Future Retirement Success
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Investing
  • Stocks
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Investing
  • Stocks

Future Retirement Success

Investing

Missouri AG Investigates Private Group’s Advocacy

by December 18, 2023
December 18, 2023
Missouri AG Investigates Private Group’s Advocacy

Walter Olson

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey.

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, a conservative, has sent a letter to left‐​leaning advocacy group Media Matters notifying them that he has placed them under legal investigation for having published criticisms of X, the Elon Musk social media site formerly known as Twitter, in such a way as to cause the site to lose advertisers. In doing so, Bailey would appear to be following in the ignoble footsteps of other elected officials who’ve sought to investigate and punish private advocacy on issues of public interest.

Longtime readers of this site will recall the disgraceful episode in the 2010s in which liberal attorneys general from a number of states investigated supposed wrongful advocacy by nonprofits and businesses on climate change issues, the First Amendment notwithstanding. (The enforcement action that went furthest, against Exxon over claimed misstatements to investors, fell flat on its face in a New York courtroom.) The campaign also included harassing subpoenas directed at nonprofit groups that had supposedly put out misleading or one‐​sided studies on climate matters.

What law does Bailey think he has on his side? While Elon Musk himself may have standing to file a civil suit claiming that his business was defamed, a state has no standing (nor should it) to file its own piggyback libel actions on behalf of celebrities it may admire.

Instead, Bailey writes, “I have reason to believe that your firm’s alleged actions may have violated Missouri consumer protection laws, including laws that prohibit nonprofit entities from soliciting funds under false pretenses.” Under this theory, supposedly wrongful advocacy by a private nonprofit on issues of public concern becomes a matter for state criminal enforcement, if the nonprofit repeats the claims in its fundraising.

Bailey thus evinces concern for the well‐​being of Media Matters donors, whom he paints as the victims on behalf of whom he is acting. This is every bit as convincing as former New York AG Eric Schneiderman’s insistence that in bringing a securities fraud case over Exxon’s climate statements he was deeply concerned for the welfare of Exxon’s shareholders. 

In the most risible bit of the letter—better than satire, really—Bailey claims to be standing up for free speech by menacing his private target with legal punishment for its speech.

You really have to wonder, though, whether Bailey has thought even one step ahead in the “What if the other side tries this?” calculation. By information and belief, groups on his own conservative side of the culture war raise a large volume of revenue from direct‐​response campaigns, which frequently repeat assertions that some future unsympathetic law enforcer could portray as misleading or flat wrong. Does Bailey really want to start down a road in which states crack down on fundraising by right as well as left advocacy groups this way?

0
FacebookTwitterGoogle +Pinterest
previous post
High Costs of Low-Income Housing
next post
Top 4 sites to get free Instagram followers

You may also like

Six Ways to Understand DOGE and Predict Its...

March 17, 2025

Legalizing Organ Sales

May 25, 2023

Friday Feature: Bridges to Science

September 22, 2023

A Tale of Two Trade Deals

May 12, 2025

America’s Violent Extremists: Past Tragedies, Future Threats

April 20, 2023

Emergency Aid or Budget Trick? Assessing Biden’s $100...

October 20, 2023

Border Patrol Agent Deaths in the Line of...

January 8, 2024

Ballot Disqualification: The Stakes

February 9, 2024

Miller Says We Can Suspend Habeas Corpus Because...

May 19, 2025

Friday Feature: Navigate School Choice

October 25, 2024

    Get free access to all of the retirement secrets and income strategies from our experts! or Join The Exclusive Subscription Today And Get the Premium Articles Acess for Free

    By opting in you agree to receive emails from us and our affiliates. Your information is secure and your privacy is protected.

    Recent Posts

    • ‘Congress must act’: Nonprofit study exposes green energy org’s ties to CCP interests while undermining US

      June 11, 2025
    • GOP congressman takes major step toward gubernatorial announcement

      June 11, 2025
    • DOJ argues Trump may cancel Biden-era national monuments

      June 11, 2025
    • Government’s spending surge to trigger significant tax rises, says leading advisory firm

      June 11, 2025
    • Republican senator teams up with Democrat to push $15 per hour minimum wage plus annual inflation increases

      June 11, 2025
    • House of Lords AI summit at London Tech Week warns of ‘skills cliff edge’ threatening UK’s competitive future

      June 11, 2025

    Categories

    • Business (8,184)
    • Investing (2,027)
    • Politics (15,595)
    • Stocks (3,141)
    • About us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms & Conditions

    Disclaimer: futureretirementsuccess.com, its managers, its employees, and assigns (collectively “The Company”) do not make any guarantee or warranty about what is advertised above. Information provided by this website is for research purposes only and should not be considered as personalized financial advice. The Company is not affiliated with, nor does it receive compensation from, any specific security. The Company is not registered or licensed by any governing body in any jurisdiction to give investing advice or provide investment recommendation. Any investments recommended here should be taken into consideration only after consulting with your investment advisor and after reviewing the prospectus or financial statements of the company.

    Copyright © 2025 futureretirementsuccess.com | All Rights Reserved