Daily Campaign Finance Reform thread-day 11

Rep. John T Doolittle ^ | 12/10/03

[Valin]

Doolittle: Supreme Court's Ruling Amends First Amendment Campaign Finance Regulation Upheld

Washington, D.C. - House Republican Conference Secretary John T. Doolittle (R-Roseville) today said the Supreme Court has taken a dramatic step away from protecting our free speech by ruling to uphold the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA).

"Today the Court has failed to protect the First Amendment rights of the American people," Doolittle said. "The Constitution clearly states that 'Congress shall make no law… abridging the freedom of speech,' and yet BCRA clearly restricts Americans from freely participating in the political process.
It's truly sad to see the Supreme Court, which for decades has stood for the protection of free speech, take a dramatic step in the other direction. Today's ruling is nothing less than an amendment to the First Amendment.

"The Court ruled in favor of campaign finance regulation, not reform," Doolittle said. "It sanctioned the ban on soft money contributions which has the alarming effect of preventing American citizens from running for office. Regulatory hoops and ridiculously low contribution limits serve as a serious detriment to challengers who have to overcome the advantages of incumbency.

"This is a serious encroachment of our First Amendment rights and cannot be tolerated," Doolittle continued. "It's now up to Congress to provide alternatives that will preserve an open, competitive political process and respect the right to free speech under the Constitution."

Doolittle has sponsored legislation in the last three Congresses that would have lifted all dollar limits during campaigns while requiring strict, 24-hour disclosure on the internet of all campaign contributions. The Doolittle alternative would also eliminate taxpayer financing of campaigns.

Doolittle attended the BCRA oral arguments at the Supreme Court back in September.

Congressman John T. Doolittle has served in the House of Representatives since 1991. As Conference Secretary, he is an elected member of the House Republican Leadership. Doolittle represents California's 4th Congressional District and serves on the Appropriations Committee, Energy and Water and DC Appropriations Subcommittees, and the House Administration Committee.

[Valin]

If you would like on/off this Campaign Finance Reform list, please let me know.

[Valin]

Fridays Thread
Daily Campaign Finance Reform thread-day 9
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1043519/posts?page=7

[Analyzing Inconsistencies]

I suppose it all boils down to whether we want a democracy or a plutocracy. Hopefully the pork-barrel spending in Congress will become less prevalent now that corporations can't blackmail elected officials as easily with threats to bankroll their opponents. The new system's NOT perfect though, unfortunately...

[Valin]

John T. Doolittle can be reached at
Representative John T. Doolittle
United States House of Representatives
2410 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
202-225-2511
202-225-5444 (fax)



Granite Bay, CA Office

Representative John T. Doolittle
United States House of Representatives
4230 Douglas Blvd.
Suite 200
Granite Bay, CA 95746
(916) 786-5560
(916) 786-6364 (fax)

Or by Clicking on Source.


Here's a guy doing the lords work on this and he needs to hear from us.

[Valin]

Money will ALWAYS find it's way into the system. This is a fact of nature like the sun raising in the east.

"Hopefully the pork-barrel spending in Congress will become less prevalent now that corporations can't blackmail elected officials as easily with threats to bankroll their opponents."

And they call me naive!

[Eastbound]

"I suppose it all boils down to whether we want a democracy or a plutocracy."

Personally, I choose neither. Nor did the founders. We have a representative Republic where our elected and appointed officials are charged with the primary task of protecting our rights -- enumerated and non-enumerated.

Matters not what a majority wants. If it's repugnant and not pursuant, if definitely fails the test of constitutionality. There is no such thing as being just a little bit pregnant. Either the CFR is an attack on A1 or it isn't.

If the government is not faithful in the little things, how much more so would it be unfaithful in the major things. The judiciary broke it's bond with the people and can no longer be trusted. Nor can Congress.

[Eastbound]

Fact of the matter is that Congress knows it can't be trusted. Rather than reform it's own conscience, it lays the onus on the people.

[Eastbound]

PRINCIPIIS OBSTA -
"An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure."

"The constitution and laws of a State are rarely attacked from the front; it is against secret and gradual attacks that a Nation must chiefly guard. Sudden resolutions strike men's imaginations; their history is written, and their secret sources made known; but changes are overlooked when they come about insensibly by a series of steps which are scarcely noted. One would do a great service to Nations by showing from history how many States have thus changed their whole nature and lost their original constitution. The attention of the peoples would be awakened, and thenceforth in the realization of that excellent maxim, no less essential in politics than in morality, principiis obsta, they would not close their eyes to innovations which, though of little account in themselves, serve as so many steps to advance to higher and more disastrous undertakings."

The Law Of Nations Or The Principles Of Natural Law, Book I, Chap. III, Sec. 30, by Emer de Vattel

___________________________________________________

"There is a congressman from Arizona, John Shadegg, I think. Every session he proposes that any laws on the books NOT enumerated in the Constitution be eliminated and that any new law being proposed must be identified as to how it is supported by the constitution."

