Another View of Lobbying Reform

Following up on this post, linking to this letter from a coalition of reform groups, Mark Fitzgibbons writes:

Referencing this morning's post on lobby reform and the continued efforts of "watchdog" groups to add grassroots provisions to the lobbying reform bill in the House, proposed legislation to regulate the grassroots might be the most indiscriminate, far-reaching effort to regulate political and faith-based speech and publication ever.

Contrary to proponents of regulating the grassroots, the Senate-passed provisions do not target paid professional and "Astroturf" grassroots communications.

The registration and reporting requirements would apply to: (1) communications to the public prepared in-house by small, community based organizations that even rely on volunteers, (2) communications prepared by those who neither retain professional K Street lobbyists, nor who make political contributions, (3) books, blogs and broadcasts, (4) faith-based communications, and (5) those who attempt to avoid entanglements with Jack
Ambramoff-style corruption.

Using the justifications of the "watchdog" groups that billions of dollars are spent, and therefore it is appropriate to require registration and reporting of communications to as few as 500 people, then mainstream publication and journalistic endeavors should be required to comply.

That, however, may be the case. As explained in my written testimony to the Subcommittee on the Judiciary, and a separate Summary of the grassroots provisions of S. 2349, the placement of the editorial by
the Committee to Defend Martin Luther King in the great civil rights and First Amendment decision in New York Times v. Sullivan, would trigger the dislcosure requirements under the legislation prefered by the watchdogs.

The watchdogs need to stop misleading the public about the targets and effects of their legislation. Besides the constitutional flaws of their proposal seeking citizens and grassroots causes to obtain congressional "permission" to speak and publish, the bill would not regulate paid professional and Astroturf communications any more than the smallest of small citizen critics of the Washington establishment who expressly avoid hiring lobbyists.

Mark J. Fitzgibbons
President of Corporate and Legal Affairs
American Target Advertising, Inc.
Manassas, VA

Posted by Rick Hasen at April 25, 2006 02:18 PM