We won! Put a mark in the good guys' column.
That is a recording of the portion of Thursday's FEC meeting where commissioners did not approve the Tea Party Leadership Fund's request to suppress disclosure of donors and expenditures due to their claim they were persecuted just like the NAACP was in the 60s.
Attorney Dan Backer claimed the record was clear and long when it came to government harassment and persecution. His evidence was the self-reported (and invented) IRS 'harassment' of the "Tea Party" as an amorphous being that has absolutely no power or influence on our electoral process.
Commissioner Ann Ravel wasn't buying it at all. She's the final speaker before they took the votes, and she rather sternly makes the comment that there are no similarities between people saying mean things like they do every day and the kind of persecution the NAACP faced.
All of the commissioners looked back to their decision to grant the Socialist Workers' Party an exemption, but as the Democrats on the panel pointed out, that excludes 11 donors to a party that has never won even one election. There are some big differences there.
Details aside, we did win!!!! The votes were 2-3 on approval and denial of the request, with one commissioner recused from considering the petition. Because they failed to reach a 4-vote majority, TeaParty.net will have to continue disclosing their donors and expenditures just like the other guys do.
Be sure to listen to at least the very beginning, where they mention the comment delivered on behalf of 5,530 people. That's our petition, which was delivered and made part of the record.
People power!!!
