Remember that White House effort last month that asked people to send in misinformation about healthcare reform so that the administration would set the record straight that right-wing groups jumped all over as proof that the Obama administration was creating an enemies list in order “to intimidate and if possible silence their opponents”?
Well, the White House eventually shut it down, but that doesn’t mean that the story is over:
The Office of the President and other White House officials are defendants in a free speech lawsuit filed by a prominent physician group, and a non-profit advocate for inner-city poor.
The White House has “unlawfully collected information on political speech,” thereby illegally using the power of the White House to chill opposition to its plans for health care reform, according to the complaint filed in District Court for the District of Columbia, by the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) and the Coalition for Urban Renewal and Education (CURE) .
The lawsuit was prompted by the White House solicitation for the public to report any “fishy” comments to ‘[email protected].’ Although the White House slightly revised its data collection procedure last week, the email address still exists, the illegal activity continues, and is part of an “unlawful pattern and practice to collect and maintain information” on the exercise of free speech, which “continues in violation of the Privacy Act and First Amendment even if the Defendants terminate a particular information-collection component due to negative publicity.”
The AAPS is a conservative group that seems to have a history of filing healthcare-related lawsuits, but I am especially confused as to why CURE has gotten involved, given its mission statement:
MISSION
Address issues of race and poverty through principles of faith, freedom and personal responsibility.
OBJECTIVE
Build awareness that conservative agenda of traditional values, limited government, and private ownership is of greatest marginal benefit to low income peoples.
METHOD
We explore and promote market based public policy to fight poverty.
So how does suing the White House over this effort advance CURE’s goal of fighting poverty and helping “low income peoples”? It doesn’t, but Star Parker, CURE’s founder and president, thinks that she is particularly well-suited to fight back against this sort of “intimidation”:
Star Parker, the CURE president, also chimed in on the lawsuit and the actions that preceded it.
“As a black conservative spokesperson and columnist, intimidation tactics aren’t new to me,” she said. “But it is of great concern to see the current Administration build an enemies list of those who disagree with them on this important issue.”
