Socialists Workers Party allowed to keep donors secret (But Libs Scream About Koch Bros)
It’s not every day that the Socialist Workers Party agrees with Republicans.
But when it comes to donor disclosure, they’re largely on the same page.
While the call for politically active corporations and nonprofits to disclose donors got louder during the 2012 campaign, the Federal Election Commission on Thursday decided to let federal committees affiliated with the Socialist Workers Party and the Socialist Workers National Campaign Committee continue to keep their donors secret.
The reason: revealing the identity of the donors could lead to possible intimidation and harassment of socialist supporters.
That’s the same argument that conservative organizations and lawmakers have used in recent years to oppose tightening campaign finance disclosure laws. In their case, it’s mostly to protect big donors from criticism and protest.
Donors like Sheldon Adelson, Foster Freiss and the Koch brothers became household names last year after their contributions to conservative candidates and causes. Financier George Soros similarly achieved notoriety for his big money gifts to liberal causes in past years.
Steve Clark, chairman of the Socialist Workers Party, said the disclosure issue doesn’t matter here.
“We are not advocates of financial disclosure. That’s not the problem in this country,” Clark told POLITICO.