Nicole Neily of the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity has an OpEd on the OC Register that begins:
California Attorney General Kamala Harris has staked much of her political identity on a crusade against so-called “dark money” in politics. For several years, Harris, who is running to replace Barbara Boxer in the U.S. Senate, has demanded that nonprofit groups provide her office with their IRS Form 990 Schedule Bs – the forms containing their full list of donor names and identifying information – if they wish to solicit donations in California.
A recent lawsuit, however, has exposed Harris’s political posturing for what it really is: a state-level campaign to use donor disclosure to pave the way for political intimidation of conservative groups and activists.
If you expect this to be a piece just about harassing conservatives, though, read on, because Neily cites a judge’s ruling that may change your mind:
Harris claimed that she needed private donor information for investigative purposes, but as [Judge Manuel] Real pointed out in his ruling, this argument holds little weight because officials “virtually never” examine such information when investigating nonprofits. On the contrary, Real found that donors faced a genuine threat of harm from the prospect of their identities becoming public.
“While human error can sometimes be unavoidable, the amount of careless mistakes made by the attorney general’s [nonprofit donor] Registry is shocking,” Real wrote.
The AG’s irresponsible handling of these documents should be just as worrisome for those on the left as it is for AFP supporters. For instance, among these publicly searchable documents was Planned Parenthood’s list of donors.
Now maybe you’ll read more on OC Register.
For myself, I’d like to read more about all these “careless mistakes” involving the AG’s registry. If anyone can point me to a IG audit or something like that, please share the link.