Getting Foreign Funds out of America's Elections
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Getting Foreign Funds Out of America’s Elections By Ian Vandewalker and Lawrence Norden Preface by Richard A. Clarke Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law About the Brennan Center The Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law is a nonpartisan law and policy institute that works to reform, revitalize — and when necessary, defend — our country’s systems of democracy and justice. At this critical moment, the Brennan Center is dedicated to protecting the rule of law and the values of constitutional democracy. We focus on voting rights, campaign finance reform, ending mass incarceration, and preserving our liberties while also maintaining our national security. Part think tank, part advocacy group, part cutting-edge communications hub, we start with rigorous research. We craft innovative policies. And we fight for them — in Congress and the states, the courts, and in the court of public opinion. About the Brennan Center’s Democracy Program The Brennan Center’s Democracy Program works to repair the broken systems of American democracy. We encourage broad citizen participation by promoting voting and campaign finance reform. We work to secure fair courts and to advance a First Amendment jurisprudence that puts the rights of citizens – not special interests – at the center of our democracy. We collaborate with grassroots groups, advocacy organi- zations, and government officials to eliminate the obstacles to an effective democracy. About the Authors Ian Vandewalker serves as senior counsel for the Brennan Center’s Democracy Program, where he works on voting rights and campaign finance reform. His work includes Securing Elections from Foreign Interfer- ence (2017), Stronger Parties, Stronger Democracy: Rethinking Reform (2015), a recurring series analyzing spending in U.S. Senate elections, and academic articles in the fields of election law and civil liberties. Press outlets across the nation have featured his work, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and NPR. He has testified before Congress and in state and local legislatures. He earned his J.D. cum laude from New York University School of Law and holds a master’s degree in philosophy from Indiana University and a bachelor’s degree from New College of Florida. Lawrence Norden is deputy director of the Brennan Center’s Democracy Program. He has authored several nationally recognized reports and articles related to money in politics, election security and voting rights, including Securing Elections from Foreign Interference (2017), Small Donor Tax Credits: A New Model (2017), America’s Voting Machines at Risk (2015), Better Design, Better Elections (2012), and Voting Law Changes in 2012 (2011). His work has been featured in media outlets across the country, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, and NPR. He has testified before Congress and several state legislatures on numerous occasions. He received his J.D. from New York Uni- versity School of Law. Acknowledgements The authors gratefully acknowledge the collaboration of many colleagues. Brennan Center President Michael Waldman and Democracy Program Director Wendy Weiser supplied an indispensable source of leadership and vision at all stages of this project. Senior Editor Jim Lyons provided helpful revisions, Vice President for Communications and Strategy Lisa Benenson offered valuable guidance. Graphic Designer Yuliya Bas and Art Director Alden Wallace delivered crucial design assistance. Valuable research was conducted by David Krauss, interns Allison Eisen, Tristan Sullivan-Wilson, Ani Torossian, and Jay Wexler, as well as Research and Program Associate Shyamala Ramakrishna. Special thanks to Beatriz Aldereguia, senior strategy and communications associate, and Stephen Fee, national media director, for management of the final production and release of this report. This report was informed by insights from the many experts who generously participated in interviews or through written correspondence: Jonathan Albright, research director at the Tow Center for Digital Jour- nalism at Columbia University; Emilio Ferrara, assistant research professor at the University of Southern California; Douglas Guilbeault of the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Penn- sylvania; Brett Horvath of Scout.ai; Tim Hwang, fellow at Data & Society; Daniel Kreiss of the U.N.C. School of Media and Journalism; Jordan Lieberman, president of digital advertising firm Audience Part- ners; Andrew McLaughlin, executive director of the Yale Tsai Center for Innovative Thinking; Lisa-Maria Neudert, researcher with the Computational Propaganda Project at the Oxford Internet Institute; former Federal Election Commissioner Ann