The Globe is reporting in a “Political Intelligence”  on-line post by Stephanie Vallejo that State Senator Jamie Eldridge (D) of Acton plans to refile a bill that would lessen the impact in Massachusetts state elections of the U. S. Supreme Court ruling in favor of Citizens United. The recent ruling basically allows unlimited corporate  spending in political campaigns.

Eldridge originally filed the bill this summer, but it did not get a hearing before the lawmaking session ended. He said increased awareness of the dangerousness of the Citizens United ruling would spur the passage of the bill, which would only impact state elections. (States can’t pass laws to influence federal elections.)

“I think after an election where you see the impact of Citizens United money being spent, there is a growing awareness from Massachusetts legislature that Massachusetts needs to do its part to stop the corrosive influence of money on politics,” he said in a telephone interview.

Part of this proposed legislation actually did pass as an amendment to the budget – it requires that CEOs of companies and groups that buy ads in state elections actually appear in the ads to disclose that they paid for it. It is effect in state ads now. That must be why we see the photo and voices of the Executive Director of the GOP Governor’s Association and the Chairwoman of Bay State Futures  in ads in the Governor’s race. Eldridge told the Globe that Massachusetts was the first state to take action to limit the impact of Citizens United in state elections.

Read the full Globe article here on-line.