Thread: Bennett Victorious - Free Speech for Grassroots Preserved!

Bennett Victorious in Preserving Free Speech for Grassroots

http://link.toolbot.com/humanevents.com/55894

by Amanda B. Carpenter — 01-18-2007 @ 09:38 PM

Last night, Sen. Bob Bennett (R.-Utah) succeeded in passing his amendment to the Senate ethics bill that preserved communication rights for grassroots organizations.

The Senate’s version of the bill, S.1, had contained a measure that would require grassroots organizations to report communications made to 500 or more members of the general public if that message encouraged those persons to contact their elected representatives on a specific policy issue on a quarterly basis.

It was a move to lump these free speech communications as a type of “lobbying.” In the bill, it is defined as “efforts to stimulate grassroots lobbying.” The poor reasoning behind is that money that enables special interest groups to communicate with the public should be disclosed to the government in a similar way as a formal lobbyist who communicates directly and privately with a member of Congress does. (Except this new rule would not give grassroots organizations the low-dollar exemption formal lobbyists receive.)

But, communication aimed at group members, shareholders or officers of the organization was to be exempted from the new regulations. This would have privileged large organized efforts such as labor unions and corporations while putting smaller, grassroots organizations that depend on public communications to transmit their messages at a disadvantage.

Sen. Jim DeMint (R.-S.C.) explained in a January 18 conference call to rally bloggers against Section 220 of S.1, which contained the language that it “would make just about everyone a lobbyist, including people who wrote their senators a couple of times. The penalties would be enormous, $100,000 fine and 10 years in prison, and that could affect bloggers urging people to call their congressman.”

Liberal supporters of this legislation had previously told me the provision would have "streamlined" reporting provisions for grassroots.

Thankfully, Republican Sen. Robert Bennett (R.-Utah) offered an amendment to strike this provision from the bill.

Bennett told CBS news he drafted it because “I’m kind of a First Amendment hawk. I believe the Founding Fathers didn’t want to dilute the First Amendment and you can have a clear prohibition on the right to petition government for addressing your grievances and that will be struck down by the Supreme Court. You can achieve the same thing by stealth, by putting regulatory burdens in the way of people who want the right to petition Congress and that’s what I think this provision does.”

Of Section 220 Bennett said, “’Well, we don’t like these groups that stir up grassroots activity so we’ll put reporting requirements on them and some financial burden on them’ and that has the effect of dampening the activity and discouraging the activity even if they say ‘We’re not banning it, we’re providing transparency.’ But in providing transparency we are creating so many burdens that ultimately people are going to say we’re not going to go through this.”

His amendment was cosponsored by Senate Majority Mitch McConnell (R.-K.Y.), Sen. James Inhofe (R.-Okla.), Sen. Jon Kyl (R.-Ariz.) and Sen. John Cornyn (R.-Tex.).

It passed 55-43, just before the overall ethics bill was passed by the Senate as well.

McConnell said in a statement immediately after, "The grassroots provision of the reform bill would have severely limited the efforts of the non-profit advocacy groups that band citizens together to bring their concerns to petition their government. As Americans and as voters, men and women from across the ideological spectrum have a right to be informed and to inform."

Focus on the Family’s James Dobson had asked for his listeners to support Bennett on his January 10 show. Other conservative organizations, like Concerned Women for American and the Family Research Council have been blasting out emails asking supporters to help them kill it.

On January 17, the ACLU asked their own members to send a letter to their senator that said Section 220 “imposes onerous reporting requirements that will chill constitutionally protected activity…the thrust of grassroots lobbying regulation is at best misguided and at worst would seriously undermine the basic freedom that is the cornerstone of our system of government.”

See if your Senator voted (Nay) to silence grass roots lobbying!


U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 110th Congress - 1st Session

as compiled through Senate LIS by the Senate Bill Clerk under the direction of the Secretary of the Senate

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/r ... vote=00017

Vote Summary

Question: On the Amendment (Bennett Amdt No. 20 )
Vote Number: 17
Vote Date: January 18, 2007, 08:21 PM
Required For Majority: 1/2
Vote Result: Amendment Agreed to
Amendment Number: S.Amdt. 20 to S.Amdt. 3 to S. 1
Statement of Purpose: To strike a provision relating to paid efforts to stimulate grassroots lobbying.

