The new rules provide that computer equipment and service use by company employees, or union employees, members and officeholders, engaged in personal volunteer political activities, would not be subject to a 1 hour per week or four per month "safe habor" allowance under current rules for these uses of office facilities. The use would still be considered "occasional, isolated, or incidental" use of office facilities--therefore permissible and unlimited--so long as the use 1) did not prevent those engaged in these activities from completing their assigned work; 2) was not "coerced" by their employer; and 3) did not result in increased overhead costs to the employer.

Visit CREW's website

Posted by Jennifer Lowe, 04:45:55 PM



FEC Delays Internet Rule
From Rick Hasen's blog:

My own take on what is happening at the FEC: the commissioners are likely looking for a compromise that would garner a majority vote on the Commission and be upheld against an inevitable court challenge no matter what the FEC does. This is a tall task. This is likely to be the most salient action of the FEC since its summer 2004 decision not to regulate 527s as political committees during that election.

The commissioners are in a tough spot. If they do very little (such as simply regulating paid ads and spam, as the Skeptic has suggested in Seussian poetry), the reform community will go back to Judge Kollar-Kotelly and complain that the Commission still has not done its job---only now the schedule will have to be expedited to deal with the upcoming 2006 elections. And if they do little, they can expect a flood of complaints filed against political websites arguing that they need to register as a political committee. If they do more, and set forth detailed rules, including rules on who gets the "media exemption," they are going to have to make some important and tough value choices. It may be hard to get at least 4 commissioners to agree on the precise contours of the rules that should be put in place.

ATR is a conservative, non-profit organization led by right-wing activist Grover Norquist. CREW accuses Norquist of useing either or both ATR and ATR Foundation as commercial enterprises by laundering money derived from Indian casino clients of former lobbyist and convicted felon Jack Abramoff.

For more information, or to view the complaint, visit CREW's website

Posted by Jennifer Lowe, 09:34:59 AM

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

Thursday, March 09, 2006