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Chill is real
Published on May 15, 2008
Earlier this week the Baltimore Sun published an editorial demanding more regulation of independent expenditure groups. Chief among the Sun's "reforms" is more disclosure from these groups and "their frequently hidden sources of funds."
Typical of most disclosure arguments, the Sun makes no real effort to say why more disclosure is needed aside from the ubiquitous, "Such outside efforts, while legal, can make winning candidates beholden to hidden special interests."
But real examples of why burdensome disclosure is not necessarily desired for those independently engaging in advocacy abound.
Just this week, the Washington Post reported on intimidating behavior some campaign workers have faced on the campaign trail. Meanwhile, corporations are turning to RICO statutes in an effort to silence their (usually) union-backed grassroots critics. Not be outdone, a bill is pending that would do away with the ability of union members to vote in union elections via secret ballot.
If you need more, you might ask Russell Howard and Steve Cicero if they have any arguments against mandatory disclosure. The pair was fined $808,000 for failing to properly follow disclosure requirements. Brian Doherty of Reason Magazine tells their story:
They had been the president and treasurer, respectively, of Californians Against Corruption, a now-dormant group of political gadflies that was part of a coalition dedicated to unseating California Democratic state Sen. David Roberti. Roberti, a 23-year Senate veteran, had been Senate president pro tem for 13 years. The recall coalition got its new election in April 1994, collecting more than twice the necessary 20,670 signatures.
But in doing so, CAC didn't keep up with the complicated paperwork requirements the PRA (Public Reform Act) demands. Their hefty fine is mostly for hundreds of counts of not reporting the occupation, employer, and address of people who donated more than $100 to the recall cause.
Despite admittedly not filling out the proper forms at the proper times, a weary Howard insists, as the list of charges is read to him, that the FPPC has at its disposal all the information it wants. "They have a copy of every check we ever received, and the vast majority have those addresses on the check," he says. "My life should be ruined because I didn't fill out the proper forms in triplicate?"
While CAC asked all contributors to fill out employer and occupation information with their contribution, the vast majority simply didn't, Cicero says. Gary Huckaby, an FPPC spokesman, says it's the organization's legal responsibility to collect that information or not accept the money...
Some perspective: Californians Against Corruption's entire recall campaign spent only $103,091--about one-eighth the fine they received for not reporting properly...
Howard admits contempt for the law. But he has his reasons. He maintains that California's Political Reform Act is a clear violation of the First Amendment. "The law sets up prerequisites for the exercise of First Amendment rights that are extremely complicated and enforced as selectively as they want. I'd have to be an attorney or an accountant to be able to wade my way through [the PRA]. If I had had to stay up until five in the morning filling out those forms, there never would have been a Roberti recall. We were a grassroots organization. We all had other jobs. We're not like the big parties. [Complying properly] would have taken a huge percentage of our resources..."
One of the motives for the Roberti recall was that he had spearheaded the Roberti-Roos Assault Weapon Control Act, a 1989 law that banned "assault weapons" in California. Because of the popular perception of the recall as a "gun-nut" issue, "We had people afraid of going to jail if their name gets on a list," Howard says. "'We've got a potential Roberti-Roos violator here, let's go check out their home...'"
Others had different reasons to fear being publicly connected with the recall effort. Bill Dominguez, one of Roberti's Democratic opponents in the recall election, says that a local newspaper columnist's habit of printing the names and donation amounts of contributors to the recall effort spooked many grassroots activists. "I haven't seen this done for any other political campaign or grassroots group. I've never seen anyone plastering names all over the place like this. We were not being painted in the best light. Every third word in connection with this was white supremacist or neo-Nazi." Some donors received swastikas in the mail, Howard says.
Even beyond public obloquy, anyone working for or doing business with the state of California would understandably be leery of advertising that they were trying to oust the president of the state Senate. "Lots of people applauded what we did but wouldn't touch it with a 10-foot pole for fear of bad things happening to their legislative agenda," Howard says. "Even lots of senators wanted to get involved but couldn't for fear of retribution, worries about 'What'll happen to my crime bill?...'"
"I just didn't imagine that there was some sort of Rube Goldberg huge manual that I had to satisfy at peril of my financial future and life to exercise my First Amendment rights," Howard says. "We're just a grassroots organization. If you want to get involved in politics, you should be able to do it. If you have a beef, get involved. But if you get involved above the level of just voting, then the state says they control the whole process. And that's just not right."
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