Anti-vaccination lobbyists blast lawmakers who questioned funding

HARTFORD — A newly registered lobbying group opposed to mandatory childhood vaccinations is threatening legal action against state lawmakers who have been critical of their tactics.

The CT Freedom Alliance, in a written statement, charged that Senate President Pro Tempore Martin Looney, Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, and Sen. Mary Dougherty Abrams, co-chair of the legislative Public Health Committee, mischaracterized the group’s funding sources.

The lawmakers earlier this week said three groups, which have led near-record turnout at the Capitol for a public hearing and a committee vote in recent weeks, have expended enough money to reach the $3,000 threshold required for organizations to register as lobbyists under state transparency rules.

“We are a legitimate grassroots organization [comprised] of parents who are fighting for their children,” the statement said. “To accuse us of being funded by ‘dark money’ from foreign sources is not only inaccurate, it is malicious and libelous. They have presented no evidence for their allegations and the reason for this is simple: they have none. Instead they have decided to fabricate these claims as a means of intimidating us into silence, in the hopes that we will stop exercising our constitutionally-protected rights to free speech and assembly.”

According to the Office of State Ethics, both the CT Freedom Alliance and Health Choice 4 Action registered as lobbyist firms this week while the other major group opposed to mandatory vaccinations - Informed Choice Connecticut - which is registered as a limited liability corporation, has not filled out lobbyist disclosure documents.

The Democratic senators said the groups have sophisticated social media sites and have distributed posters and stickers, as well as paid for billbioard rentals. The senators want pu blic transparency on the sources of money for the lobbying efforts.

Registered lobbyists are required to submit reports on expenditures with the Office of State Ethics.

kdixon@ctpost.com Twitter: @KenDixonCT