Sample: Letter About Disclosure

To the Editor:

This past winter, The United States Supreme Court handed down a landmark ruling that would allow big corporations and labor unions to spend unlimited amounts of money in political campaigns. While this decision may or may not cause an avalanche of money to enter our political system, one thing is clear: We must demand that disclosure rules are rewritten so that we, the people are armed with the tools we need to hold our elected officials, corporations and labor unions accountable.

First, we must demand that we move away from the old quarterly filing system that made sense before the widespread use of computers and the Internet. Today, campaigns, political action committees, corporations and unions are perfectly able to file their receipts and disbursements online within 24 hours after the information has been processed. We also need to enhance our system of disclaimers so that people know exactly who is paying for an ad. Shadow groups and other organizations that are founded in order to cloak the identity of a political funder must be required to list the top five contributors on any political ad, and their websites must show who is funding them.

Any elected official who doesn’t agree with greater campaign finance transparency isn’t an elected official I will support. This November when I go to the ballot box, I will be thinking about government transparency and voting only for elected officials who share my vision for a more transparent, accountable government.

Sincerely,