Brian T. Watson — Make this go viral: Dear Mr. President

Dear President Obama:

We know that you will see this letter. Although you certainly don’t have a subscription to The Salem News — where this letter first appeared — we are counting on the many vehicles of social media to make our letter go viral — and thus to be brought to your attention.

We are a collection of millions of Democrats, Republicans, independents, Greens, and many other persuasions, and we are joining our diverse voices together in an unusual act of solidarity to request that you take action to reduce the role of money in politics.
Specifically, we request that you issue an executive order that will require all federal contractors to disclose their political spending. That spending would include all contributions — including those now legally hidden — to officials in the executive or congressional branches. It would also include all lobbying of the two branches.

Corporations spend more than $1 billion a year donating to and lobbying Congress and the federal government, and they receive an average of almost $1 trillion a year in contracts. If the monetary relationships between corporations and Congressmen become exposed, we citizens will be able to clearly see the corruption, and perhaps will react against it.

Even the Supreme Court, in its controversial Citizens United decision, said that increased disclosure rules would be wise so that citizens can see if “elected officials are in the pocket of so-called moneyed interests.”

We understand that your order would not address all of the troublesome sources of money in politics. But it would be a substantive and useful start....

The Salem News
Watson: Make this go viral: Dear Mr. President
Brian T. Watson