Political donors should have to list where they work

More attacks on transparency in our state government. Lawmakers in Madison have introduced legislation that would end the current requirement that those who give money to political candidates state where they work. The bill would require donors to list their occupation, but not the identity of their employer. What does it matter? The information is used by government watchdog groups to link campaign donors to interest groups. It makes it harder to track where the money is coming from. That informatin was helpful recently when the head of the Wisconsin and Southern Railroad used his employees to make contributions in excess of legal limits. That led to two felony convictions, which likely wouldn’t have happened without the disclosure of his employer. Making donors state their employer’s name also makes it less likely that a donor would be mistaken for someone else. There are, for example, lots of Bill Smith’s who are attorneys. This legislation is being pushed by those upset when people found out who was giving money for or against the efforts to recall Scott Walker. When people found out who was giving, they tried to organize boycotts of their business. That is unfortunate, but this bill would not resolve that. Lawmakers just a few months ago overwhelmingly passed a resolution that Wisconsin remains committed to our state’s open record and open government laws. I guess they weren’t being very transparent then, and they want to be less transparent now.