BY NAN BAILEY
SEATTLE - The King County Labor Council (KCLC), the central labor body of AFL-CIO unions in the Seattle area, has thrown its support behind efforts to defend free speech and the rights to privacy and voluntary association. The FCLC is made up of 155 labor organizations representing more than 100,000 workers.

Last year the SEEC denied an exemption to the campaigns of Socialist Workers candidates Scott Breen for Mayor and Robbie Scherr for City Council from publicly disclosing the names, addresses, and employers of their contributors vendors. Below is the letter from the KCLC in its entirety.

Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission

226 Municipal Building

600 Fourth Avenue

Seattle, WA 98104

Dear Commissioners:

The King County Labor Council, AFL-CIO, submits this letter to urge that the SEEC reverse its decision of assessing penalties against the Socialist Workers' 1997 Campaign, and also that the SEEC grant the Socialist Workers' request for a reporting exemption.

As the commission knows, the United States Supreme Court has previously evaluated the claim by the Socialist Workers that an exemption from disclosure of its contributors is necessary to protect the contributors to this minor party from harassment. There is no reason that the problems of harassment that justify the Supreme Court's decision are less present in Washington State in 1997 than they were in Ohio in 1982, when the Supreme Court decided Brown v. Socialist Workers `74 Campaign Committee(Ohio), 459 U.S. 87(1982). To the contrary, the materials submitted by the Socialist Workers reflect that the level of harassment in Washington is among the highest in the nation.

The King County Labor Council believes strongly that political organizations should not be required to release information to government agencies when the information "carries with it a real potential for chilling the free exercise of political speech and association guarded by the First Amendment." Machinists Non-partisan Political League, 655 F.2d 380, 388 (DC Cir.) cert denied 454 U.S. 897 (1981). Of course, disclosure of contributors to political campaigns serves a substantial public interest. However, particularly with respect to minor parties such as the Socialist Workers, the King County Labor Council submits that the threat to free speech and association that is imposed by requiring disclosure of all contributors far exceeds the marginal public interest in obtaining information regarding the names and employers of its few contributors.

For these reasons, the King County Labor Council strongly urges the SEEC to reverse the penalties imposed by the Executive Director, and to follow the FECA and the PDC in granting a reporting exemption to the Socialist Workers' party. Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Ron Judd, Executive Secretary

King County Labor Council  
 
 
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