Here's a link to the proposed ENUMERATED POWERS ACT

[international american]

ON

[international american]

"If the government is not faithful in the little things, how much more so would it be unfaithful in the major things. The judiciary broke it's bond with the people and can no longer be trusted. Nor can Congress."

Now we must fix what the "5 Snakes" have done to us.

[Valin]

As I've said before, we have a golden opportunity handed to us. 04 is an election year, use it, go to meeting where you know your Rep is going to be speaking ask him about this(be polite, you catch more flys with honey than with vinager). Letters(not e-mail unless they are in the 1,000s) really do good.
Remeber the most important thing to a politician is getting elected or reelected.

[international american]

My Rep, Elton Gallegly, (R) Simi Valley,Ca is all for this.
Has a zero % ADA rating.

[DustyMoment]

A nit to pick with your argument. With the passage of the 17th Amendment, our system of government was fundamentally altered from a representative Republic to a democracy. Think about the impact we have seen by eliminating the responsibility of state legislatures to appoint their Senators and allowing them to be elected directly.

States no longer have any formal representation in the Senate and the concept of State's Rights is little more than hollow words.

Other than that little nit, I concur with the rest of your post.

[DustyMoment]

My question for Congressman Doolittle is short and sweet: Is he ready to co-sponsor a Bill to repeal BCRA?

Talk is still cheap and actions still speak louder than words. Show me the actions, and keep the words.

BCRA is what we get when we fall asleep at the wheel. We should have been more suspicious about politicians wanting to control the flow of campaign donations. Now we know what the real agenda was about. BCRA has already been circumvented by the 527s running issue ads in states that are within the 60 day window for their primary. Nothing has changed for CFR, the only thing that has changed is our right to free political speech.

Both John McCain and Russ Feingold should be tarred and feathered for this abomination. Then, they should be tossed to the hordes of angry voters who have yet to discover the impact BCRA will really have on their lives.

[Eastbound]

"Now we must fix what the "5 Snakes" have done to us."

Methinks the court colluded with congress and collided with the people on this one. Perfect example of what happens when you try to fix something that ain't broke. They stole the hub caps off the wheels of justice.

A mouse decided to be friends with a snake and had a great relationship going until lunchtime when the snake clamped the mouse between its fangs. The mouse hollered, 'Hey! Put me down! I thought we were friends.' The snake said, 'Sorry, pal. You knew I was a snake when you wanted to play. That is the nature of a snake, don'tcha know.'

I guess it was lunchtime for the stinking black-hearted, black-robed socialists. I will never in a thousand years understand why we appoint the worst enemies of the country and the constitution to sit on the court's highest bench when we know up front they are dedicated to everything anti-thetical to liberty, freedom, self-determination and the rule of law.

[Analyzing Inconsistencies]

Soft money wasn't even legal until around 1978, when the political parties got the FEC to approve a loophole for them. The loophole was subsequently closed, but only after years of special interests' whining. In our democracy / republic (whatever), we're "equals" before the law. Without CFR, some of us were far more equal than others, though. The system was broken, as all the pork-barreling in Washington D.C. demonstrated. Maybe now the GOP will finally remember that it used to like limited government. After all, labor unions can no longer bankroll campaigns. And at least in D.C., the 5 biggest contributors to political campaigns were labor unions.

[international american]

"I will never in a thousand years understand why we appoint the worst enemies of the country and the constitution to sit on the court's highest bench when we know up front they are dedicated to everything anti-thetical to liberty, freedom, self-determination and the rule of law."

O"Conner was Reagan's biggest mistake, but in all fairness to Reagan her record was rather conservative until she was appointed.
Dubya's dad made a much bigger mistake. GHWB did not like confrontation,which marred his Presidency considerably. He nominated Souter, whose record was much more suspect than O'Connor's.....it was, in fact, bleak. I was angry at Bush Sr. for putting that weirdo, mommy's boy up there. Souter has turned out to be no better than a socialist creep.

---

[Eastbound]

Perhaps I should have qualified my statement, 'Ideally we're supposed to have a representative Republic . . .

Yes, I agree that A17 should have been repealed the day after it was passed.

I remember part of the arguments:

'Well, we just don't have enough time to get around to appointing our U.S. senators. We have more important things to consider and act upon. And we fear that we won't be represented at all unless this process can be changed so it won't cut into our Thursday golf, our Friday sit-up exercises, our Monday Mumbly-peg tournaments, our Tuesday pot-lucks, and our Wednesday stag party. We therefore think it would be in the nation's best interest if we go to popular vote. After all, U.S. senators don't have that much do do anyway and what possible wrongs could they do unsupervised?'