I don't normally blog on Sundays, but I want to do so today--mainly as an aide mémoire to myself not to forget some important information trails that opened in the final days of this national election. With the election, it would be easy for us to forget these trails.In my view, each of them leads to questions to which we need answers, as we continue building a healthier participatory democracy. Here are the trails I hope the media (and citizen bloggers, and I myself) can keep pursuing, no matter what happens in the election:
1. What role did McCain staffers play in pushing the Ashley Todd story even before it had been verified (see John Aravosis's America Blog on this important question, www.americablog.com/2008/10/time-for-answers.html)?
The public has a right to know.
2. Now that John Stemberger of Yes2Marriage.org, the group sponsoring the anti-gay marriage amendment in Florida, has admitted that Florida Family Action, an umbrella group assisting Yes2Marriage, has hidden the identity of donors to FFA, who are those donors who have wanted to remain anonymous (see Waymon Hudson at Bilerico on this, www.bilerico.com/2008/10/the_insanity_of_john_stemberger_going_do.php)?
Yes2Marriage is violating several Florida non-disclosure laws. If defeating gay marriage is a noble cause, why on earth would anyone want to give to this cause anonymously?
The public has a right to know.
3. Finally, who is providing funding for the various Catholic Answers-type websites that have been cropping up in recent days? I've blogged about one of these sponsored by the Colorado Catholic Conference. I suspect that another about which I also blogged this week--VotoCatolico.org--targeting Latino voters is closely associated with Colorado Catholic Conference.
Given the close ties of Archbishop Chaput in Denver to one of Colorado's leading Republican families, the Coors family, one naturally wonders about Republican funding ties to some of these Catholic Answers websites.
The public has a right to know.
