Recently the Center for Public Integrity (CPI) – a group with a history of support from multiple George Soros-backed foundations – came to the defense of Democrat Ann Ravel, former chairman of the Federal Election Commission in a piece published by The Daily Beast.
The Center tried to set free-speech predator Ravel up as a victim after she earned a serious backlash for endorsing additional regulations on online speech. Ravel is an Obama appointee and a radical.
Ravel’s radical positions can’t be ignored. Indeed, in the Daily Beast article, CPI acknowledges Ravel is out of step with other commissioners. “Ravel, of course, prefers a more aggressive approach to regulating online politicking – an approach the body isn’t likely to take anytime soon,” wrote CPI’s Dave Levinthal.
The commissioners on the Texas Ethics Commission (TEC) have mimicked Ravel in their contempt for free speech. During the 2015 session, then-TEC Chairman Jim Clancy wrote a letter to his fellow commissioners talking about tens of thousands of Texans he envisions the TEC policing.
While the power Ravel and Clancy have is real, it’s not established, entrenched, or untouchable. The CPI article, lamenting the vitriol and vulgarity aimed at Ravel, offered their surprise and unhappiness that Ravel was singled out for criticism.
“[W]hile commonplace for high-profile politicians such as Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, [vitriol and vulgarity] were previously unknown to federal election regulators who many congressional representatives – to say nothing of average Americans – couldn’t identify by name or face.”
We have a problem in Texas with government bureaucracies going rogue, abusing their power by writing new rules and targeting conservatives specifically.
The Texas Ethics Commission was created in order to police elected officials and government employees, not to harass citizens who engage in their communities. The TEC either needs to be radically reformed, or it needs to be abolished. It is time the TEC starts watching the power, rather than assisting in their corruption.
