Pressuring disclosure of donors

I just came across this story on CNN regarding the Center for Responsive Politics call for the Center for Promise and Opportunity (John Edwards' anti-poverty charity) to release its donors to prove it wasn't electioneering. Let me be the first to call for the Center for Responsive Politics, a well-respected group, to stop preening for press based on a sack full of nothing.

They have a theory... the theory is that Edwards used the Center for Promise and Opportunity to jump start his presidential run without having to form an exploratory committee subject to FEC reporting requirements. The problem is that it's simply a theory based solely on Edwards' travel to a few early primary states that ignores - it seems - the other work done by the organization that fully complies with its charitable mission. Their allegation is thinly supported, and that's being kind.

In another article, former FEC chair Scott Thomas (not generally a staunch supporter of nonprofits) told a reporter that "there's nothing wrong with the approach Edwards took - so long as he did not conduct any campaign-like activities, such as disproportionate travel to early voting states or using funds to maintain a political staff." In other words, you need a lot more to prove this charity did anything wrong.

To ask for donors based on what the Center for Responsive Politics has is pretty remarkable... and not in a good way. The law protects the identity of donors to charities for a variety of reasons. People who give to charities have, often, relied on that for a long time. The Center for Responsive Politics should respect that and find some hard evidence of misuse of charitable resources before it tries to pressure a charity in the press to hand over private information. This is a seriously slippery slope (a term I hate to use)... the next charity targeted could be yours.