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Thread: Senate Democrats strike a blow to Free Speech ...

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    Default Senate Democrats strike a blow to Free Speech ...

    Today the Senate addressed a new ethics bill ...

    The senate ethics bill sounds great on the surface, until you realize the potential impact of the fine print. Under the new senate bill, any organization that advocates changes in congressional policy and that also addresses an audience of over 500 'members' must now register as a lobbyist in order to avoid a potential $100,000 fine. Registering as a lobbyist of course requires that full public accounting and disclosure be made of the groups finances and political contacts / contributions. With a cutoff of 500 members, this potentially means that any webmaster/blogger with over 500 readers, any preacher with over 500 congregation members, any grass roots neighborhood group with more than 500 neighbors etc., is now subject to a potential $100,000 fine if they comment on matters coming before Congress / criticize current members of Congress in conjunction with such matters in an attempt to motivate 'members' to contact their senator / house representative without having first officially registering as a lobbyist and making the required full disclosure available to the public via a website.

    basic analysis of the grassroots lobbying provisions of the senate ethics bill are as follows ...

    (snip)"a.. The Senate bill places prohibitively burdensome regulatory requirements on all organizations that do any grassroots lobbying. In this case that means any group who contacts the public at large (ads, blogging, action alerts, newsletters, Internet) and asks them to contact Congress.

    b.. The bill defines "grassroots lobbying firms" as any organization that encourages 500 or more members of the general public to contact Congress. Every issue we work on would be publicly reported, tracked, and expensed

    c.. Fines for non-compliance: up to $100,000.

    d.. The cost of compliance would also be extraordinary...and likely put CCHC (Citizens' Council on Health Care 651-646-8935
    ...) out of business. Quarterly reporting would be required. Everything CCHC does that involves any contact with a member of Congress, or an issue before Congress, would have to be reported, as well as every expense associated with it. Every alliance or coalition we were part of would have to be reported, along with expenses. Every alert we send to you, along with the time we spent to do it, would have to be reported. Endless hours of paperwork!

    e.. Large organizations with paid lobbyists would be exempt

    f.. But any grassroots group like NCMHPC (National Coalition of Mental Health Professionals & Consumers) who posts an advertisement, emails a broad-based alert or an action item to all parties of interest would be placed in a bureaucratic stranglehold of ongoing reporting requirements"(snip)

    ~
    Last edited by Melonie; 01-18-2007 at 04:58 PM.

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