Want Our Endorsement? Surrender Your Privacy

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Here's a new one that I noticed in the The Fresno Bee the other day. The Fresno Chamber of Commerce is asking candidates who want its support to reveal their Social Security and driver's license numbers for background checks.

"The idea basically is simple enough," Al Smith, the chamber's president and chief executive, told the Bee "If we're going to put our name behind a candidate, we want to make sure there's nothing in his background that we don't know about."

According to the Bee, two candidates had the kahunas to reject the chamber's request, and others who handed over the data said they were uncomfortable doing so.

"This has nothing to do with checking me out. I'm comfortable with that," said Fresno County supervisor candidate Debbie Poochigian, who sent a letter to the chamber outlining her reasons for not providing the information. "But you can't give up every privacy right in the world."

There's more...