S.E.C. Is Asked to Make Companies Disclose Donations

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A loose coalition of Democratic elected officials, shareholder activists and pension funds has flooded the Securities and Exchange Commission with calls to require publicly traded corporations to disclose to shareholders all of their political donations, a move that could transform the growing world of secret campaign spending

via S.E.C. Is Asked to Make Companies Disclose Donations – NYTimes.com.

For reformers disclosure laws are a favored method of combatting potential campaign corruption. I think it helps, but recent prosecutions and scandal seem to suggest it does not prevent it. The concerns about chilling speech are likely overblown. Years into disclosure requirements for individuals we continue to see more people participate in the system, not less.

Bring Back the Phone Booth

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After looking at some pictures of the Foursquare offices on Business Insider it made me realize that the world suffers from a new problem: a lack of private spaces to take phone calls. This leads to people taking their phone calls in public or inconvenient places and the rest of the world learning the private details of their conversations. If you are in an office or school your options for taking a phone call are limited: a public space, a conference room, or go outside. To solve this I think it is time to bring back the phone booth.

Gadget Review: Logitech Ultrathin iPad Keyboard

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I was recently lucky enough to get a Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard for my iPad for my birthday. Getting an iPad keyboard was something I had been considering for a while and the Logitech model (along with ZAGG) seemed to have the most favorable buzz. After using the keyboard for a couple weeks I think it is a great addition to my gadget arsenal, but there are a few drawbacks.

Physically the keyboard fits well with the iPad. It is easy to attach in cover mode and when the iPad is docked for keyboard mode magnets keep it in place. No need to worry about the iPad flying around if you carry it with one hand. In cover mode it slightly less than doubles the thickness of the iPad but still feels thin and light and enough to toss around. The drawback is that the keyboard does not have a place to go if you are not in keyboard mode or as a cover. I often remove it and leave it on a table somewhere when I am reading.

Software support varies. Google Drive supports the arrow keys in edit mode. However apps like Facebook and Tweetbot do not support the keyboard shortcuts that their desktop counterparts do. If you use a lot of keyboard shortcuts then it will feel strange to have to reach out and touch buttons to submit tweets. Some searching has revealed that iOS supports a certain list of common keyboard shortcuts and Apple does not allow developers to implement custom shortcuts. A big mistake on their part.

If you want to use your iPad as a thin and light laptop replacement the keyboard brings the iPad experience to the next level. It is significantly easier to edit documents and browse the web with an external keyboard than an integrated one. It is also nice to reclaim the screen real estate. However you will not reach the productivity potential of the MacBook Pro.

We Don’t Grow by Fiat

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Last night the state legislature, in a bipartisan vote, passed the gun control legislation it drafted in response to the tragedy at Sandy Hook. Some, felt that this was a process that took too long, and in some ways the outcome falls short of our expectations. However, we should not be disheartened. The legislation is a positive step forward, and Speaker Sharkey was right to build a bipartisan bill.

Laws make a difference, but they will not change the culture. We can ban assault weapons but we cannot ban gun supporters obnoxiously yelling at our legislators as they go to vote. We can regulate what kinds of magazines gun owners use, but we cannot regulate what magazines they read before they distort the meaning of the Constitution. Certain things are not the province of law making, but of the conversation we have around our laws when we make them. Connecticut and the legislators needed to listen and speak with both sides to build the buy-in on sweeping gun control legislation.

There were many rallies, conversations, and public hearings before they crafted something that truly reflected the values of the Connecticut people. Through these we saw the contrast between responsible firearm owners and those that are more extreme in their views. The firearm lobby was at the state capitol spreading fear, their favorite marketing fuel, on more than one occasion. However responsible gun owners and Republicans understood the importance of imposing certain limits on ownership while allowing people to hunt or go to the shooting range. Lawmakers listened to both sides and managed to balance their needs. The final bill is something our legislature should be proud of.

Instead of using their super-majority to create a bill that would anger a lot of constituents Democrats worked with the Republican minority to craft a bill that the majority of Connecticut people could get behind. Neither side is going to be completely happy with what passed, but I think most people agree it is a positive step forward, and that is what is important. Our legislators showed us that when the goal is to make things better instead of creating partisan gain, they can accomplish great things. Members of the federal legislature could learn a lot if they took a day to drop by and see how we do things under the gold dome in Connecticut.

