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Anonymous Political Ads Not Good for Illinois
(IRN)-Political ads with anonymous sponsors are not good for democracy, an Illinois reformer says.

Outside groups that don't reveal where they get their money have flooded Illinois with TV spots hammering Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias. The amount spent so far is estimated at $1.4 million.

Cindi Canary of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform says the public is not served by anonymous political speech. "We want people to speak out, debate, lay out the issues in an election. That's what makes a democracy vibrant. But political communication is, ultimately to me, meaningless unless you know who is delivering the message," she said.

The ads in question are attributed to a group called Crossroads GPS, but that group does not disclose where is money comes from. This appears to be legal.

Canary says disclosure is the new battleground in political ethics, with possible efforts coming at the federal level to forbid political ads by no name sponsors, which are currently legal. She says Illinois has strong disclosure laws for state and local elections, but had to fend off a federal lawsuit to maintain those laws.

(Illinois Radio Network)
10 18 10 by Newsroom
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