Evade, Evade, Evade

Today, the Washington Post joins the chorus of disbelief over the U.S. Chamber's intended shift in election strategy to avoid disclosing who's financing its political attack ads. The Post says the Chamber's switch to independent expenditures from the issue ads they used to run constitutes a "notable shift in strategy for the nation’s largest business lobby, which has long characterized itself as focusing primarily on policy rather than politics."

The Post continues:

 The move also means that the chamber is poised to become more directly involved  in specific congressional races by explicitly telling people how they should vote.  It’s a notable shift in strategy for the nation’s largest business lobby, which has  long characterized itself as focusing primarily on policy rather than politics.

 “We will have a vigorous, unchanged election program,” chamber President Tom Donohue told reporters Monday, adding that the push for disclosure is “all about intimidation. They want to intimidate people from participating.”

 Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), who brought the lawsuit that led to the ruling, said “It’s extraordinary what lengths these groups will go to in order to hide the sources  of their funding. They’re going to twist themselves into knots to prevent voters  from knowing who’s financing their ads.”

 The focus of the dispute is political advertising run by nonprofit organizations that  are not required to reveal their funding sources publicly. Most of  the advertising aired in connection with the 2012 general election campaign has  come from such non-disclosing groups, suggesting that much of the political  spending over the next six months will come from sources invisible to the public.