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Saturday, May 22, 2004 - Page updated at 12:00 A.M.
On Politics / David Postman Exposure worries donors
It used to be Freedom Socialist Party members who worried that their political views would make them targets of harassment or even violence.
Now backers of John Kerry are scared, too.
Advances in technology have made it easy to find out the political leanings of anyone who donates money to a political candidate or cause. A few clicks on the Internet are all it takes to find campaign-finance information that once was seen mostly by government watchdogs and investigative reporters.
The free flow of information makes it easier than ever to track down who is paying for America's campaigns. Disclosure is a linchpin of our post-Watergate political system.
But it's making some donors uncomfortable.
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The New York Times wrote this week about people unhappy that their donation records were so easily accessible on public Web sites. A Kerry backer worried about being the target of vandalism in her heavily Republican neighborhood. And a donor to Howard Dean's campaign was reported to have complained to the Federal Elections Commission that it was a violation of his civil rights and the information could be used by a potential employer to blackball him.
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~~~I not at the point of feeling uncomfortable donating money to Kerry yet, but I do feel paranoid when people start taking my photograph while I'm in my car with the DU bumpersticker on the rear.
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