Corporate 'Dark Money' To Get Free Pass After SEC Drops Disclosure Proposal

WASHINGTON -- The Securities and Exchange Commission unceremoniously dropped a proposal to require corporations to disclose contributions to political and nonprofit groups to their shareholders from its list of regulatory priorities for 2014.

The change comes nearly one year after outgoing SEC chair Mary Schapiro placed the proposal, submitted to the commission by consumer advocates and campaign finance reform proponents, on its priority list for 2013.

The commission had largely ignored the proposal since Mary Jo White became chairman in April, despite its having garnered a record 600,000-plus public comments. In May, White told the House Financial Services Committee, "No one is working on a proposed rule."

The removal of the proposal from the commission's priority list is a major setback to the measure's proponents. Groups led by the liberal consumer watchdog Public Citizen had pushed for the rule in response to the rise of undisclosed campaign spending by nonprofit groups, sometimes known as "dark money," since the Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United decision.

"We're incredibly disappointed by this, and we need an explanation for why they removed the most widely supported regulation in their docket," said Lisa Gilbert, director of Public Citizen's Congress Watch.

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