We need disclosure in political ads

Thank you for your May 9 editorial, "California needs bill to rid campaign ads of anonymity." We need to bring political ads out of the dark with clear disclosure of who's paying for them by passing Senate Bill 52, the California DISCLOSE Act.

Political ads can be self-serving, but many of them don't even tell us who the "self" is. "Californians for Poor Families" can be entirely funded by two junk food billionaires, but you'd never know it by watching the ads.

SB 52 will change that by requiring the top three funders of proposition ads and super PAC ads to be clearly and prominently shown on the ads themselves.

The votes of our area's state senators are needed. We should all call and ask them to champion transparency and disclosure by voting Yes on SB 52. It's up to them to save us voters from being kept in the dark. Bill Emmerson's number is 909-801-5040, Bob Huff's is 714-671-9474 and Carol Liu's is 909-599-7351.

- Bob Gerecke, Claremont