[EL] Krauthammer latest to reject the Informational Interest ...

[Mark Schmitt]

I can understand the argument that the potential abuses of disclosure 
might outweigh the benefits to democracy. (Especially because I think 
those benefits are overstated.) But it seems awfully weird to hold the 
view that disclosure was "an elegant solution" and "a reasonable way to 
reconcile the irreconcilables," but also that it has now been "ruined" 
beyond rescue. Ruined by a handful of incidents, all of which involve a 
single issue in a single state. (I'm ignoring good old Mr. Vander Skloot 
and his multi-level marketing scheme -- it's hard to believe he wasn't 
audited sooner.)

It's a lot like saying that you thought the First Amendment was a good 
idea, until some "zealot" ruined it by calling someone a bad name or 
burning a flag. It seems like the worst possible form of argument.





------ Original Message ------
From: "Scarberry, Mark" <Mark.Scarberry at pepperdine.edu>
To: "law-election at uci.edu" <law-election at uci.edu>
Sent: 4/20/2014 10:39:52 PM
Subject: Re: [EL] Krauthammer latest to reject the Informational 
Interest ...

>The end of his column (fair use, I think):
>"The ultimate victim here is full disclosure itself. If revealing your 
>views opens you to the politics of personal destruction, then 
>transparency, however valuable, must give way to the ultimate core 
>political good, free expression.
>
>"Our collective loss. Coupling unlimited donations and full disclosure 
>was a reasonable way to reconcile the irreconcilables of campaign 
>finance. Like so much else in our politics, however, it has been ruined 
>by zealots. What a pity."
>
>Mark S. Scarberry
>
>Pepperdine University School of Law
>
>
>Sent from my iPad
>
>On Apr 20, 2014, at 7:11 PM, "Steve Hoersting" <hoersting at gmail.com> 
>wrote:
>
>>http://www.nationalreview.com/article/376023/zealots-win-again-charles-krauthammer
>>
>>Hear. Hear.
>>
>>--
>>Stephen M. Hoersting
>>_______________________________________________
>>Law-election mailing list
>>Law-election at department-lists.uci.edu
>>http://department-lists.uci.edu/mailman/listinfo/law-election
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