Vote Counts:

YEAs 55
NAYs 43
Not Voting 2
Vote Summary By Senator Name By Vote Position By Home State

Alphabetical by Senator Name
Akaka (D-HI), Nay
Alexander (R-TN), Yea
Allard (R-CO), Yea
Baucus (D-MT), Yea
Bayh (D-IN), Yea
Bennett (R-UT), Yea
Biden (D-DE), Nay
Bingaman (D-NM), Nay
Bond (R-MO), Yea
Boxer (D-CA), Nay
Brown (D-OH), Nay
Brownback (R-KS), Not Voting
Bunning (R-KY), Yea
Burr (R-NC), Yea
Byrd (D-WV), Nay
Cantwell (D-WA), Nay
Cardin (D-MD), Nay
Carper (D-DE), Nay
Casey (D-PA), Nay
Chambliss (R-GA), Yea
Clinton (D-NY), Nay
Coburn (R-OK), Yea
Cochran (R-MS), Yea
Coleman (R-MN), Yea
Collins (R-ME), Yea
Conrad (D-ND), Yea
Corker (R-TN), Yea
Cornyn (R-TX), Yea
Craig (R-ID), Yea
Crapo (R-ID), Yea
DeMint (R-SC), Yea
Dodd (D-CT), Nay
Dole (R-NC), Yea
Domenici (R-NM), Yea
Dorgan (D-ND), Yea
Durbin (D-IL), Nay
Ensign (R-NV), Yea
Enzi (R-WY), Yea
Feingold (D-WI), Nay
Feinstein (D-CA), Nay
Graham (R-SC), Yea
Grassley (R-IA), Yea
Gregg (R-NH), Yea
Hagel (R-NE), Yea
Harkin (D-IA), Nay
Hatch (R-UT), Yea
Hutchison (R-TX), Yea
Inhofe (R-OK), Yea
Inouye (D-HI), Nay
Isakson (R-GA), Yea
Johnson (D-SD), Not Voting
Kennedy (D-MA), Nay
Kerry (D-MA), Nay
Klobuchar (D-MN), Nay
Kohl (D-WI), Nay
Kyl (R-AZ), Yea
Landrieu (D-LA), Yea
Lautenberg (D-NJ), Nay
Leahy (D-VT), Nay
Levin (D-MI), Nay
Lieberman (ID-CT), Nay
Lincoln (D-AR), Nay
Lott (R-MS), Yea
Lugar (R-IN), Yea
Martinez (R-FL), Yea
McCain (R-AZ), Yea
McCaskill (D-MO), Nay
McConnell (R-KY), Yea
Menendez (D-NJ), Nay
Mikulski (D-MD), Nay
Murkowski (R-AK), Yea
Murray (D-WA), Nay
Nelson (D-FL), Nay
Nelson (D-NE), Yea
Obama (D-IL), Nay
Pryor (D-AR), Nay
Reed (D-RI), Nay
Reid (D-NV), Nay
Roberts (R-KS), Yea
Rockefeller (D-WV), Nay
Salazar (D-CO), Yea
Sanders (I-VT), Nay
Schumer (D-NY), Nay
Sessions (R-AL), Yea
Shelby (R-AL), Yea
Smith (R-OR), Yea
Snowe (R-ME), Yea
Specter (R-PA), Yea
Stabenow (D-MI), Nay
Stevens (R-AK), Yea
Sununu (R-NH), Yea
Tester (D-MT), Nay
Thomas (R-WY), Yea
Thune (R-SD), Yea
Vitter (R-LA), Yea
Voinovich (R-OH), Yea
Warner (R-VA), Yea
Webb (D-VA), Nay
Whitehouse (D-RI), Nay
Wyden (D-OR), Nay

Sen. Lautenberg and Sen. Menedez voted NAY


What a bunch of anti-American's. It seems these politicians who voted no want a police state.