Obama can answer dark-money problem: Column

Our broken campaign finance system has many harmful effects on our democracy beyond elections themselves. Among the worst, it exacerbates our nation’s enduring racial and economic disparities by permitting the most powerful to spend billions to elect their preferred candidates and dictate policy while sidelining those who can’t afford jumbo contributions. And because wealthy special interests can hide behind “dark money” groups that don’t disclose their donors, the public increasingly does not even know who they are.

Since the Supreme Court’s misguided Citizens United none well over $600 millionnew records

Dark money also takes a particularly toxic toll on poor and minority communities. We know these communities do not share

President Obama has spoken eloquently

With a stroke of the pen, the president can strike a blow against unaccountable money by issuing an Executive Order requiring major companies who are awarded federal contracts — including many of the nation’s biggest economic players — to disclose all of their political spending.

Is transparency a magic bullet to fix our nation’s racial and economic disparities? Of course not.

But it does provide at least a measure of accountability.

Lack of accountability is especially troubling in the context of government contracting. In Fiscal Year 2014approximately $1.5 trillion

It should come as no surprise that most of these companies spend big to court those in power. In the 2014 election cycle, the top 25 federal contractors all made disclosed contributions through their political action committees, giving a total of more than $30 million

A system that rewards big contractors for how well they play this political money game hurts poor people and communities of color in at least two ways. First, it helps perpetuate unjust policies that further grind down these communities. For example, private prison companies have pushed hardonly now starting to acknowledge

Second, hidden contractor spending can foster a pay-to-play culture in which contracts are used to reward political supporters rather than to obtain the best product or service. Vulnerable citizens who depend heavily on government programs bear the cost of such practices. So do our active-duty military personnel and veterans, among them many

Because pay-to-play culture is so dangerous, several states simply banOthers opt for disclosure

President Obama has the chance to help fix this problem. Of course, a lot more is needed to restore the promise of our democracy. But politics, as they say, is the art of the possible. This is the president’s last, best opportunity to make an actual difference on something about which he has waxed eloquent but otherwise neglected. He should take it now, before his time runs out.

Michael Waldman is president of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law. Wade Henderson is president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.

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