Governor Snyder’s “Transparency” Standards

January 7, 2014 at 7:44 am · Filed under MLive Media Group

Governor Snyder's "Transparency" Standards

Originally published in the Ann Arbor News, Bay City Times, Flint Journal, Grand Rapids Press, Jackson Citizen Patriot, Kalamazoo Gazette, Muskegon Chronicle, Saginaw News
January 5, 2014

Sorry Governor Snyder, but I have to call bullshit on this one. Hiding the names of contributors to issue ads is a defense of the first amendment? Really? This country was quite literally founded on the idea of full accountability and disclosure on issues. The signers of the Declaration of Independence did not hide behind a made-up organization name. They used their own names. And while they too risked the harassment of the bloggers of their day (publishers of pamphlets and placards), they also risked some very real medieval punishments for treason: hanging, beheading, drawn and quartered, etc. So simply identifying yourself when you pay to have an ad run seems pretty patriotic, don’t you think? Well, that’s my opinion. If you have a problem with that, there’s my name, email address, Twitter account, and picture right there.

3 Comments »

  1. Kris said,

    January 7, 2014 @ 9:55 am

    Spot on. You do a great service to your state by calling him out. The NSA will know who is contributing if they want to so anonymity may be fleeting long term.

  2. tims said,

    January 28, 2014 @ 7:46 pm

    What, you don’t like the freedom of cowardice act?

  3. John said,

    January 29, 2014 @ 4:58 pm

    Tim, that’s a perfect name for it!

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