Disclose Donors to Initiative Group?

The Seattle Times endorses disclosure in this editorial.

At the same time it covers its donors, Protect Marriage Washington is asking the PDC’s permission to do so. Its reason is that it is alarmed by a bellicose Web site and has received threats through the Internet.

The state cannot set aside the public-disclosure law just because someone received a threat. That is setting the bar too low. If all it took were a threat from an anonymous e-mailer, groups that wanted an exemption from public disclosure could threaten themselves. An exception should require a pattern of acts that are real, ongoing and serious.

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