The Seattle Ethics and Election Commission (SEEC) denied such an exemption to the Socialist Workers campaign in 1997. The city of Seattle is the only place in the United States where such an SWP exemption has been denied since the party won a victory on this issue on the national level. Since the late 1970s, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) has extended a disclosure exemption covering the party’s national campaign committee, and committees supporting Socialist Workers candidates.

“The decisions earlier this year by the SEEC and Washington Public Disclosure Commission (PDC) to grant exemptions to the Freedom Socialist Party candidates provide a good opportunity to fight to reverse the 1997 denial by the city of Seattle,” said Hoeppner. The SEEC’s recent ruling came in the aftermath of two federal court decisions last year overturning the commission’s denial of exemption to FSP candidates in 2003. “Our goal is to protect the privacy of contributors and vendors of the campaign,” the SWP candidate said.

Hoeppner noted that the party’s fight for the exemption is part of its decades-long support for the right of workers, farmers, and their organizations to engage in political activity, including elections, free from government and right-wing harassment. The communist movement has opposed every measure by the capitalist rulers and their hired thugs to assert a monopoly over the right to organize, the ability to carry out political action, and the possibility to be heard by the working population. The SWP has run candidates for office since its founding in 1938 and has fielded candidates for U.S. president and vice president in every election since 1948.

The 1971 Federal Election Campaign Act and similar local laws require lists of contributors and vendors be provided to government bodies and made available to the public—with names, addresses, occupations, and amounts donated. The result is a convenient “enemies list” for government agencies, employers, and right-wing groups and individuals.

The FEC granted the Socialist Workers campaign an exemption from such disclosures in 1979 on the basis of the threat to First Amendment rights to free association posed by publicizing such information. That exemption has been renewed every six years. It is currently in force until 2008.

In 1997, the SEEC denied a request by the Seattle Socialist Workers campaign for a disclosure exemption. It based its ruling on the claim that the “liberal climate” in Seattle makes this exemption unnecessary. After a public fight to reverse the SEEC decision, an agreement was reached in which the campaign was not required to disclose names and addresses of contributors. But the SEEC ruling stood.

“That 1997 ruling remains a danger to freedom of association and privacy,” Hoeppner said, “and for this reason we will campaign to reverse it.”

Hoeppner, who just launched his campaign, is taking the party’s platform to working people throughout the city. On May 20 the socialist candidate joined Alaska Airline workers at a picket line here protesting firings of 472 ramp workers and baggage handlers. The next evening Hoeppner met with cannery workers employed by Snokist in Yakima, Washington, who recently won union representation and a contract after a seven-month strike. They discussed the importance of organizing trade unions and strengthening them to resist the bosses’ assaults on wages and working conditions.

Supporters of the SWP mayoral campaign are organizing to gather 3,000 signatures between June 18 and July 2 to place Hoeppner’s name on the ballot. This is part of a national effort to gain ballot status for SWP candidates, who present a working-class alternative to the Democrats, Republicans, and other capitalist parties.

Supporters of the socialist campaign are appealing for contributions and messages of support for the fight for the disclosure exemption. Jim Lobsenz, a prominent Seattle civil liberties attorney, is representing the Socialist Workers campaign. Some $1,600 in contributions has been raised so far. The Political Rights Defense Fund (PRDF) is aiding the effort. Contributions, which are tax deductible, should be sent to: PRDF, P.O. Box 761, Church Street Station, New York, NY 10007, earmarked Seattle disclosure fight.
 
 
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