A lawmaker’s blatant overreach as he ignores Iowa law
The optics of this demand for private, personal information should offend Republicans and Democrats alike.
AT LEAST ONE MEMBER of the Iowa House appears to live by the mantra “Do as I say, not as I do” as he demands access to sensitive personal information and commands silence as he trolls for documents.
The audacity of Representative Charley Thomson’s recent demands to a nonprofit organization should offend all, regardless of where you land on the political spectrum.
The Associated Press broke the news last week that the Charles City Republican, who chairs the Iowa House Government Oversight Committee, recently sent a letter to the Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice demanding the nonprofit organization give him the names and addresses of its clients, its donors and its members.
Thomson’s letter also warned the civil rights group to “not discuss … or notify any person or entity that you have been directed to provide this information.”
As a politician, Thomson should know his demands contradict the rhetoric on his campaign webpage, where he states, “I will continue the fight against government overreach.”
As an attorney, Thomson should know his demand and the accompanying code of silence he ordered are ham-handed, at a minimum.
First, his attempted information grab contradicts an Iowa Code chapter the Legislature enacted just four years ago, the year before Thomson was first elected.
In 2021, lawmakers wrote Chapter 22A, called “Protection of Personal Information, Tax-Exempt Entities.” The statute, signed by Gov. Kim Reynolds, forbids state or local government officials from requiring a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization to hand over information that directly or indirectly identifies its members, its supporters, its volunteers or its donors.
THE STATUTE GREW OUT OF CONCERNS expressed by lawmakers across the United States that officials in some states might demand information about the members and sources of financial support of conservative organizations like Americans for Prosperity and then misuse that information to target or harass members or donors.
Further, in 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that privacy rights of individuals associated with tax-exempt organizations prevented the California attorney general from requiring disclosure of donor identities.
The new Iowa law makes it a crime for government officials to violate Chapter 22A. That is a serious misdemeanor, punishable by up to 90 days in jail and a fine of up to $1,000.
Thomson’s directive that Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice not disclose his letter to the group is troubling for another important reason. Prior restraint of speech — such as the gag order he tries to impose — is a central principle in the First Amendment’s prohibitions and in the Iowa Constitution’s own Bill of Rights.
Even if Thomson does not see the irony, many Iowans see the lousy optics of his demand letter, if not its blatant disregard for fundamental liberties, including our right to associate with people and groups we choose.
Our laws prevent most everyone else in government — short of a prosecutor with a court-approved search warrant or subpoena — from getting member, donor, and volunteer information from nonprofit groups such as Bob Vander Plaat’s The Family Leader, from Moms for Liberty, the NAACP, or the Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice.
WHAT MAKES CHARLEY THOMSON so special and the migrant justice group so different?
Perhaps it is this: A legislator who took an oath to uphold the Constitution is using his office and letterhead to bully an immigrant rights group to hand over private information — including a list of legal services it has provided and to whom — because of the nature of the non-profit organization’s work and the surnames of those it serves.
Turn the tables on Thomson and he will hide behind claims of legislative privilege to keep secret the names of those who communicate with him about immigration concerns, the names of people he writes or emails about immigrant matters, or his plans to investigate an immigrant organization.
The Associated Press reported that Erica Johnson, executive director of the Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice, decided to speak out despite Thomson’s not-so-subtle threats. “We all have rights … and we will not remain silent or intimidated by threats,” she wrote to the legislative committee members.
Iowa’s nonprofit privacy law grew out of concerns that government-compelled disclosure of donor information could discourage charitable giving, lead to backlash directed at people who support a nonprofit’s mission, and infringe on the First Amendment rights of donors, volunteers and members.
Johnson told the Associated Press that Thomson’s letter arrived as attacks on nonprofit organizations working on immigrant issues and legal services have been “off the charts.”
“It seems like every day we say to ourselves, ‘Oh my God. How could it get worse?’ And then it does,” she said.
It almost seems as if Iowa needs a law to keep government and people in it like Charley Thomson from demanding sensitive information from tax-exempt nonprofit organizations, no matter their cause or mission.
Oh, wait . . . .
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So tragic that you never have anything to write about. Oh wait, the state of Iowa never fails giving you a backlog.
Chilling on every level. A lawmaker demands private member/supporter/donor info of a non-profit and orders the 501(c)3 to keep the quiet. My God. And to think Gov. Kim Reynolds just recently passed a law to protect this information, inspired by conservatives under fire and worried about government overreach.