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Advocacy Blog
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Will FEC Decide on Grassroots Lobbying Exemption Based on Partisan Considerations?
Next week the Federal Election Commission will decide on a proposal to exempt grassroots lobbying from campaign finance rules imposing a blackout period on broadcasts that mention federal candidates within 60 days of an election or 30 days of a primary. The Cato Institute's John Samples notes "In votes on matters of procedure, the FEC sometimes splits along party lines. In this case, partisan concerns are irrelevant. As the examples of the WRTL and ACLU show, the benefits of freeing up grassroots lobbying will fall across the political spectrum."
Election law attorney Bob Bauer sees precedent for a decision on the merits: In the recent years, the FEC Commissioners have managed some sensible, bipartisan resolution of difficult issues with major implications for political participation on all sides of the political and ideological divide. The Internet rules are an example....In the case of grassroots lobbying, the various interests coming together in support of this proposed exemption are hardly unified in their politics. They are, in fact, certain to oppose one another much of the time on major issues. All of them, however, have an interested in just this conflict--in pursuing it honestly and directly, by public appeals on issues, which cannot be done at particularly crucial times without the benefit of the proposed exemption from the 30 and 60 day pre-election advertising "blackouts"...As a regulatory challenge, this is much like the Internet rules: there is no clear partisan advantage--no disadvantage, really, except for to politicians uncomfortable with too much broadcast criticism, or to reformers haunted by imagined scenarios for "cheating".
Note: Bauer and colleague Karl Sandstrom represent OMB Watch in this rulemaking proceeding.
Posted by Kay Guinane
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