Who is buying elections?

Spawned by the Supreme Court's horrific Citizens United decision, Super PACs are raising huge sums of money from a tiny group of wealthy individuals and corporations in an effort to buy the 2012 election and radically transform our democracy into a plutocracy.

Over a million people have signed petitions calling for a constitutional amendment to reverse the court's ruling. This is neither naive nor impossible. The constitution has been amended 27 times. But passing an amendment will take time.

Meanwhile, we're faced with a genuine political crisis that threatens to derail our electoral system. One short-term remedy that would assist in mitigating some of the worst aspects of the court's decision would involve disclosure of corporate and individual campaign contributions.

Most large corporations are terrified of being held accountable for their political expenditures and are channeling their money through independent groups not required to declare their funders. For many corporate executives, it's either donate in secret or not at all. Express your support for disclose legislation introduced in Congress that would put into place reporting requirements for unions, super PACs, corporations, and non-profit organizations that decide to spend money on political campaigns.

KENT MITCHELL

Riverbank