Nashua Independent: “At N.H. Roundtable, Pappas and Whitehouse Push Foreign Money, Disclosure Reform

August 31, 2026

MANCHESTER, N.H. — In case you missed it, the Nashua Independent highlighted Chris Pappas’s efforts to take on the scourge of dark money in our elections including by passing his DISCLOSE Act — legislation to stop billionaires and corporate special interests from secretly buying our elections.

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and End Citizens United (ECU) President Tiffany Muller joined Pappas for a roundtable discussion on campaign finance reform, tackling corruption in Washington and the importance of electing Chris Pappas over Donald Trump’s handpicked candidate, corporate sellout John Sununu.

By Dan Splaine, 8/30/26

Rep. Chris Pappas was joined by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., and End Citizens United (ECU) President Tiffany Muller for a roundtable discussion on campaign finance reform and the DISCLOSE Act of 2026.

Pappas has made anti-corruption a priority of his agenda in his U.S. Senate campaign.

The DISCLOSE Act — Democracy Is Strengthened by Casting Light On Spending in Elections Act — was first introduced in the Senate in 2010 in response to the Citizens United v. FEC decision and the “dark money” it unleashed into American elections and the judiciary.

Whitehouse has made fighting Citizens United and dark money a defining issue in his Senate career.

He led Senate passage of the bill in July 2012, January 2022 and September 2022, with Republicans blocking the measure each time.

“I think the heart of corruption in Washington is dark money,” Whitehouse said.

In March, Whitehouse and Pappas, with 182 co-sponsors, reintroduced an updated version of the campaign finance legislation.

“This is just very simple, that we should be unmasking the dark money. That’s billions of dollars every election cycle,” Pappas said. “We should know who’s trying to influence our votes and trying to put their thumb on the scale. And we should certainly make it less likely that foreign money is going to come into our elections.”

The bill expands the prohibition on campaign spending by foreign nationals, requires additional disclosures of campaign expenditures and additional disclosures regarding political advertisements.

The foreign money prohibitions include paid web-based or digital communications and federal judicial nomination communications. It also prohibits foreign nationals from contributing to campaigns related to ballot initiatives and referenda.

According to ECU President Tiffany Muller, 2026 is set to break records in election advertising spending, projected to reach $11.16 billion. The 2024 presidential cycle advertising expenditure was $11.2 billion.

“If you look at the outside spending prior to Citizens United in 2008, there was about $140 million of outside spending in federal elections,” Muller said. “That’s a lot of money. But it’s over $11 billion in 2024.”

Muller added that voters “feel like they’re being swamped and that they don’t matter, and that if you are a billionaire or if you’re a corporate special interest, your needs are getting met really well. Because Washington isn’t just broken, it’s rigged. And the outcome is rigged to help those who already have the most money.”

Citing the immense corporate participation in elections, Whitehouse said, “We would be better off as a country if we went back to the origin, which is people run this country, and corporations, they go do their business separately in the business world. They don’t get to meddle in elections, and for sure they don’t get to meddle secretly in elections.”

Pappas concluded: “This is not a Democratic talking point. This is for the good of the country and American democracy 250 years after our independence. The power should be in the hands of the people, not money, corporate special interests. And Republican voters believe that just as much as Democratic voters do.”

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