In the early days of statehood, there was an unabashed attack on the Capitol in St. Paul. This attack was not made with weapons, but made with the influence of money. A corporation called the St. Peter Land Co. acquired much of the land in and around St. Peter, Minn., and concocted a plan to move the state Capitol from St. Paul to St. Peter. Such a move would have significantly increased property values in St. Peter, in turn making a significant profit for the corporation's shareholders. As the saying goes, the flag of commerce follows the flag of government and, along with that, the prospect of riches.

The St. Peter Land Co. built a powerful organization at the Legislature, which included Gov. Willis A. Gorman, one of the principal shareholders of the corporation. The attack was sprung during the legislation session of 1857; the bill to move the Capitol passed the House, despite accusations of fraud. There appeared to be sufficient support in the Senate as well, but a parliamentary move forced the proponents to get a two-thirds majority vote on a procedural issue that stopped all business in the Legislature from getting done that session. This move is what ended up keeping the Capitol in St. Paul.

This was an early lesson for our fledgling state on the corrosive power of special interests in politics. Since those early days, Minnesota has been an example of how to limit the influence of special interests. That dedication to clean government and transparency is about to be tested again. It is time for the Minnesota Legislature to act to address the problems created by the U.S. Supreme Court decision Citizens United v. FEC.

Thanks to a lawsuit brought by the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, a federal court judge has opened the floodgates of corporate contributions to state-level political campaigns. That decision will likely create a wild west in corporate and union political spending. The chaos created by the decision is likely to lead to more legal battles and uncertainty about what activities are and are not legal.

Just a few days left to act
To avoid this chaotic scenario, the Legislature must act this session and not abdicate responsibility to the courts or enforcement boards. With less than one week left in the legislative session, the Legislature will not be able to solve all the problems caused by the Citizens United decision. But it can bring greater clarity to the political contribution system by implementing disclosure rules. This is the only way that the voting public can have faith in the information it receives during the 2010 election.

Bringing campaign contributions into the sunlight is one of the ways that we can prevent corruption and undue influence at the capitol. The public needs to know who is funding political speech by independent expenditure groups so that they can adequately evaluate the information and misinformation about candidates.

In fact, the Citizens United decision specifically contemplated this kind of disclosure. Justice Anthony Kennedy, in writing for the majority, states, "the First Amendment protects political speech; and disclosure permits citizens and shareholders to react to the speech of corporate entities in a proper way. This transparency enables the electorate to make informed decision and give proper weight to different speakers and messages." Simply put, if political contributions are considered speech, then the voting public has the right to know who is saying what.

Disclosure, disclaimers and increased penalties
In order for the public to be adequately informed as contemplated by Justice Kennedy, legislators need to enact the disclosure legislation that was introduced by a bipartisan group of legislators. This legislation, SF 3398, requires more timely disclosure of campaign contributions and expenditures, disclaimers on who is paying for the political materials and increased penalties for those who violate the rules.

This legislation is a necessary first step that the Minnesota Legislature should adopt before the 2010 election. Without this legislation, special interests will have an unbridled opportunity to corrupt Minnesota politics. As we see today and in the early days of this state, special interests will always try to use government to benefit themselves. That is why we need to shine more sunlight on campaign spending.

Mike Dean is executive director of Common Cause Minnesota, a nonpartisan government watchdog group that is committed to election fairness and transparency.