Pelosi Targets Grassroots Freedom of Speech
Amanda B. Carpenter writes about some scary stuff at Human Events. Is Nancy Pelosi competing with McCain for the anti-First Amendment position?
House Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.) has pledged to take up a lobbying reform proposal that would impose new regulations on speech by grassroots organizations, while providing a loophole in the rules for large corporations and labor unions.
The legislation would make changes to the legal definition of “grassroots lobbying†and require any organization that encourages 500 or more members of the general public to contact their elected representatives to file a report with detailed information about their organization to the government on a quarterly basis.
The report would include identifying the organization’s expenditures, the issues focused on and the members of Congress and other federal officials who are the subject of the advocacy efforts. A separate report would be required for each policy issue the group is active on.
“Right now, grassroots groups don’t have to report at all if they are communicating with the public,†said Dick Dingman of the Free Speech Coalition, Inc. “This is an effort that would become a major attack on the 1st Amendment.â€Â
Under the bill, communications aimed at an organization’s members, employees, officers or shareholders would be exempt from the reporting requirement. That would effectively exempt most corporations, trade associations and unions from the reporting requirementsâ€â€but not most conservative grassroots groups, which frequently are less formally organized.
Chip, chip, chippin away freedom one little piece at a time. Makes me wonder…would this website be considered a grassroots organization if I urged people to contact their Representatives? I guess I better take advantage right now that the law is not in place and tell you all to contact your Representatives so it never is!
Check this paragraph out!
Larger, well-funded organizations are also currently eligible for a “low-dollar lobbyist exemption†that Pelosi’s bill does not give to grassroots organizations. If an organization retains a lobbyist to contact lawmakers directly at a cost of $2,500 per quarter or less, or employs a full-time lobbyist at a cost of $10,000 per quarter or less, the organization does not have to report to the government.
Wait, I thought the Democrats cared what poor people had to say! Damn, this stuff is scary!
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Posted by Jay on December 16, 2006 12:45 am
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6 Responses to “Pelosi Targets Grassroots Freedom of Speech”
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Syndicate Me
This, I am categorically against.
I am not necessarily against it as businesses are required to file Annual Reports. The problem is that 500 members could be considered customers and so the Organization might well be quite small. The exceptions of large corporation and unions sounds foolish.
Only if they’re publicly traded. Privately held organizations are only required to file a few tax forms and any relevant non-profit forms.
Democrats and leftists (of which McCain is certainly one) care nothing about the rights of the individual. They think only about groups, voting blocs, and ways to keep themselves in power perpetually. The American left is exhibit A of what happens when the populace loses its moral bearings.
It basically boils down to this: “all groups that can afford lobbyists who are large enough and devious enough to figure out how to give us (congresscritters) gifts and money via loopholes in campaign finance laws are exempt.”
It’s the same old same old…the money rules.
“Only if they’re publicly traded. Privately held organizations are only required to file a few tax forms and any relevant non-profit forms. ”
You could still make a case because these organizations are political in nature, they concern the public. I have heard more about the bill proposed by Pelosi and it sounds like it goes past the point where the public’s need to know, exceeds the organization’s right to hide/conceal their property.