‘Dark money’ has no place in our electoral system

AS THE electoral roll closes and candidates one by one announce their intention to stand for the States, there is a febrile excitement amongst those that take an interest in politics and, like the start of every football season, a hope that perhaps ‘this time it will be different’.

However, there are worrying signs that a darker side to politics is emerging, and it will be incumbent on the journalists particularly and the people more generally to ensure that this does not sully our electoral process.

There will always be people with money looking to peddle influence without accountability. To counter this, we have strict limits on what candidates can spend on their campaigns, which is tremendously important.

However, this does not control those that choose to buy space in the media to spread their views, or ‘think tanks’ that can seek to promote particular policy agendas through publishing papers, surveys, research, etc.

Historically this has not been overly problematic, since such activity would only be in support of one candidate, but with the advent of party politics, money can be used to try to elect a whole slate of politicians and affect the whole of government.

In time, this can be dealt with by extending the laws on campaign finance to cover such activities, both within and without an election period. It is too late for this to take place for this election, and so it will be down to the media to hold such activity to account.

Whenever any journalists report on any views, press releases, surveys, reports, of any think tank they should only do so if the think tank fully discloses all of their donors and their relationships, connections and affiliations with any parties or individuals standing in the election. It is no good to have some disclosure; journalists must insist on full disclosure because, inevitably, without full disclosure the more ‘interesting’ parties will remain hidden from public scrutiny. The same should apply to advertorials. This disclosure of all donors and party affiliations should be publicly available throughout the campaign.

The public also have a role to play, asking themselves whenever they read anything seeking to influence policy ‘who is backing this and why’, and if they engage with such parties on social media, ask the same questions. If you receive an evasive or partial reply, be wary.

If a think tank refuses to be clear about where every penny has come from and which party they support or are related to, they should be given no publicity, because ‘dark money’ has no place in our electoral system.

It is an exciting time for Guernsey politics; we have seen effective government action in recent months and the new electoral system opens possibilities for better governance in the future. We must ensure that it is not subverted.

GEOFF MILLER

La Ramee Farmhouse,

St Peter Port.