Since I announced Friday the formation of Accountable America to educate the public about right-wing and business-oriented groups and their leaders and donors, some conservatives have reacted with outrage and asserted First Amendment issues.

These harsh reactions, though, have been isolated.  Americans across the country, still angered by the false and vicious Swift Boat attacks in 2004 and concerned about their new counterparts in 2008, have embraced the announcement, and since our launch we have raised tens of thousands of dollars over the Internet without spending a dime on advertising or email lists.

Nonetheless I want to expound on the rationale for engaging in this effort.  It is rooted in deeply-held views about democracy and elections.

First, it is my right.  Free speech like mine is especially protected when the information is of “legitimate concern to the public,” which I would argue is inherent in a political or public policy debate – as the Supreme Court declared 44 years ago in New York Times, Inc. v. Sullivan, there is “a profound national commitment to the principle that debate on public issues should be uninhibited, robust and wide-open.”

Conservative groups and their donors have the same rights, and I honor and respect them for exercising them.  And, part of public debate is having one’s speech and political activity met with other speech and political activity, including criticism and freely posed challenges to the credibility and interests of the messengers and their financiers.  Nobody, including Accountable America and me, is owed some sort of immunity from criticism, and certainly the principal funders of conservative groups are not exempt simply because they are rich, influential or prefer privacy despite their ventures into the public sphere.

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