Tag: Transparency

The Story: Confidential information about people receiving treatment for  mental health and addiction issues was posted online, on a website maintained by the government of...

One of the project’s main opponents, an umbrella group called Stop the Corridor, is made up of environmental groups and corporations that have come together to stop the project. What is unusual — at least in Maine — is that for the past year or more they’ve been waging a very public campaign against the project, rather than just lobbying behind the scenes. They’re essentially running a political campaign without a candidate or a ballot question, and because of that they fall between the cracks of our campaign finance laws. That was made especially clear when one examined the campaign’s financing, which revealed that the donations came from Scott and his buddies. The money for the campaign could be coming from competing energy companies or other corporate interests that would benefit financially from killing the project. If that were the case, it would be worthwhile to know, just as we know that CMP and its parent company, Avangrid/Iberdrola, will make money from the line being built. Stop the Corridor isn’t the only group in Maine politics ducking transparency. But there’s nothing to keep the political nonprofits or groups like Stop the Corridor from being honest about the source of their funding. When a political consultant works for a political candidate, a campaign, a political party or a political action committee, we are able to see who they’re working for and exactly how much they get paid. When they engage in that kind of work, we can’t connect the dots between their corporate clients and their political ones — which can be vital information.

Former White House press secretary Josh Earnest defends President Obama's record and calls him "the most transparent president in history." » Subscribe to Late Night: http://bit.ly/LateNightSeth » Get more Late Night with Seth Meyers: http://www.nbc.com/late-night-with-seth-meyers/ » Watch Late Night with Seth Meyers…