These People Have No Idea How Campaign Finance Works

By Naomi LaChance  |  August 7, 2019 | 2:50am
Elections

People are absolutely losing their minds because Joaquin Castro, a Democratic congressman from Texas, tweeted the names of 44 people who donated to President Donald Trump who live in San Antonio. To be clear, this information is made publicly available by the government, and Castro did not post the donors’ addresses or do anything to put them in danger.

Among the scolds were freelance reporter Yashar Ali and New York Times correspondent Maggie Haberman, who has included similar data in her own stories. It’s totally bizarre. It’s certainly in the public interest to know who is willingly sending Trump money. I don’t have any sympathy for someone who chooses to part with their money in such a freakish manner.

“This isn’t even Joaquin Castro’s opponent,” Ali tweeted. However, Castro is the chairman of the presidential campaign of his twin brother, Julián.

He then attempted a clarification: “I may be dumb but I’m not stupid.”

Meanwhile, Haberman called the list “dangerous.”

Haberman has used this data too, though. In a story from July, for example, she and other Times reporters examined publicly available campaign finance data including Trump donors. Again, that’s because it’s completely ethical, normal, and even in the public interest to look up who might be funneling cash to politicians.

House Republican Whip Steve Scalise from Louisiana was shot two years ago in Washington, D.C. He somehow viewed Castro’s tweet as being related.

Kevin McCarthy, a Republican Rep. from California, apparently was so annoyed at seeing campaign finance data it made him miss Michelle Obama?

Castro didn’t do anything wrong by sharing this information. Far from harassment, he was doing something that is standard practice in politics as well as journalism. There are approximately several million people who I’m more worried about shielding from harassment than wealthy Trump donors.

 
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