Jon Cassidy at Watchdog.org has an article explaining how state laws seeking to expose the rich donors of political causes are being used to stifle local activism.
He cites as an example a community group in Colorado that was sued under such a “dark money” law for opposing the annexation of a neighborhood by a larger community.
The community group consisted of about a half-dozen neighbors and spent about $1,000 for yard signs and literature.
Karen Sampson, the woman who organized the group, fought the suit and won with a federal court declaring the law unconstitutional. It took four years, though, and the Democrat-controlled Colorado legislature has failed to bring the law into line with the court ruling.
“I’m ashamed to say, that if I’d known we would be sued, and now knowing how absurd Colorado’s campaign finance laws are, I would think twice about getting involved in an issue ballot,” Ms. Sampson said.
The Colorado law requires any two people who spent $200, or 30 percent of their budget, on an issue appearing on a ballot had to register as a political committee and comply with the complex web of regulations meant for political pros, Cassidy says.
It’s just one more thing to keep your eye and to fight if you love freedom.
