Should your employer know how you spend your money?

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Saturday November 06, 2010 · 8:31 AM PDT

2010/11/06 · 08:31

I pose this question in view of the Keith Olbermann's suspension. Campaign finance laws dictate disclosure of people who contribute to campaigns. Should this disclosure be made public? I would argue no. Why? Most people can be fired without reason or justification. Should a company be able to fire people who did not contribute to the campaigns the company wanted them to contribute to? What prevents this from happening? After all Keith Olbermann was suspended for contributing to a campaign.

Now we all know people can contribute secretly to efforts to denigrate candidates without disclosing their contribution to such an effort. Suppose Keith Olbermann contributed to such an effort to denigrate Rand Paul as opposed to contributing to Jack Conway's campaign. Would MSNBC ever know? If MSNBC learned of such a contribution would they have suspended Keith Olbermann? Would a suspension be required under their rules?

Explain to me the difference between making a campaign contribution as opposed to making a contribution to an effort to denigrate a candidate. Is there any difference? Seems to me the effort to denigrate a candidate is much worse than a campaign contribution. Yet short of learning how one spends one money there is no way of determining whether or not one made a contribution to an effort to denigrate a candidate.

So where does this leave us? To me this leaves us at the point where no campaign contributions should be disclosed and campaign contributions should be private matters between the campaign and the contributor.

Now much has been made about the "news" aspect of how can a reporter be trusted to do accurate reporting if the reporter makes a campaign contribution. The same question can be asked if a reporter votes. Should a reporter be forced not to vote on the basis of their reporting? Should a reporter be forced to reveal for whom they voted when reporting? These questions would never be asked. So what is the difference?

MSNBC needs to explain their rules in light of these issues. Did Keith Olbermann violate the rules of his employment with MSNBC? It appears so. Should the rules exist? NO!!

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