{"id":97913,"date":"2015-11-05T10:13:48","date_gmt":"2015-11-05T17:13:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=97913"},"modified":"2015-11-05T10:14:06","modified_gmt":"2015-11-05T17:14:06","slug":"twitter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2015\/11\/twitter\/","title":{"rendered":"Twitter <3 enhanced political #disclosure"},"content":{"rendered":"

Federal law lets political action committees wait weeks, even months, to reveal<\/a> which candidates benefit from their cash.<\/p>\n

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Pictures of Money \/ Creative Commons<\/p>

“We can’t stop PAC money,” said Heather Ferguson, who manages Common Cause New Mexico’s money-in-politics campaigns. But a well-designed public financing can give candidates the tools to engage with voters in a way that keeps them competitive, she said. (photo cc info<\/a>)<\/p><\/div>\n

But Twitter’s nascent PAC, which is poised to make its first-ever federal campaign contributions, plans to disclose such donations within 48 hours \u2014 tweet-like speed, relatively speaking, company officials tell the Center for Public Integrity<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“Timely disclosure is something we could do. We figured, ‘Why not?'” said Colin Crowell<\/a>, Twitter’s head of global public policy.<\/p>\n

Crowell added that Twitter, Inc. #PAC intends to donate to federal candidates this election cycle. While not yet naming names, he said the PAC would aim to support candidates who, for example, support patent law changes, government surveillance reforms and strong digital privacy policies.<\/p>\n

Is Twitter attempting to make a statement or get other PACs to follow its example?<\/p>\n

“We just think it’s the right thing to do for Twitter,” Crowell said.<\/p>\n

Twitter’s PAC has raised about $95,000 \u2014 and spent less than $800 \u2014 between\u00a0its creation in August 2013 and the end of June, according to Federal Election Commission records<\/a>. The money came from employee contributions. Its next campaign finance filing is not required to be submitted until January.<\/p>\n

In an update to its corporate political policies<\/a>, Twitter will also publicly disclose its trade association memberships and membership costs, as well as any financial associations it has with nonprofit “social welfare” organizations, which aren’t required to reveal their donors.<\/p>\n