The Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission lifted a political albatross off the neck of the South End based Freedom Socialist Party during their regular monthly meeting on April 6. With around 30 FSP supporters in attendance the six person volunteer-based commission granted the FSP's request to protect the privacy of their campaign donors for Linda Averil's 2005 campaign against incumbent council president Jan Drago.
"It's really the role of the government to allow those ideas in the market place that can only exist because of some protections," stated Fred Hyde, who, along with fellow attorney Val Carlson, presented their case to the SEEC alongside Averil during the early April meeting.
Since her last effort in Seattle's municipal elections, Carlson informed the council that the political climate, both locally and nationally, has become more polarized, and ultra-right wing parties are becoming stronger. Because of this, she contends the ability of minor parties like the FSP to openly discuss their ideas in the political arena has become increasingly difficult, especially when they're harassed and threatened, like the FSP.
With this in mind, the party's request to be exempt from the campaign rules that require a candidate to disclose the names, city, and employers of their donors has come out of a concern for maintaining the freedom of expression, and physical safety, of their supporters. According to statements made by Averil, Hyde, and Carlson, the FSP offices, located in downtown Columbia City off Rainier Avenue South, have received numerous death threats since Averil's previous campaign in 2003.
Carlson noted that the FSP does not have to prove that specific threats to individuals were made, her clients just need to prove the threats were made against the party.
"There's nothing wrong with the radical left that can't be cured by a rope or a .45," read Carlson from a stack of letters and printed e-mails the FSP offices received since the last election.
It's important to note that the FSP's argument for donor protection is not new. In August 2003, with only two weeks left in Averil's primary race, federal court judge Robert Lasnik granted a temporary injunction against the SEEC after Averil's campaign sued the city to protect donor confidentiality. The move enabled Averil to collect larger donations (the legal threshold being $650 for municipal elections) while protecting the identity of these deeper pocket donors. Despite the 11th-hour reprieve from fundraising difficulties, Averil managed to garner $14,000 and finish with 10 percent of the vote in a six-way race.
Previous to this decision Averil solicited donations of $25 or less per individual. According to SEEC campaign finance auditor Polly Grow, small donations such as these were, and are, reported to her office as a lump sum, and a donor's personal information is not posted on the city's website.
Without Lasnik's injunction, Grow noted that donors contributing above this threshold have their name, city, state, employer, occupation, their total donation as well as the occupation, state, and city of their employer posted on the city's website for anyone to view. Grow stated the injunction triggered a coded system that transposed a donor's name, occupation, and employer with a series of numbers and alpha characters before reporting the donation amounts to the public on the city's website.
In July 2004 Lasnik made his temporary injunction against the city permanent. During the April meeting, Averil, Carlson, and Hyde urged the SEEC to honor this judicial precedent and therefore avoid another costly lawsuit being filed against the city by the FSP.
"Where there is a significant risk that the exercise of First Amendment rights would be chilled by forced disclosure, the court should err on the side of protecting those freedoms which are essential to the continuing health of our republic," Lasnik wrote in 2004.
In his decision, Lasnik also noted that a search of the city's website and area telephone directories would, "provide a potential harasser with all the information he or she needs to cheaply, anonymously, and effectively threaten plaintiffs [donors]."
The FSP trio's assertion to the SEEC that its political ideas and corresponding voice in Seattle's municipal elections are in real danger of being "chilled" and therefore suppressing the First Amendment rights of its supporters convinced the commission to follow Lasnik's lead. After a brief debate on the ramifications of siding with Lasnik's court decision, commissioner Michelle Radosevich made a motion to adopt the FSP's request for a modification of the city's campaign reporting requirements. Commissioner Gregg Hirakawa seconded the motion and the rest of the council voted unanimously in favor.[[In-content Ad]]
