The City Council committee overseeing government operations passed legislation Wednesday requiring stricter independent expenditure disclosure requirements - and banning anonymous campaign ads.  The legislation, spearheaded by Councilman Brad Lander (D-Brooklyn), will require donors to directly link their names to organizations that put out advertisements for candidates running for office. For example, at the beginning or end of an advertisement, when it says "paid for," the person or entity funding the ad needs to include a name. That information will also have to be made available online.  The bill will also require any individual or entity that makes independent expenditures totaling $1,000 or more supporting or opposing any candidate to disclose its expenditure to the Campaign Finance Board.  At a hearing Wednesday, Lander said independent expenditures often come from shell corporations, and he said the bill would solve any confusion as to who is behind the money funding any candidate.  "Voters need to know what they're getting in," said Lander, adding that the legislation would allow New York City to "clean up our elections."  Under current law, disclosure on independent expenditures includes only the name of the individual or organization responsible for the advertisement. But elected officials like Lander argue that many organizations that paid for advertisements in the 2013 mayoral election cycle had generic names that barely told voters who or what the organizations represented, and hid the actual sources of the spending.  During that race, mayoral hopeful Christine Quinn attacked the group New York City is Not For Sale 2013 for a $1 million ad blitz trying to defeat her. Many of the donors backing that ad refused to reveal themselves, according to a Daily News article last April.  The bills must now be passed by the entire Council.
The bills, passed Wednesday by the Council committee on governmental operations, would require more disclosure on independent expenditures.