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corbin_dallas - where do you get this stuff?
it refers to PAID lobbyists -- not volunteers who don't get paid.
oh well, the Christo-fascists have won again
let's see how many of our rights they take away this time.
posted by
Xeno-x
on January 22, 2007 at 6:54 AM
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The restrictions would have been in place for any group conducting the smallest amount of lobbying and local pro-life advocates who didn’t comply properly would face fines and jail sentences for noncompliance. …
The provisions it fixed were so onerous that even the pro-abortion American Civil Liberties Union sided with pro-life groups in opposition to them.
Once the amendment was adopted, removing section 220, the overall ethics bill passed easily. As noted in Senate passes sweeping ethics bill, the bill passed by a vote of 96-2. Republicans Orrin Hatch of Utah and Tom Coburn of Oklahoma cast the only negative votes.
And it is a good bill....now.
posted by
Corbin_Dallas
on January 19, 2007 at 9:52 AM
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i read the bill and the secton and it does nothing of the sort
posted by
Xeno-x
on January 19, 2007 at 7:52 AM
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corbin its victory for those who want to hide their big money contributions
grassroots hasnt a damn thing to do with it.
basically its back to business as usual -- now the big money can be routed through "grassroots" organizations created by the big money and the politicians are as beholden to them as they ever were.
posted by
Xeno-x
on January 19, 2007 at 7:51 AM
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It's a moot point now........a grassroots victory tonight!
The GOP sponsored Bennett amendment has passed the Senate by a vote of 55 to 44. The odious § 220 was stripped from the bill.
§ 220 would have potentially required bloggers, advocacy groups, preachers, community activists, and others to register as lobbyists with the federal government.
bloggers for think tanks, associations, and others would have been forced to register as lobbyists under this provision, driving up the costs and burdens of free speech.
Thank the Republicans in the Senate for pushing this issue. This is a victory for the grassroots.
posted by
Corbin_Dallas
on January 18, 2007 at 6:20 PM
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Have you actually examined the Bill???
This proposal would impose new regulations on speech by grassroots organizations, while providing a loophole in the rules for large corporations and labor unions.
The legislation would make changes to the legal definition of “grassroots lobbying” and require
any organization that encourages 500 or more members of the general public to contact their elected representatives to file a report with detailed information about their organization to the government on a quarterly basis. This means Xeno....That I could in my blog ask people to contact their congressmen and be required to file the reports.........If I gather 500 addresses and signatures on a petition to deliver to a Congressman.....I would be subject to the regulations.....
The reports would include identifying the organization’s expenditures, the issues focused on and the members of Congress and other federal officials who are the subject of the advocacy efforts. A separate report would be required for each policy issue the group is active on.
And to make matters worse Unions and Corporations would be exempt.......Under the bill, communications aimed at an organization’s members, employees, officers or shareholders would be exempt from the reporting requirement.
And to make matters worse...organizations that actually employ a lobbyist can be exempt...if the pay the lobbyist less than $10,000 per year....yet a group that doesn't even have a lobbyists has to comply with the requirements........
Larger, well-funded organizations are also currently eligible for a “low-dollar lobbyist exemption” that this bill does not give to grassroots organizations. If an organization retains a lobbyist to contact lawmakers directly at a cost of $2,500 per quarter or less, or employs a full-time lobbyist at a cost of $10,000 per quarter or less, the organization does not have to report to the government.
It amazes me that people like yourself are willing to relinquish your freedoms to "punish" the practice of Lobbying......but will raise holy hell over wiretapping terrorist operatives' international phone calls......
posted by
Corbin_Dallas
on January 18, 2007 at 4:07 PM
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