blog.ariffic

Bloggers = lobbyists? Maybe soon…

From PR Newswire:

The following is a statement by Richard A. Viguerie, Chairman of GrassrootsFreedom.com, regarding legislation currently being considered by Congress to regulate grassroots communications:

“In what sounds like a comedy sketch from Jon Stewart’s Daily Show, but isn’t, the U. S. Senate would impose criminal penalties, even jail time, on grassroots causes and citizens who criticize Congress.

“Section 220 of S. 1, the lobbying reform bill currently before the Senate, would require grassroots causes, even bloggers, who communicate to 500 or more members of the public on policy matters, to register and report quarterly to Congress the same as the big K Street lobbyists. Section 220 would amend existing lobbying reporting law by creating the most expansive intrusion on First Amendment rights ever. For the first time in history, critics of Congress will need to register and report with Congress itself.

“The bill would require reporting of ‘paid efforts to stimulate grassroots lobbying,’ but defines ‘paid’ merely as communications to 500 or more members of the public, with no other qualifiers.

“On January 9, the Senate passed Amendment 7 to S. 1, to create criminal penalties, including up to one year in jail, if someone ‘knowingly and willingly fails to file or report.’

Here’s the text of the bill. To be honest, I haven’t read it thoroughly myself to see if Mr. Viguerie’s assessment is correct. Anyone?

EDIT: This may not be as catastrophic for “the little guy” as Viguerie suggests. Here’s some relevant portions of the bill (thanks to P&P for pointing these out to me):

`(19) GRASSROOTS LOBBYING FIRM- The term `grassroots lobbying firm’ means a person or entity that–
`(A) is retained by 1 or more clients to engage in paid efforts to stimulate grassroots lobbying on behalf of such clients; and
`(B) receives income of, or spends or agrees to spend, an aggregate of $25,000 or more for such efforts in any quarterly period.’.

`(B) PAID ATTEMPT TO INFLUENCE THE GENERAL PUBLIC OR SEGMENTS THEREOF- The term `paid attempt to influence the general public or segments thereof’ does not include an attempt to influence directed at less than 500 members of the general public.

And lastly, a bit of an IM conversation.

P&P: So, what they’re saying is, if you get paid (or spend) more than $25,000 in a year on an attempt to do ‘grassroots lobbying,’ you’re going to be subject to this.
Me:: Wonder what Kos makes? Heh.
P&P: What it would do is hurt the biggest voices, but not the little guys. It’s exactly the opposite of the PR statement. (That doesn’t mean I agree with it, but that’s probably why Richard Viguerie cares.)
P&P: Oh, I’m sure Markos Moulitsas makes more than $25,000 a year. The other guys who are going to be hurting are, among others, MoveOn, TPM Media, the Huffington Post, National Review Online, and paid big-media bloggers like Andrew Sullivan and Mickey Kaus. I wonder if the Republicans (who have sponsored Section 220) think they can get away with this because there are relatively few paid right-wing bloggers?

Maybe!