BNA Money and Politics offers this report (paid subscription required) about many nonprofit groups’ opposition to lobbying reform. A snippet: “‘These bills are flawed,’ AFJ President Nan Aron said of the half-dozen or so measures introduced in the Senate and House aimed at strengthening current lobbying disclosure, ethics, and campaign finance rules. Of particular concern are new proposals for disclosure of payments related to ‘grass-roots lobbying,’ such as broadcast, mail, or telephone advertising to stimulate public support or opposition to particular legislation or policies.” But the concern of at least some in this community is finding a way to gut the existing laws which prevent the use of corporate and union money to pay for election-related broadcast advertisting before elections. Bob Bauer reports: “Today a coalition of groups filed with the Federal Election Commission a request for a Petition for Rulemaking, seeking an exemption for certain grassroots lobbying communications from the pre-election ‘electioneering communication’ prohibitions of McCain-Feingold. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Alliance for Justice, the AFL-CIO, OMB Watch and the National Education Association joined in the Petition. The Petition notes recent legal developments, such as the Supreme Court’s unanimous decision in WRTL v. FEC, affirming the constitutional protections afforded grassroots lobbying and specifically noting the FEC’s regulatory authority to clarify these protections by rule.”
In my view, it may be a bit premature to rely upon WRTL for anything of substance. In any case, reading the “test” that these groups would put forward for “grassroots lobbying” (summarized in Bob Bauer’s post) makes it clear that this would create a gaping hole in BCRA, essentially allowing virtually all sham issue advocacy to be paid for by corporate and union funds. To paraphrase one of these ads (with toungue firmly planted in cheek): “Call Bob Bauer. And tell him what you think of his test that would gut one of the major provisions of McCain-Feingold.”