We've just completed Sunshine Week — an effort to recognize the fundamental importance of open government to a democracy, spearheaded each year by the American Society of News Editors and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.

Last Sunday I wrote about the need to replace obsolete campaign finance rules with new laws revealing campaign donors at the state and federal level. Many of you wrote to ask how we might get that done. Please, let's keep that conversation going.

The purpose of the new disclosure rules would be to let citizens know who is behind political advertising and their interests in the outcome of the race.

So if, for example, tribal casino operators flooded cash into commercials backing Democrats, voters could take into account upcoming gambling contract negotiations with the state. Or, if a multi-national mining company flooded cash into commercials backing Republicans, voters could take into account its desire to dig a huge mine in northern Wisconsin.

Both of those things actually happened in Wisconsin and citizens were left in the dark. Within months of being elected with the help of last-minute tribal donations in 2002, Gov. Jim Doyle, a Democrat, signed exclusive, permanent gambling compacts with the tribes that were so generous they were eventually ruled unconstitutional. A decade later, Gov. Scott Walker and Republican legislative leaders crafted new laws easing environmental regulations on mining operations within months of being reelected with the help of mining company donations. In each case, citizens only learned of the donations thanks to investigative reporting long after the elections.

Shouldn't voters in a democratic republic have the right to know whether their elected representatives are working for them or for powerful special interests, who may even live in a distant state or foreign country?

Of course. But this donor information is becoming increasingly difficult to find at the same time that more money than ever is flowing into elections.

When the U.S. Supreme Court determined that buying political commercials was a form of speech protected by the First Amendment, it effectively rewrote a century of campaign finance laws. The problem, right now, is that the old restrictions on donor influence haven't yet been replaced, at either the federal or state level, with new rules to limit or shed light on the power of the few to buy disproportionate influence over our elected officials.

After reviewing some of the best state disclosure laws out there, here is a simple starting point:

Let's ask all candidates for office, their campaigns and the political parties to disclose the names, addresses and occupations of donors who contribute significant sums, currently $200 or more. Electronic records of such donations should be publicly available and updated weekly or more frequently in the months before — and immediately after — an election.

In addition, any person, corporation or group would be considered a political participant if they design, produce or disseminate advertisements that name or depict a candidate, or a ballot initiative, within 60 days of an election. If they coordinate directly with the candidates or parties — as is now legal in Wisconsin — they would be subject to the same disclosure rules.

Political participants that operate independently of the parties and candidates would need to disclose the names, addresses and occupations of donors who give the maximum campaign contribution allowed in the state – currently $10,000 for governor, supreme court and other statewide offices.

These new disclosure requirements would simplify campaign finance laws while also making them more effective. So long as citizens know who is participating in elections they can determine whether powerful interests are having undue influence.

This is not a partisan issue. The same rules would apply for unions and George Soros, billionaire backer of Democrats, as for industries and Charles Koch, billionaire backer of Republicans. What's more, the rules would apply in primary elections.

Why would any honest politician of either party oppose timely disclosure rules?

Some big donors won't like it. They'll claim fear of criticism might inhibit their willingness to advocate with dollars. But in reality they don't want to lose power by negotiating in the light of day, where support for rewriting laws and taxpayer spending must be won through public forums and open bidding processes, as our nation's founders intended.

The late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who concurred in the "Citizens United" decision that made the old campaign finance laws obsolete, was also an outspoken champion of public disclosure in politics.

"Requiring people to stand up in public for their political acts fosters civic courage, without which democracy is doomed," Scalia wrote.

If you agree with the need to disclose who is financing our elections, please contact your state and federal representatives and let them know.

Thank you.

George Stanley is the editor of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He can be reached via email atgstanley@journalsentinel.comand followed on Twitter @geostanley