Transparency groups target Bloomberg PAC in long-shot bid to unmask donors

In a push to ex­pose the bil­lion­aires try­ing to in­flu­ence elec­tions, ad­vocacy groups filed com­plaints Thursday against 18 tele­vi­sion sta­tions that aired ads for the In­de­pend­ence USA PAC.

That polit­ic­al ac­tion com­mit­tee, ac­cord­ing to the com­plaints, is en­tirely fun­ded by bil­lion­aire and former New York City May­or Mi­chael Bloomberg. The tele­vi­sion sta­tions should have re­quired that the ads identi­fy Bloomberg by name, the ad­vocacy groups ar­gued. The groups—Com­mon Cause, the Sun­light Found­a­tion, and the Cam­paign Leg­al Cen­ter—didn’t file their com­plaints with the Fed­er­al Elec­tion Com­mis­sion, the usu­al agency for reg­u­lat­ing cam­paign fin­ance is­sues.

In­stead, the groups are ur­ging the Fed­er­al Com­mu­nic­a­tions Com­mis­sion to ag­gress­ively use its power over the na­tion’s air­waves to make polit­ic­al spend­ing more trans­par­ent. Continue…

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