No 'dark money' in Idaho politics

September 28, 2022

Thanks to Republicans there is no such thing as "dark money" in Idaho's political campaigns. Dark money refers to money being spent to influence your vote for which the source of the donations remains hidden or unknown. Idaho's Republicans have implemented excellent campaign finance laws called the Sunshine laws.

Every month during election season, every candidate and every group seeking to influence how you vote is required to submit to the Idaho Secretary of State a detailed report on who donated to their campaign or group and exactly where and how they spent that money.

As part of the effort, two years ago I wrote a bill that passed unanimously in the Idaho legislature that increased the disclosures required by groups seeking to influence elections.

All of the campaign finance reports are easily readable on the Secretary of State's new version of the Sunshine reports at https://sunshine.sos.idaho.gov.

If anybody alleges that out-of-state dark money is influencing a political candidate or a political action committee that is advertising to influence how you vote, then know that the person making that allegation is either ignorant of Idaho's campaign finance laws or is trying to deceive you.