The US Supreme court recently approved the use of direct corporate financing for political advertising.
Allowing direct sponsorships may lead to more honesty in politics, provided that there are enough disclosure requirements.
I propose a new disclosure system mandating the following:
1)
All political ads sponsored by commercial entities should have a banner visible through the ad (i.e., not in fine print) listing the sponsors. Corporation names and logos should be visible in print ads and spoken in radio ads.
2) In the event of multiple sponsors, the largest (by net value, not contribution) sponsor of the law should be listed most visibly, followed by the primary sponsor that contributed the largest amount of money [i.e., "Store-Mart" instead of "Mothers Against Unfair Warehouse Taxes" or "LeadCo" instead of "Children for Lead Paint" in order to prevent obfuscation]
3) Each corporation should be mandated to have a section on their web page titled "We proudly sponsor" listing every candidate holding or seeking office they've directly (or indirectly sponsored), as well as the sponsorship amounts, meals and trips paid for, etc.
4) Each candidate, likewise, should be required to maintain a web page (publicly accessible) listing all direct and indirect sponsors, from largest to the smallest.
5) All politicians sponsored by corporations should have corporate logos sewn on their suits and displayed visibly during official campaign debates. I expect that this will shame them into only accepting funding from entities they publicly and proudly support, or creating a race car driver like look for politicians.
While a bit US specific, I'm sure similar issues (money, politics, and corporate opinions trying to pass off as 'grass roots' opinions apply to other countries and electoral systems.