Posted on 11/15/2005 1:45:17 PM PST by Jim Robinson
WASHINGTON — Bloggers are taking on Rep. Christopher Shays over his proposal that campaign-finance rules apply to political Web sites.
Operators of political weblogs accused Shays, who has long promoted campaign-finance reform, of seeking to restrict free speech.
The liberal http://www.dailykos.com and conservative http://www.redstate.org urged readers to speak out, insisting that online activists should not have to worry about inadvertently running afoul of campaign-finance laws when they are expressing their opinions on the Internet.
Last week, Congress took up a bill that would have exempted the Internet from campaign-finance regulations. Shays, R-Conn., and Rep. Marty Meehan, D-Mass., lobbied supporters of their campaign-finance law to oppose the bill. Shays and Meehan backed the 2002 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, which was intended to reduce the influence of money in politics.
Shays said he wanted to prevent individuals, corporations and unions from waging unlimited campaign-advertising wars on the Web.
"If this law were to pass, a member of Congress could simply go to a large donor, corporation or union and control their spending of $1 million in soft money to pay for political advertising all over the Internet," he said.
Although most of the House sided with the bloggers, voting 225 to 182 for the exemption, the exemption failed to gain the two-thirds majority required for passage. As a result, the Federal Elections Commission will likely write the rules and issue opinions on Internet politics.
Shays and Meehan have also drafted a different bill, H.R. 4194, to protect the right of free speech for people who operate blogs. That bill was referred to a House committee on Nov. 1.
"I understand that many Web bloggers are concerned that somehow campaign-finance law will restrict their speech and I believe allowing bloggers the assurance that they will not be so burdened is something that we can ensure," Shays said.
The FEC had initially balked at regulating the Internet, saying the law did not authorize such regulation. Shays and Meehan sued, arguing that a federal judge found in their favor and has ordered the FEC to draft regulations.
Some Web site operators also hope to receive exemptions enjoyed by news organizations that are permitted to run candidate endorsements and political commentary outside FEC regulation.
Meehan argued that the issue was not free speech but political corruption.
"The primary constitutional basis for campaign-finance regulation is preventing corruption or the appearance of corruption of candidates or officeholders," he said. "Creating a new way for members of Congress or the Cabinet to solicit and then coordinate or control unlimited amounts of soft money is precisely the scenario campaign-finance reform banned."
Money in politics is not corruption. Bribery is. The politicians who return political favors for bribes should be prosecuted and jailed.
Another corruption is when the congress passes unconstitutional laws like Shays-Meehan, McCain-Feingold, etc. These "reforms" that restrict political free speech are nothing more than self-serving incumbent insurance policies that corrupt our government far more than campaign money, ie, free speech. Repeal this abomination now!
Agreed. Jim, do you have any plans to litigate, or move FR offshore?
I think the real solution to this is to move political websites off shore. Or to a foreign country. There are lots of places which would permit a server to operate pretty cheaply by U.S. standards, it would seem to me.
If you did this, how could they stop you? Arrest individual posters?
I think that's what you do if you've lost and you need an underground (not that we shouldn't start logistics now). But I don't think we need to surrender just yet - this is our country by the way. We should fight this by going on the offensive against it. This is a Constitutional issue and maybe an important discussion for the upcoming Supreme Court hearings. Live Free or Die.
I agree.
But how will they go after individual posters??
If the servers are all offshore, so are the IP logs. Also, posters could use offshore proxy servers to mask their real IP quite effectively from gooberment snoops.
Still, the Feds don't seem to realize that they are planting the seeds of revolution with their ill-conceived, self-protective laws. The second amendment was adopted to insure that ALL our other rights are respected.
Move offshore? No, I intend to fight this corruption right here in America, land of the free and home of the brave. If they try to apply McCain-Feingold to FR, then we might just be a test case. Hope the new Supreme Court is up to the task of defending the constitution and political free speech.
The Land of the Free ...
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie.Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
And freedom of assembly in this cyberspace.
Keep my name. Drop me a line if you need funds for the fight.
I'm with you: we need to halt this assault on our 1st Amendment rights RIGHT HERE!
I have been writing my congresscritters until I'm blue in the face; but it seems self protection is more important than the wishes of the public.
Soap box, ballot box, ammo box.
Yeah, and you can bet that's partly behind the movement to turn control of the Internet over to the United Nations or some other globalist group. Then they can nip free speech for every man, woman and child on the planet.
took the words right outta my keyboard :)
Good. I'm not rich, but I'll help when it comes to thumbing my nose at the government, especially when so called conservatives side with dims to attempt steal our God-given rights.
Shays is a disgusting little pr*ck.
I wouldn't worry too much about Marty Meehan. He took a term Limits Pledge Ya' know.
I'm not holding my breath. If he and the others were serious about fixing the problem, true Campaign Finance Reform would be Constitutionally mandated term limits, with a 5 year moratorium before serving on PACs or as a lobbyist.
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