http://www.makenolaw.org/blog/5-pol...an-and-hell-come-shout-through-your-mail-slot
Twelve-term U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) was recently criticized in independent political ads funded by a group calling itself Concerned Taxpayers of America. Rep. DeFazio wanted to know who was behind the ads, and he wasn’t willing to wait until the group filed its quarterly campaign finance report in October to find out. The Washington Post reports DeFazio as wondering, “Is this a corporation? Is it one very wealthy, right-wing individual? Is it a foreign interest? Is it a drug gang?”
So Rep. DeFazio did what any reasonable incumbent politician would do in that situation—with reporters in tow, he went to the address the group had listed with the Federal Election Commission and started shouting through the mail slot until someone agreed to speak with him.
...
More troubling, however, is the fact that disclosure creates the opportunity for direct personal retaliation. DeFazio’s stunt would not have been possible if Concerned Taxpayers of America had not been required to record an address with the FEC. And while DeFazio was merely interested in publicity, not everyone makes such benign use of disclosure information. For example, in 2004, Gigi Brienza made a $500 to John Edwards’ presidential campaign. As a result, her name, address, occupation, and employer were all listed on the FEC’s website. This allowed an animal-rights terrorist group to discover that she worked for Bristol-Myers Squibb and to place her name and home address on a list of “targets” beneath the message “Now you know where to find them.” While Brienza was never attacked, she has subsequently cut back her political activity—she will never again make a contribution over the federal disclosure threshold of $200.
Twelve-term U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) was recently criticized in independent political ads funded by a group calling itself Concerned Taxpayers of America. Rep. DeFazio wanted to know who was behind the ads, and he wasn’t willing to wait until the group filed its quarterly campaign finance report in October to find out. The Washington Post reports DeFazio as wondering, “Is this a corporation? Is it one very wealthy, right-wing individual? Is it a foreign interest? Is it a drug gang?”
So Rep. DeFazio did what any reasonable incumbent politician would do in that situation—with reporters in tow, he went to the address the group had listed with the Federal Election Commission and started shouting through the mail slot until someone agreed to speak with him.
...
More troubling, however, is the fact that disclosure creates the opportunity for direct personal retaliation. DeFazio’s stunt would not have been possible if Concerned Taxpayers of America had not been required to record an address with the FEC. And while DeFazio was merely interested in publicity, not everyone makes such benign use of disclosure information. For example, in 2004, Gigi Brienza made a $500 to John Edwards’ presidential campaign. As a result, her name, address, occupation, and employer were all listed on the FEC’s website. This allowed an animal-rights terrorist group to discover that she worked for Bristol-Myers Squibb and to place her name and home address on a list of “targets” beneath the message “Now you know where to find them.” While Brienza was never attacked, she has subsequently cut back her political activity—she will never again make a contribution over the federal disclosure threshold of $200.
