Dodd and Lieberman Vote Against Your Free Speech
January 19th, 2007 by Peter
We’re happy to report that the ethics bill passed by the U.S. Senate included the Bennett amendment:
The Senate last night also voted 55-43 to adopt a Republican amendment that deleted a provision of the ethics bill that would have expanded the definition of lobbyist to include grass-roots organizers, possibly including ministers and neighborhood groups.
Under the legislation, grass-roots organizations that attempt to “influence the general public” to contact members of Congress would have to register as lobbyists and file financial reports — or face a $200,000 fine.
Democrats had fought unsuccessfully to keep the provision in the bill.
Senators Dodd and Lieberman both voted against the amendment to protect your free speech. Given Lieberman’s vote, a comment in the previous post on this subject is worth posting on our front page:
on 18 Jan 2007 at 3:39 pm1 Gabe
Dear Social Conservatives,
particularly Sen. Lieberman, who was re-elected on the strength of conservative votes
Feel betrayed by Senator Lieberman?
Welcome to our world.
Love,
Democrats
For the record, I support the legislation that was stripped by the Bennett Amendment – I fail to see how a requirement that grassroots organizations disclose their donors restricts free speech any more than a requirement that candidates disclose their donors – surely you are not arguing that simple disclosure of donors is restricting anyone’s speech (or am I misunderstanding the thrust of the provision).
That said, its not hard to imagina a world where Senator Lieberman jilts his constituents anymore is it?