On September 16, the Tea Party Leadership Fund asked the Federal Election Commission to grant an exemption, so that the Fund would not need to disclose the names of people who contribute to the Fund. Here is the 13-page request from the Fund. The letter says “The TEA Party is not a political party as defined by FECA because it does not nominate candidates to federal office.” It also says, “The TEA Party and its supporters are political outsiders untethered to – and often at odds with – both major political parties.” That sentence is likely to draw skepticism. The request is based on the U.S. Supreme Court decisions that exempted the NAACP from disclosing its membership to certain southern state governments in the 1950′s, and the U.S. Supreme Court 1982 decision that exempted the Socialist Workers Party from disclosing its contributors and also its expenditures. Lower courts have granted similar exemptions to the Communist, Socialist Action, and Freedom Socialist Parties.
Ballot Access News - Tea Party Leadership Fund Asks FEC for Exemption from Disclosing its Contributors
