A recurrent tea party theme is the need for transparency in government. Although activists have focused primarily on openness in the legislative process, transparency in campaigning is equally as important. In social media especially, transparency is too often lacking. Why should voters be tricked into believing that what they read online is written by objective bloggers when in fact much of it is crafted by social media professionals who have been bought and paid for? Republicans have an opportunity to set the standard in campaign transparency by requiring social media professionals to disclose their identities and alliances.
Federal Elections Commission disclosure rules are intended to ensure that voters understand what’s really going on in political races. The FEC requires that every public communication contain a disclaimer that “identifies the person(s) who paid for the communication and … the person(s) who authorized the communication.” This applies to broadcast and print ads, billboards, mass mailing or phone banking and paid ads on websites. The common denominator seems to be the expense incurred in the delivering the message to a particular audience. However, when candidates pay consultants or employees to post on social media outlets, no such disclosure requirements are triggered. To the contrary, social media professionals often take pains to keep their client relationships under wraps.
A useful analogy is the financial markets. Can you imagine a commentator recommending a particular stock without revealing that he owns it or, conversely, advising investors to sell shares of a particular company without disclosing that he’s short? Investors wouldn’t tolerate these sorts of material omissions, and voters shouldn’t have to.
In recent months, Republicans have advocated for open government. The party ought to walk the walk, and require social media professionals working on behalf of its candidates to disclose who they are and whose payroll they’re on.
I’m Amy H Laff, and no one paid me to write this.
Amy H Laff is a StateBrief.com partner. A graduate of Univ of Penn and Stanford Law School, Amy practiced law and mediation on the east coast before relocating to the Valley, where she founded and chairs the AZ chapter of the Republican Jewish Coalition. Amy makes frequent media appearances, including AZ Law Channel and Tony Katz Radio Spectacular. Additionally, she works with companies and candidates on branding and communication. 
