Some state senators last week pushed to eliminate "dark money" - contributions from anonymous donors to campaigns.
The Associated Press reported that the discussion took place more than a week after a nonprofit called A New Missouri Inc., run by the campaign staff of Gov. Eric Greitens, launched attack ads on Sen. Rob Schaaf, R-St. Joseph.
Greitens, despite campaigning to clean up the corruption in Jefferson City and banning lobbyist gifts, has refused to disclose who funded his inauguration or who since has given his campaign $1.9 million.
Sen. Mike Kehoe, R-Jefferson City, has sponsored a bill that would cap lobbyist expenditures for politicians at $40 per day. It also would prohibit lobbyist gifts such as concert tickets.
An amendment to that bill proposed by Schaff would have required groups making independent political expenditures to disclose the names of people who have donated more than $5,000 over two years.
One opponent to Schaff's proposal, Sen. Bob Onder, R-Lake St. Louis, said more disclosure would put people in danger of retribution for their political opinions.
Onder said Schaaf's proposal went too far and would inhibit people's willingness to express their opinions. "My concern is that it's a very confusing tangle of regulations that will have a free speech 'chilling effect' in the state of Missouri," he said.
Yes, it might inhibit people's willingness to express their opinions. Or to anonymously launch attack ads against political opponents, as the case may be. But with the right to free speech comes accepting responsibility for what you say.
We've said it before, but the problem with imposing limits is they tend to be arbitrary, are not always effective, dilute free speech and mistrust the collective wisdom of voters.
Shine a bright light on dark money, identify contributors, inform the voters before elections and trust them to make wise decisions.
That doesn't curtail free speech, and it rightly lets everyone know who's saying what about whom. Like Sen. Ryan Silvey, R-Kansas City, said during debate last week: "We're not trying to limit what you can say or trying to keep people from criticizing us. No, criticize away. But own it."