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September 25, 2012

You Win Another Court Ruling

We just got a good ruling in the Van Hollen case, for which Downsizers helped fund a brief.  

Maryland Congressman Chris Van Hollen claimed that the Federal Election Commission was failing to impose sufficient campaign finance disclosure requirements. He said the FEC was misinterpreting the Citizens United decision. 

DC Downsizers (listed below) helped fund a brief countering Van Hollen.

WE WON!

The Appeals Court rejected Van Hollen’s claims just four days after the oral arguments!

We argued that . . .

  • Courts should not defer to the self-interested claims of Congressional incumbents.
  • Campaign finance disclosure laws make those who fund challengers vulnerable to retaliation.
  • The right to anonymous political expression is well established in American law and history (secret ballots are just one example).

As usual, no one else made claims as bold as ours, and it paid off once again.

In truth, if voters really value knowing who funds campaigns then voluntary disclosure is sufficient. Voters can always choose to punish candidates who refuse to disclose.

But that isn’t good enough for the incumbents and the left-statist regime media, both of whom want to control political expression for their own benefit.

Both incumbents and the left-statist regime media have lied about the Citizens United case. Hysterically, they’ve called the CU decision the greatest evil “since Dred Scott.” (You cannot make this stuff up.)

All the CU decision did was make it possible for the non-rich to join together to exercise their freedom of the PRESS, using corporate entities like Downsize DC. 

We want to thank the following donors (and others who chose to be unlisted) for helping us defend your freedom of the PRESS:

Adam Rezner, Benjamin Moyes, Bill Hasty, Franklin Davis,

Ben Kuhner, Brittany Wolf, Chuck Watson, Christopher Norbury,

Charles Sheppard, Dave  Ellis, Ronald Cadby, Matthew Whitlock,

Linda Otis, Mike Rosing, Francesco Angelini, Beth Johnson,

James Covey, Russell Stanton, Gerry Benton, Edward Suchecki,

Jerry Mabry, John Inderdohnen, J Blagg, Marie Adams,

John Crawford, Cherry Lewis, Justin Gillen, Joan Garro,

Joe Stubblefield, John Wynne, Jaret Osborne, Jeremy Weathers,

Ken Marier, Steve Seiler, Leif Christensen, Leo Hamel,

Robert Lidral, Mark Babasa, Mark Wilczek, Mary Sullivan,

Michael Marco, Mark Weaver, Nathan Bailey, John Bauman,

Corinne Pettey, Robert Lehman, Elaine Claudio, Robert Gibson,

Randy Szabla, Christopher Gough, Robert E King, Roberta Reed,

Robert Stern, Robert Taylor, Richard Loomis, Kevin Jackson,

Shirley Martin, Gregory McGee, Steve Boehme, Stephen Moffet,

Susan Varey, Shane Verley, Valerie Guinan, Jeremey Davis, Zachery McGill.

It is our policy to issue tax receipts for cumulative donations of $25 or more, in January.

Thank you and congratulations on another victory!

Jim Babka
President
Downsize DC Foundation

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