Posted on 08/09/2019 1:57:37 PM PDT by yesthatjallen
House conservatives on Friday called on the chamber's Ethics Committee to investigate Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) for tweeting the names of Trump campaign donors.
Posting a target list of private citizens simply for supporting his political opponent is antithetical to our principles and serves to suppress the free speech and free association rights of Americans," the lawmakers wrote in a letter to House Ethics Committee Chairman Ted Deutch (D-Fla.) and ranking member Rep. Kenny Marchant (R-Texas).
These acts must immediately be investigated to determine if Rep. Castro has violated the ethical rules of this institution, they added.
The letter spearheaded by Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) was signed by GOP Reps. Matt Gaetz (Fla.), Jody Hice (Ga.), Debbie Lesko (Ariz.), Jeff Duncan (S.C.), Randy Weber (Texas) and Ted Budd (N.C.).
The lawmakers argued that publishing donor lists suppresses free speech and the right to freely associate.
By publishing a list of private citizens who donated to his political opponent, Rep. Castro sought to encourage harassment against those citizens simply on the basis of their political beliefs," they wrote. "It cannot be fairly argued that Rep. Castro had any other purpose in posting that list and telling his activist followers that those individuals were inciting hate. Whether he intended to provoke physical violence or merely verbal harassment, his intent was to chill the free speech and free association rights of Americans."
Castro, the brother of a Democratic presidential candidate, came under fire this week from House GOP leaders and President Trump's campaign for tweeting the names and business interests of dozens of donors to Trump's reelection campaign.
On Monday evening, following that weekend's mass shooting in El Paso, Texas, Castro tweeted the names of 44 Texans who donated the maximum $2,700 to Trump, specifically calling out the owners of several prominent businesses in San Antonio, where the Castro brothers are from.
Federal candidates are required to disclose the names and employers of donors who contribute $200 or more in Federal Election Commission filings, which are publicly available online.
However, it is unusual for a lawmaker to publish the names and business interests of individual donors of another campaign.
Their contributions are fueling a campaign of hate that labels Hispanic immigrants as invaders, Castro tweeted.
At the time, there were reports that the suspected gunman had allegedly posted a manifesto online shortly before the attack that included anti-immigrant rhetoric and warned of a Hispanic invasion.
The suspect has since reportedly told police that he carried out the shooting and that he was targeting "Mexicans."
Julián Castro defended the tweet after Trump blasted the move.
"Joaquin and I will keep fighting. The American people will fight every day for our nation, against your hate, your corruption, and your ego. And well win. #AdiósTrump," he tweeted.
The Front Hole Brothers don't appear to understand our representative form of government.
A US House representative is the shield and advocate of his constituents.
If he attacks his own constituents like Jokey did, it's literally government tyranny, since he will NOT advocate for or shield the constituents he's attacking.
I hope Cernovich can prove it.
It's literally the job of a US House representative to advocate for and protect his constituents - not attack them and put them in danger.
I learned that in my youth, & it saved me $4,000 in an incorrect IRS levy.
Joaquin's actions inform his constituents that if he or his staff discovers that you voted for an "unapproved" candidate, there would be a very good chance that he and his office would join in an IRS [or other government agency] attack on you, instead of helping you - which is his JOB, if you've done nothing wrong and are law-abiding.
It's the very definition of government tyranny.
The information may be publicly available, but it is not typically put on public view. Only people who look for the information would see it.
What Castro did was to publicize the information, along with defaming the people whose names he publicized. It is obvious he was inviting people to harass and attack those whose names he publicized.
He most certainly did commit an ethics violation. Inciting violence against people is highly unethical.
House Ethics Committee. If they reject the request, it will further expose the Democrats as both politically corrupt hypocrites (they don’t care) but also as protectors of physical threats to conservatives and even other Democrats.
That is the lesson we must teach.
Shouldn’t be hard to do, it’s public information.
“It cannot be fairly argued that Rep. Castro had any other purpose in posting that list and telling his activist followers that those individuals were inciting hate.
“Whether he intended to provoke physical violence or merely verbal harassment, his intent was to chill the free speech and free association rights of Americans.”
Congressman [???] with the mentality of a maggot.
People used to post that stuff on FR all the time. Every time a celebrity piece was on there was a cadre that put their donation info in the thread. Was that incitement to violence?
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