Seven Democratic House candidates—Jaime Churches, Alex Hawkins, Jan Maino, Katrina Manetta, Lisa McIntyre, Sarah Pounds and Joanna Whaley—have issued a joint statement complaining about political advertisements publicizing personal contact information. They’re calling on Speaker Matt Hall and Republican leaders to intervene.
But their accusation leaves an important question unanswered: what happens when candidates themselves have already published the information as a way for voters to contact them?
Take Churches. According to The Midwesterner, the same phone number at the center of her complaint appeared in her campaign literature, public filings and press materials. Campaign literature bearing her signature even invited voters to contact her at that number. That is significant context when evaluating her claim that opponents exposed private information.
The Michigan Freedom Fund has also pushed back on the broader controversy, telling FOX 2 that it uses numbers candidates have published on their social media pages. The organization condemned threats. Its response challenges the suggestion that every number appearing in these advertisements was obtained from a private source.
Threats are unacceptable. Candidates’ claims about the publication of their information still deserve scrutiny. Churches’ own campaign materials undercut the suggestion that her campaign contact number was a closely guarded secret.
Before Democrats demand that Republicans answer for the publication of campaign contact information, they should account for how that information became public—including what their own campaigns chose to distribute. Voters deserve the complete story.