Tea Party group must disclose donors, Federal Election Commission rules [View all]

[applegrove]

Tea Party group must disclose donors, Federal Election Commission rules

By Sabrina Eaton, Plain Dealer Washington Reporter at Cleveland.com

http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2013/11/tea_party_group_must_disclose.html

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Washington, D.C. - The Federal Election Commission on Thursday denied the request of a prominent Tea Party organization that argued it should not have to disclose its political donors because they might face harassment from the government or the public.

The Tea Party Leadership Fund, which recently announced that it is seeking challengers for the 87 Republicans who voted to end last month's government shutdown, told the FEC that an exemption from public disclosure would be justified by part of the Supreme Court's decision in Buckley v. Valeo.

The group's lawyers noted the decision lets organizations like the Socialist Workers Party have an exemption from disclosing their contributors if they can establish a "reasonable probability that the compelled disclosure would result in threats, harassment, or reprisals from either Government officials or private parties."

"As grassroots outsiders, TEA Party supporters are accustomed to defending their values from both government officials and private opprobrium," the group said in a September filing with the FEC. "But the TEA Party is now encountering unprecedented harassment from both government officials and private actors."



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