Free speech is under attack in California. The Left is afraid that if those supporting limited government and freeing workers from extortionist unions had free speech, someone would listen. In fact under Federal law, free speech is still allowed in the political arena. Under certain circumstances, anonymous donations are allowed—in Federal law. This is to prevent bullying and harassment of those who want to speak but know special interests and government agents would come after them.
Now the person pressing to make a technical mistake (which Federally is no mistake at all), Ann Ravel, is going to join the Federal Elections Commission—which we now know has worked with the IRS—which has been harassing honest citizens. A $16 million fine and penalty will probably close two Political Action Committee’s and lessen political speech in California—the goal of Ann and her Obama/Progressive friends.
AG Harris Admits FPPC Issue “Inadvertent”—uses It as Excuse for $16 MILLION Fine/Penalty
By Stephen Frank, Editorial, California Political News and Views 10/25/13
The political grandstanding by California’s Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) was a rather un-fair practice of trampling on 1st Amendment rights and deliberately leading citizens and voters of California to think that some victory was won for transparency. Ann Ravel’s marvelous overtures and white board diagrams drew a picture of nothing other than her own feeble attempts to get her feet inside the Washington, D.C. Beltway.
Groups that look to organize grassroots political campaigns are fully entitled to do so. California, however, has created a nebulous labyrinth of disclosure technicalities that could make a seasoned legal counsel’s head spin. Two groups involved in the settlement from Thursday attempted to engage in the California political arena, as is their right, and unfortunately had a filing mishap with the state paperwork.
Their mistake, which Attorney General Kamala Harris and now former FPPC chair Ann Ravel acknowledged in the text of the settlement, was completely “inadvertent” mistake and the groups “acted in good faith” to follow the letter of the law. Given that the groups had never made a contribution in the state of California, their inexperience with this process might be understandable. The moment was crystalized at a charlatan press conference from FPPC’s Ravel on Thursday. She threw around terms like “dark money” and “Koch brothers” in an attempt to gain outsized media coverage for what really was a backroom paperwork issue.
They boldly proclaimed that they stood up for California voters and citizens who want to know the truth about money in politics. Take a deeper look at what actually happened, and it is just the same bloviating garbage that you typically expect from a hack D.C. Congressman. Maybe that’s why Ann Ravel joyously tweeted from her personal Twitter account Thursday night, “Capitol to Capitol” with a picture of Washington, D.C. in reference to her new move to the Federal Elections Commission—she wants to get chummy with her new friends!
Imagine for a moment that you are filing your personal tax returns in good faith and make an error; consequently, you get the IRS pounding on your door, leaking to the newspapers that you’re “money laundering” and accusing you for hiding behind some big conspiracy theory. That would seem a little ridiculous, right? Ann Ravel doesn’t seem to think so. And now with her new position at the FEC, she will actually be just a few steps away from the IRS—so this could all happen to you soon.
Ravel and the FPPC have shown that they have no regard to the fair and equal treatment of the law when it comes to targeting those for whom they are ideologically opposed. She will fit right in with the Lois Lerner’s of the IRS world who target conservative groups and punish them through their bureaucratic levers of power.
And in the case this week in California, slamming down a record fine on groups for making an accidental and ultimately inconsequential clerical error should strike fear into the hearts of anyone who wants to make their voice heard in the political process.
