Congressman Poliquin Votes to Hide Donors

Press Release

Congressman Poliquin yesterday voted for a bill the Sunlight Foundation says would further open the floodgates of untracked and unreported money into our election system.

Particularly chilling, it could make it impossible for American watchdogs to tell when foreign money is being illegally spent in elections.

Here's where Congressman Poliquin's vote becomes particularly unscrupulous: he took $10,000 -- the maximum allowed by law -- from a bank that has already tried to skirt those rules.

According to The Center for Responsive Politics, UBS (a Swiss bank with a decade-long record of illegal solicitation and tax fraud) has "directed more money to Congress through its political action committee than subsidiaries of any other foreign company." Writes the Center, "It's the bread and butter of Washington influence, and foreign companies get in on the action."

Said Emily Cain, "Backroom deals are poisoning our politics, and now Congressman Poliquin wants to hide donors from Mainers. Transparency is an American value, and American elections should be a fair contest of ideas. I strongly support a Constitutional amendment to overturn Citizen's United and restrict money in politics, but until then the least we can do is let voters know who's bankrolling our campaigns.

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