Ravel; Laura Rosenberger, director of the Alliance for Securing De- mocracy; Brennan Center Senior Fellow Dorothy Samuels; Stephen Spaulding, chief of strategy and exter- nal affairs for Common Cause; Ciara Torres-Spelliscy, associate professor at Stetson University College of Law; Fred Wertheimer, president of Democracy 21; Adam Winkler, professor at U.C.L.A. School of Law; and Sam Woolley, director of research for the Digital Intelligence Lab at the Institute for the Future and co-founder of the Computational Propaganda Project at the Oxford Internet Institute. The Brennan Center gratefully acknowledges Arkay Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, Change Happens Foundation, Democracy Alliance Partners, Ford Foundation, Lisa and Douglas Gold- man Fund, The Charles Evans Hughes Memorial Foundation, The JPB Foundation, John D. and Cath- erine T. MacArthur Foundation, Mertz Gilmore Foundation, Open Society Foundations, The Overbrook Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and The WhyNot Initiative for their generous support of our money in politics work. © 2018. This paper is covered by the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs license. It may be reproduced in its entirety as long as the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law is credited, a link to the Center’s web pages is provided, and no charge is imposed. The paper may not be reproduced in part or in altered form, or if a fee is charged, without the Center’s permission. Please let the Center know if you reprint. Table of Contents Preface By Richard A. Clarke 1 Introduction 2 Update Political Spending Laws for the Internet 5 THE THREAT: Covert Foreign Spending Online THE SOLUTIONS: 1. Expand Rules to Include Candidate Mentions Online 2. Extend the Period in Which Candidate Mentions Are Regulated 3. Create a Public Database of Online Political Ads 4. Broaden Disclaimer Requirements 5. Require Ad Sellers to Work to Block Foreign Purchases 6. Verify Credit Card Addresses Internet Firms Can Lead the Way Eliminate Dark Money 14 THE THREAT: Dark Money Hiding Foreign Money THE SOLUTION: Strengthen Disclosure for All Political Spending Ensure Spending by Businesses Is Funded Domestically 17 THE THREAT: Business Expenditures Hiding Foreign Money THE SOLUTIONS: 1. Ban Political Spending by Foreign-Owned Firms 2. Require More Public Information About Corporate Entities’ Ownership Invigorate Enforcement 20 What the States Can Do 22 Conclusion 24 Endnotes 25 Preface By Richard A. Clarke* There is no room for doubt that the Russian government interfered in the last U.S. presidential election. One way in which they acted was to use social media and online advertisements. It is not surprising that we had not previously noticed or moved to fix our vulnerabilities to such manipulation. It has been less than a decade since large groups within the U.S. population began to receive the majori- ty of their news and commentary online, particularly from social media. We, as a nation, can be forgiven for not having rules and regulations that would have prevented this Russian interference. We have no excuse, however, if we let it happen again. What Russia was, and still is, seeking to do is nothing less than weaken our country by fomenting inter- nal strife and distrust of institutions such as the media, democratic elections, and elected officials. It is a century old Russian tactic, now “put on steroids” by the power of the internet. In Russian government classrooms the techniques of disinformatia, kompromat, and agitprop are taught as weapons of war to weaken an opponent prior to military action or as a substitute for military action. These techniques allow a weaker power to take on a nation that is militarily superior. There is no doubt in Russia that these tactics are tools of their offensive national security program. Yet, in the U.S. some still doubt that direct foreign attacks on our electoral and democratic processes are a national security threat. They are. These tactics are as much — or more — of a national security threat to the U.S. as any Russian tank, submarine, or nuclear missile. And unlike the metal weapons, these information operations have already been used against us. Americans may dispute the extent of the effect of the Russian attack last time, or what it may be the next time. Whatever it contributed to the results of the last presidential election, however, it should be unacceptable to all Americans. No degree of foreign interference and manipulation is tolerable. Some things that we need to do to put an end to this threat may be expensive, such as modernizing our voting machines, hardening election related computer networks, and searching for “bots” and “trolls” online. Passing and enforcing laws to identify the ultimate funder of internet ads and applying