When the Alabama Senate failed miserably at serving the people of this state, it is encouraging to see that the state House of Representatives stood strong.After a unanimous decision by the House to ban transfers between political action committees that hide the source of their funding from voters, the Senate answered with a watered down version that leaves a loophole to continue the deceptive practice.
Credit the House with banding together again, rejecting Senate changes by a 102-0 vote. Now it goes to a conference committee of three senators and three House members to emerge with compromise legislation.
We urge, just as voters should, that the conference committee come forward with nothing less than closing any loopholes that allow campaign contributions to be disguised. Whether it’s transferring them from PAC to PAC until the source is unidentifiable or moving money from PACs to parties and legislative caucuses and then to candidates, it is still wrong.
There ought to be a clear way for voters to see exactly who is behind each candidate. Only then will they be able to make an informed choice, and only then will the public be served.
