Published 03/13/2011 12:00 AMUpdated 03/10/2011 07:13 PM

http://www.theday.com/article/20110313/OP03/303139957/1044

Today begins Sunshine Week, a time when citizens are asked to reflect on the public's right to know and the importance of open government. This year it should also be a time to address the Pandora's box left open by the Supreme Court in two landmark decisions - Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission and, subsequently, Speech Now v. Federal Election Commission.

In these decisions the Supreme Court radically altered longstanding campaign finance disclosure requirements, ultimately giving corporations the right to spend as much as they want on campaign ads - often without disclosing the donors who funded the ads. Because of that decision, spending on American elections now looks more like a money laundering scheme than democratic self-expression. Spending of "dark money" to elect or defeat candidates in the 2010 midterms - with no information on where the cash came from - topped $450 million or about 15 percent of total spending on elections.

After the Citizens United decision, the White House and Democratic lawmakers rallied around a bill, the DISCLOSE Act, to create transparency for the new corporate money being unleashed into our political discourse. Despite the House's prompt passage in the last Congress, Republicans used a filibuster to block the bill in the Senate. The new 112th Congress has taken no steps to address this problem.

If you think spending on the 2010 election broke records, wait until the 2012 race heats up later this year. So long, campaign disclosure. Hello, unlimited secret spending.

The good news is there are promising ways to counteract this problem. One key ingredient to empowering the public's right to know is the Internet. The other is demand.

Public pressure does affect Congress. A groundswell of support convinced Congress to let us all "read the bill" by posting bills on the Internet before consideration. The House even passed a rule this year requiring all legislation to be publicly available 72 hours before Congress takes action. It's time to put the heat on the 112th Congress to pick up where the last Congress left off.

Congress should require real disclosure for political spending, so anyone can see on a government website who is behind the torrent of spending in American politics. Specifically, any organization making electioneering communications must disclose its donors in enough detail to follow the money. Furthermore, Congress must stop the laundering of contributions by requiring organizations spending on campaigns to disclose their donors. And these organizations should post the information online in real time.

This is not about limiting anyone's free speech; it's about empowering all Americans to know who is trying to influence their vote.

Likewise, the public has a right to know how special interests and lobbying help shape legislation. The Citizens United decision linked campaign finance and lobbying in a new, dangerous way. The lack of election spending disclosure rules for corporate spending, owing to the Supreme Court's decision, has allowed special interests to influence public policy through the very real threat of unlimited - and often anonymous - spending on campaign ads. In effect, lobbyists can threaten that their clients will spend millions on ads if senators or representatives do not do what the lobbyist wants.

The solution is meaningful lobbying disclosure reform, so journalists and citizens alike can follow the action. Online reporting of lobbying information is critically important in today's Washington. The public needs better lobbying disclosure laws to create real-time, online disclosure for lobbyists' activity, so we know what's happening while it's happening. Only with disclosure can the public piece together who is really behind efforts to shape public policy.

We can't let our democracy go to the highest, secret bidder. Let's put the pressure on to redefine the public's right to know.

Gabriela Schneider is communications director for The Sunlight Foundation, a nonpartisan, nonprofit that uses technological innovations and investigative techniques to make government transparent and accountable. Visit SunlightFoundation.com to learn more. Sunshine Week runs March 13-19.