight is the best disinfectant," he said.

"Shadowy campaign committees would have to reveal who's funding their activities to the American people. And when corporations and other special interests take to the airwaves, whoever is running and funding the ad would have to appear in the advertisement and claim responsibility for it-like a company's CEO or an organisation's biggest contributor," Obama said.

    
This will mean citizens can evaluate the claims in these ads with information about an organisation's real motives, he said.

    
"Under the bill Congress will consider, we'll make sure that foreign corporations and foreign nationals are restricted from spending money to influence American elections, just as they were in the past - even through US subsidiaries.

    
"And we'd keep large contractors that receive taxpayer funds from interfering in our elections as well, to avoid the appearance of corruption and the possible misuse of tax dollars," said the US president.

    
Acknowledging that these proposed changes are expected to be met with heavy resistance from the special interests and their supporters in Congress, Obama said: "I'm calling on leaders in both parties to resist these pressures.

    
"For what we are facing is no less than a potential corporate takeover of our elections. And what is at stake is no less than the integrity of our democracy."