My Testimony Supporting House Joint Resolution No. 3 (Urging Congress to Overturn Citizens United)

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Below is the text of my remarks that I delivered in front of the Connecticut General Assembly’s Government Administration & Elections Committee hearing today.

Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, I thank you for taking the time to listen to me this morning. My name is Matt Zagaja and I am an attorney and professional political operative. As someone who has worked on campaigns I have seen first-hand the impact money has on elections. That is why I am here today to share three reasons I support House Joint Resolution 3:

Corporate Involvement in Elections Erodes Trust in Government

According to a poll conducted on behalf of Prof. Larry Lessig 75% of Americans believe money buys results in Congress.[1] That belief erodes trust, which erodes participation. In 2010 Rock the Vote conducted a poll of young people who were not planning to vote in the upcoming election and found that 62% of them were not planning to vote “because no matter who wins, corporate interests will still have too much power and prevent real change.”[2]

However I do not need polls and data to know this is true. I see it every day. I do not make my participation in politics secret, but I still hear from family and friends that they do not believe things will change regardless of who is in power. When I knock doors for candidates or talk to friends, even some from law school, I still hear a gospel of cynicism that suggests people have lost faith in their leaders.

We Should Incentivize Innovation over Policy Manipulation

At my last job I had the privilege of helping entrepreneurs formulate strategies for their businesses here in Connecticut. When I did this I learned start-ups do not make their money by convincing the government to give them tax breaks; they make their money by innovating. Whether it is a smartphone or personalized genomic medicine, profitable companies make our lives better by engineering new technologies and solutions.

Yet a recent study shows that the return on investment for lobbying can be as much as 22,000%.[3] That is a lot of money being made without providing any new value. This kind of return distorts the market and causes companies to waste capital on policy manipulation instead of innovation. Nowhere is this more evident than in healthcare. Last year Aetna inadvertently disclosed more than $7 million in donations to political groups that opposed the Affordable Care Act.[4] This lead the New York State comptroller to file a shareholder resolution demanding greater disclosure and oversight of Aetna’s political spending.[5] I think that the message is clear: shareholders would prefer Aetna make money by finding ways to more efficiently deliver healthcare rather than by spending money to change the laws.

Corporations Have a Disproportionate Impact on Elections and Policy

As you can see I am a fan of free markets and free speech. I believe that everyone should have a voice in the market of ideas, but loud megaphones can cause us to all go deaf.

As someone who has worked on campaigns I understand the importance and pressure of raising funds. I also understand the fear of outside interest groups that might bombard a candidate with attack ads. This fear leads candidates to need to build large war chests for protection. For better or worse the amount of money in these war chests is influenced by the relationships the politicians have with interest groups and this impacts policy.[6]

While overturning Citizens United will not put an end to policy advocacy by corporations, it will curb some of the excesses. Hopefully it will clear up bandwidth and give people without millions of dollars an opportunity to have their voices listened to. Maybe it will allow our public servants to sleep better and live bolder. Thank you.

[1] Larry Lessig, The Problem with Money in Politics, http://blip.tv/lessig/the-problem-with-money-in-politics-6445190.

[3] Raquel Alexander, Stephen Mazza & Susan Scholz, Measuring Rates of Return for Lobbying Expenditures: An Empirical Case Study for Tax Breaks for Multinational Corporations, 25 J. of Law and Politics 401 (2009), available at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1375082.

[4] Charles Riley, Oops! Aetna discloses political donations, CNN Money, http://money.cnn.com/2012/06/14/news/economy/aetna-political-contributions/index.htm.

[5] Thomas DiNapoli, DiNapoli Leads Coalition Demanding Aetna Disclose Political Spending, Office of the New York State Comptroller, http://www.osc.state.ny.us/press/releases/dec12/122012.htm.

[6] Alex Blumberg & Andrea Seabrook, When Lobbyists Pay to Meet with Congressmen, NPR, http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/04/20/150984304/when-lobbyists-pay-to-meet-with-congressmen.