Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Disclosure Functions as Big Brother??

CongressDaily ($$) reports that Democratic leaders plan to move quickly on lobbying and disclosure legislation when the House returns from its recess, and a bill is expected to be introduced later in April.

One major flashpoint in the debate is whether to require individuals or groups to disclose attempts to motivate grassroots activity on issues. Opponents of the provision hope to replicate the success they had during the Senate debate, when they succeeded in stripping a provision requiring disclosure of so-called Astroturf lobbying.

Meanwhile, some are opposing legislations that has thus far moved quickly, the Executive Branch Lobby Reform Act, to require senior executive branch officials to keep track of all contacts with lobbyists and other individuals outside the government. As already known, the National Right to Life (NRLC) organization is adamantly opposed. In this afternoon's edition of CongressDaily, the NRLC Legislative Director Douglas Johnson was quoted as saying that the bill would more appropriately be "1984." We already live in a time when surveillance and data mining is unfortunately a reality, and yet some are more concerned that disclosure of lobbying activities is a more intrusive example of a big brother society. This is perplexing because such efforts simply aid the public, providing a transparent system that provides citizens with the valuable information of who is working behind the scenes.