You can't fight obesity eating at McDonald's. You can't teach people how to use a computer through an online course. And you can't fight for more financial disclosure from political groups by hiding your own donors.
During the primary, there was a PAC who had sent out a mailer attacking a candidate. The mailer went to a relatively small number of households, but it got a lot of play on the news. Now, because the guy who runs the PAC was a Democrat, and it was a Republican primary, the narrative from the candidate getting attacked was "My opponent has liberal PACs that want him to win, so you must vote for me." That candidate won the Primary, and since this is Utah, will likely win the general election (unless the accusations from the PAC are true, which I doubt). And, since the winning candidate comes in to the right of Gayle Ruzika, and the losing candidate was much better qualified to be in the office and would do a better job for all Utahns, Utah lost because of this PAC.
When the person running the PAC was interviewed on TV about the allegations, he was asked who his donors were. His response was that he wouldn't release his donors till he had to. I Tweeted something about how B.S. this was, and got a response from the PAC owner. He said that he had to file in the next week anyway, so it's water under the bridge. I responded that it made him no different than the Republican PACs that hide behind loose reporting requirements. I also go angry Tweets and emails from Democratic friends who rail about secret organizations. Because apparently, the only way to have more open dialog is to talk behind closed doors.
And, that is what worries me about organizations like the Alliance for a Better Utah, because they won't tell us where their money is coming from. They claim that they are funded mostly by small donations, but won't show us the money, so to speak.
This week, ABU is railing against ALEC for being this evil, super-secret organization. Now, even though I disagree with just about all of what ALEC tires to push through, I at least know where a lot of their money comes from. Unlike the "not evil, not super secret" organization ABU.
The ends do not justify the means. Playing by the rules doesn't work when the rules are broken.
-Bob
