Party funding : publish those names!

Abstract

Local political establishments should take the cue from the William J. Clinton Foundation which, after a decade of resistance to disclosure, finally lifted the lid on the list of its staggering 205,000 donors, who managed to cobble up an impressive $496 million. Apart from the John Citizens on the list (who forked out less than $250 dollars and who constituted 90 per cent of all donors), who would not be expected to cause a stir, there were some eyebrow-raising names on the list, including the Saudi government, Indian politicians, the Blackwater security firm, besmirched due to its Iraq operations, and Jerry Yang, co-founder of Yahoo, who was bashed for keeling over and passing e-mails sent through his network to the Chinese government, eventually resulting in the arrest of two notorious dissidents. Local parties have been solicited to publish the names of their financers for donkey's years now, to no avail.