On Thu, 1 Feb 2001, Dean Lindberg wrote:
> I don't mind my donations being reported over the internet. People will
> find out what a small-time donor I am, which they may or may not care
> about.
I, however, am concerned about such things. I'm already concerned
that all it takes is someone with my social-security number can get a
copy of my credit report (and thus find out about my nasty fosil-fuel
habit, plus where my on-line purchases are from). The posting of
contributer lists for people who even donate a buck is too far. I already
know that the $100 contribution limit for disclosure will end me up on
some organizations call-list.
If, say, the Sierra Club finds out that I contributed $25 to the
local green-party candidate for Mayor, they might put me on their
"hot-tips" list for new contributers. Plus the possibility of major
data-collection warehouses of getting even more fine-grain detail about my
spending habits. Data-mining of public-source information is big business
these days, even to liberal-minded non-profits.
This is why I prefer the current system of a limit on who ends up
on the disclosure lists. It allows me to contribute to candidates I like,
yet not end up as another data-point for a personality-profile for sale
commercially. This is a privacy issue larger than mere who I contributed
to.
"Full disclosure" is a worthy cause. However, the privacy
problems of true full disclosure will in all liklihood prevent me from
contributing money to candidates I like. We do not need harsher
disclosure laws for candidates, we need them for the "special interest
groups" of the world. Either that or some system of capping soft-money.
I do NOT know how the disclosure laws work on city-level
campaigns. I one lived in the same house as a US Representative campaign,
so I have a fair understanding of FEC filing requirements. I understand
that the State requirements are somewhat different, but the $100 limit
still exists. What rules are City Council and Mayor campaigns bound to?
Greg Riedesel
SSP
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