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Businesses facing another attempt to limit participation in political process
Obama administration Executive Order targets government contractors
A new draft executive order from the Obama administration has businesses worried that their right to participate in the political process is once again under attack. The proposed order would require government contractors to disclose all contributions or expenditures to or on behalf of federal candidates, parties or party committees made by the bidding entity. Similar contributions to third-party entities would also be required. The EO raises concerns that prospective contractors that fund political causes and candidates that are unpopular with government or the current administration may not be awarded federal contracts due to political discrimination. The president’s draft EO is viewed as a back-door attempt to make portions of the failed DISCLOSE Act law. The proposed DISCLOSE Act had been designed to stymie corporate free speech in the political process. The PA Chamber joined with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and thousands of national business organizations and state chambers of commerce to successfully convey the message to federal lawmakers that forcing businesses to disclose expenditures to political candidates is a gross violation of a business’s right to corporate free speech. Now business faces a similarly biased executive order that, if signed, would automatically become the law of the land, with no requirement for approval by Congress or members of the U.S. Senate. Meanwhile, it would continue to be “business as usual” for organized labor, which faced no such constraints under the DISCLOSE Act, and has been given free rein by the Obama administration with regard to its political activities. Clearly, the executive order is another attack on the business community’s involvement in the political process, even though the Supreme Court has publicly recognized that corporations are vital participants in civil discourse. PA Chamber members decry the administration’s attempt to stifle the voice of the business community in an attempt to advance big labor’s anti-business agenda.### |
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