Friday, November 16, 2012

Tea Partiers Fight Dislosure Law in the 9th

Washington chills free speech with a public disclosure law that regulates grassroots lobbyists, a group of Tea Partiers told the 9th Circuit.
     Voters in the Evergreen State passed the law by initiative in 1972. It requires groups to register with the Washington Public Disclosure Commission if they intend to influence legislation and spend more than $1,000 in any three months or $500 in any one month.
     Conservative Enthusiasts and another all-volunteer community group called Many Cultures, One Message, sued the Public Disclosure Commission in 2010, claiming the law chills the "right to anonymous speech and association."
     The groups said that identifying their members and donors could expose them to harassment. They also called the law "fatally overbroad and vague," and asked a federal judge to declare it unconstitutional.
     U.S. Magistrate Judge Karen Strombom dismissed the case in 2011, finding the plaintiffs lacked standing and could "provide absolutely no argument, or point to any evidence" that the law caused prior restraint on free speech or association rights.
     The groups argued before a three-judge appellate panel on Friday that the lower court was wrong on both issues.
     Jeanette Petersen, an attorney for the community groups, said the law "inserts the government into citizen to citizen speech" and is not constitutional.
     It was "clear" the groups have standing to challenge the law because they suffered harm as a result of the reporting requirements, Petersen said. A local Ford dealership, for example, wanted to donate more than $500 to Conservative Enthusiasts, but it did not for fear of being identified, Petersen said.

Read more: http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/11/15/52299.htm

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