Ethics Commission Muffles Socialist Voice

by Linda Averill, candidate for Seattle City Council

On July 2nd, the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission refused to seriously consider my request to keep private the names of donors and vendors for my campaign as a Freedom Socialist Party candidate for Seattle City Council, Position 5. Here, briefly, is why the SEEC's ruling is of concern to all Seattle voters.

Public disclosure laws violate the fundamental First Amendment right to keep one's political associations private. For the two major parties, the courts have recognized the state's compelling interest in waiving privacy rights in order to expose corruption.

Socialist parties are a horse of a different color. The FSP is a minority party that challenges corporate rule. My platform includes calls for taxing "Seattle's corporate freeloaders to fund jobs, schools, childcare and expanded public transit." The possibility of my being influenced by the Starbucks and Bill Gates of the world is non-existent.

The same can't be said of the chance for harassment against donors to my socialist campaign. Our activism has earned us death threats from anti-communist Cubans, calling cards from Ku Klux Klansmen, discrimination from employers, surveillance from government spooks, and other forms of retaliation.

In 1991 and 1998, when the FSP last ran candidates, such evidence convinced state and city commissions to grant the party exemptions. This time, the SEEC voted 4-2 against my case.

Significantly, Commissioners Mel Kang and Bruce Heller voted for my request, stating "the majority's decision places too high a price on the exercise of rights guaranteed by the First Amendment." Their dissenting opinion, posted on my website www.socialism.com, cites landmark US Supreme Court rulings from the 1970s.

As a Freedom Socialist candidate I won't waive privacy rights of donors, especially in the post 9/11 era of government attacks on everyone's right to privacy and cherished civil liberties.

While we appeal the SEEC's misguided decision to higher courts, I'm asking for donations of $24.99, the highest amount a donor can give to my campaign and keep their privacy rights intact.

So be it for now. But it's a sad day when the SEEC uses public disclosure laws, designed to target big money, instead to muffle the voice of a workingclass party. It's why we need real election reform: proportional representation, and public financing of elections so that candidates compete on ideas, not dollars.

WWW Washington Free Press