Democrats want more disclosure of campaign advertising, but dark money remains an issue

The Colorado Sun: Colorado is taking a step toward more disclosure of campaign advertising.

The state Senate is expected to approve legislation Tuesday that would mandate more disclosure from political committees that send mailers or air commercials in an election year.

Senate Bill 68 requires disclosure of how much is spent on communication that mentions a candidate for the entire period between the primary and general election if the spending totals more than $1,000.

But it stops short of requiring any nonprofit groups that run advertising to disclose their donors, leaving a major dark-money problem unaddressed.

Colorado is one of only 10 states that don’t require all campaign ads to say who the sponsor is, according to the Campaign Finance Institute.

Right now, the spending disclosure is only required 30 days before the late-June primary and 60 days before the November general election. That leaves a gap of almost two months when nonprofit political groups can praise or attack candidates in mailers, TV commercials and other advertising without saying how much they paid for them.

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