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Advocacy Blog
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
OMB Watch in the News: FEC Electioneering Communications Hearing Begins
Today the Federal Election Commission (FEC) began its two day public hearing on the proposed electioneering communications rulemaking. Commissioner Ellen Weintraub's opening statement notes the questions that will challenge the FEC, looking for answers from the witnesses. The FEC hopes to have a complete rule by the end of November.
CQ Politics covered the story here. This article also picked up on a point that OMB Watched addressed in our comments; "Similar provisions to document grass-roots lobbying were proposed during debate of the recently passed lobbying disclosure bill but were voted down." Kay Guinane, director of nonprofit speech rights was quoted in the article.
But while many advocates from campaign finance watchdog groups are asking the FEC for more disclosure, at least one is advocating the exact opposite. Kay Guinane, director of nonprofit speech rights for OMB Watch, said she is against disclosure and other restrictions because it could infringe on First Amendment issues. "If you have to risk an FEC investigation when you put out your grass-roots lobbying message, you might think twice about doing it, and that would be a loss in terms to the quality of public dialog on legislation and public policy issues," she said.
Posted by Amanda Adams
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