Watchdogs Reiterate to FEC Before Vote that Tea Party Group Does Not Qualify for Disclosure Exemption Originating with NAACP in Jim Crow South

Today, Democracy 21 joined with the Campaign Legal Center in filing comments on two draft advisory opinions released by the Federal Election Commission (FEC) that will be voted on at the FEC’s public meeting tomorrow.  The draft opinions have been issued in response to an advisory opinion request from the Tea Party Leadership Fund (TPLF) (AOR 2013-17), which is seeking a rarely-granted exemption from disclosure laws on the grounds that disclosure “would result in threats, harassment, or reprisals from government officials or private parties.”  One draft to be considered by the FEC tomorrow would grant the exemption and the other would not.

The exemption stems from a 1958 Supreme Court decision prohibiting the state of Alabama from compelling the NAACP to disclose its membership list at a time when members of the civil rights organization faced grave dangers in the Jim Crow South.  The exemption has also been extended over the years to small communist and socialist organizations dating back to the Cold War, with the Socialist Workers Party’s exemption being renewed by the FEC earlier this year.

According to Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer:

The Tea Party Leadership Fund seeks to play an active role in federal elections with secret money exempt from campaign finance disclosure requirements enacted to inform voters and deter corruption. The effort by the Tea Party Leadership Fund to compare its situation with the dangerous circumstances that faced NAACP members in the 1950s is both absurd and offensive. There is no constitutional basis, no legal basis and no basis in the facts presented in this case that would entitle the Tea Party Leadership Fund to the exemption it seeks to participate in elections with secret money.  Past Supreme Court decisions and past FEC rulings make clear that the Tea Party Leadership Fund is not entitled to an exemption from the law’s disclosure requirements. The FEC must deny the Tea Party Leadership Fund’s request and ensure that the American people are provided the information to which they are entitled under the campaign finance disclosure laws.