Opposing NJ’s ‘Dark Money’ Ban is about Protecting Free Speech, Not Merely the Progressive Agenda

In Overriding dark money bill will cripple progressive groups, grassroots organization says,New Jersey Star-Ledger guest columnists Phyllis Salowe-Kaye and Marcia Marley rightly argued against a “dark money” bill that would force disclosure of private donors to political advocacy organizations. They make the valid point that such forced disclosure would amplify the power of the political class to dominate political discourse.

Unfortunately, they don’t argue from principle, only from partisan ideological motives.They call for favoring advocates of their Progressive liberal agenda, while stifling opponents’ ability to dissent.

Opposing NJ’s ‘dark money’ ban is about protecting free speech--everyone’s free speech, including “trade associations” and “powerful corporate interests.” 

So it’s a shame that Phyllis Salowe-Kaye and Marcia Marley have narrowed the issue down to merely protecting the Progressive agenda. 

But that’s exactly the point of freedom of speech, and thus the protection of donors’ privacy. Nobody’s political agenda should be exempt or “protected” from public scrutiny, dissent, opposing opinions, or accountability. Nobody’s political ideology or agenda should ever be the government’s job to protect. The government should protect everyone’s freedom to express their views equally and at all times.

By advocating forced disclosure on political donors of differing political views, Salowe-Kaye and Marley are exposing their, and more broadly Progressives', authoritarian impulses. They are explicitly and brazenly suggesting targeted government restrictions on free speech so as to protect and advance the Progressive agenda. In doing so, they inadvertently provide powerful evidence for why so-called  “dark money” should never be banned.

Related Reading:

Murphy’s Veto of NJ’s ‘Dark Money’ Ban Should Be Unconditional

The Intimidation Game: How the Left Is Silencing Free Speech--by Kimberley Strassel, especially Chapter 2, “Publius & Co.”

Kill New Jersey’s ‘Dark Money’ Ban

NJ’s ‘Dark Money’ Bill an Attack on Intellectual Freedom

NJ’s ‘Dark Money’ Bill is an Assault on Free Speech

The Anti-Free Speech Fallacy of ‘Dark Money’

N.J. AG Confirms: State’s Disclosure Law is about Stifling Political Accountability

Why Free Speech and Spending on Speech are Inextricably Linked