Cross-posted at: Center for Competitive Politics Responding to Obama on DISCLOSE Act This Saturday’s weekly Presidential radio address was devoted to resurrecting the DISCLOSE Act, the bill designed to stifle free speech rights recognized by the Supreme Court in the Citizens United decision. Reviewing the transcript of his comments, I had a few thoughts: 1. Most noticeable for its absence was any mention of unions. | Read More »
cross-posted at the Center for Competitive Politics Word began to trickle out late last night that Senator Chuck Schumer had introduced a new version of the DISCLOSE Act , S. 3628, and was angling to get it on the floor for a vote on Friday, skipping having the bill considered in committee. This morning we received a copy of the bill, and have just begun | Read More »
Cross-posted at: Center for Competitive Politics blog Late today comes word, courtesy of Politico, that a significant barrier to the Congressional Democrats’ efforts to stifle unwelcome political speech in the upcoming elections with the DISCLOSE Act has been removed. From the story: House Democrats have reached an agreement with the National Rifle Association on campaign-finance legislation that would roll back the Citizens United Supreme Court | Read More »
cross-posted at: Center for Competitive Politics blog The DISCLOSE Act (Democratic Incumbents Seeking to Contain Losses by Outlawing Speech in Elections) by Senator Chuck Schumer and Congressman Chris Van Hollen just keeps getting worse and worse with each reading. Among the many deficiencies uncovered so far (crafted behind closed doors, favors the speech of organized labor while silencing the business community, designed by Democratic Congressional | Read More »
cross-posted at: The Center for Competitive Politics So, lots of people are concerned about the current health care reform proposals being considered in Congress. Shouting down Members of Congress, fisticuffs between those opposed and those in favor of the current proposals, accusations that those opposing the proposals are somehow “un-American” – this, it seems, is the messy part of free speech. Messy, but vital (well, | Read More »
cross-posted at: http://www.campaignfreedom.org/blog Our gaze doesn’t often leave the U.S. of A. in terms of commenting on speech restrictions in other countries. When we do, it’s often with a mixture of relief and concern. Relief because we see that even as difficult as it is here in the U.S. to speak out in politics thanks to so-called campaign finance “reform,” there are places where it | Read More »
cross-posted at: http://www.campaignfreedom.org/blog/ The main headline was innocuous enough: “Clarksburg Councilman Arrested.” Okay, we thought, it’s unfortunate, but elected officials all too often find themselves subject to the criminal justice system just like their constituents from every other walk of life. Maybe they had a few too many before hitting the road, had a domestic dispute or whatever. But what really caught our eye — | Read More »
Cross-posted at http://www.campaignfreedom.org/blog The online version of The American Spectator reports today on the efforts of the Connecticut Office of State Ethics (OSE) to investigate and penalize the Diocese of Bridgeport for having the temerity to exercise at least four of the five sections of the First Amendment (religion, speech, assembly, petition). The story makes us very pleased that we led the fight against | Read More »
Concerns about Obama administration using campaign contribution disclosure reports to target Republican-owned auto dealers for closure are almost certainly not true.
Read More »cross-posted at: http://www.campaignfreedom.org/blog/ Last week I wrote about Doug Quelland, a Republican state legislator in Arizona who is in danger of having the Arizona Clean Elections Commission nullify the voters’ decision and toss him out for allegedly failing to comply with the rules of Arizona’s so-called clean elections program. In that post I wrote about my concerns regarding this effort to deny the voters in | Read More »
Cross-posted at: http://www.campaignfreedom.org/blog/ The AP reports this morning that Arizona’s Citizens Clean Elections Commission is considering tossing a state legislator out of office, thereby nullifying the will of a majority of voters in his district. If removed, this would be the second case in which the Citizens Clean Elections Commission has removed a legislator from office. From the article: Campaign finance case could oust Ariz. | Read More »
Last week US News & World Report offered competing op-eds by Bill Press and Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) on whether the so-called “fairness doctrine” should return to talk radio. Predictably, in his call for bringing the “fairness doctrine” back, Press had a number of – interesting, shall we say – statements. First up was his statement that “nobody” is calling for bringing back the “fairness | Read More »
I noted back in January that the Clean Elections Institute in Arizona may be forced to close because it was facing financial difficulties. The Clean Elections Institute, you may recall, was founded specifically to defend the Copper State’s almost indefensible “clean elections” program. The other day came news that the Clean Elections Institute had failed to raise the money they needed to stay open, and | Read More »
Looks like another progressive radio operation has folded, this time Nova M, founded by former Air America founders Sheldon and Anita Drobney. My prediction, this will be used as yet more “evidence” of the need for a return of the so-called “Fairness Doctrine” (I have a custom Magic 8-Ball that I use in these situations for guidance). According to Brian Maloney of the Radio Equalizer | Read More »
Cross-posted at: http://www.campaignfreedom.org/blog/id.816/blog_detail.asp We’ve been told repeatedly that there is no serious effort to bring back the so-called “Fairness Doctrine” (what would better be called the Censorship Doctrine) in talk radio, which would put politicians and their appointees in charge of political speech on the air. I recently wrote about efforts to mock and deride those of us concerned about the return of the “Fairness | Read More »
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