Don’t miss this post by Adam Bonin at Daily Kos.
With the expiration of terms of four commissioners at the FEC, we will be seeing essentially a new FEC considering this issue when the Advisory Opinion eventually issues.
I’ll have more to say about this at a later date, but I think this AO request is a good thing all around. I have been telling reporters that I expect the FEC, as part of its Internet rulemaking, to issue no rules or unclear rules related to which corporate-owned blogs will be entitled to the press exemption (or another exemption). Without clear guidance from the FEC, it seems inevitable that someone will file a complaint against a corporate owned blogger engaged in express advocacy during the 2006 elections. That prospect alone could seriously chill free speech.
An AO from the FEC will be the first step toward clarifying the rules related to political blogging for 06 and 08. I expect that this issue will ultimately be resolved by the courts. It is also possible it will be resolved by Congress, as I would expect Congress to create a pretty wide Internet exemption by statute if it passes any other campaign finance bills this term.