New FEC Internet Regulation Resolves Bloggers’ Concerns; H.R. 1606 Now Only Serves to Return Corrupting Soft Money to Federal Campaigns

Vote for New Bass-Allen Amendment to Codify New FEC Regulation and to Prevent Opening Soft Money Loopholes

March 28, 2006

Dear Representative,

The new Internet regulation adopted unanimously by the Federal Election Commission (FEC) yesterday resolves the concerns raised by bloggers and other individual users of the Internet about the application of the campaign finance laws to their activities.

Our organizations believe that the new FEC regulation strikes the right balance in protecting the free speech rights of bloggers and other individual Internet users, while also protecting the federal campaign finance laws against the opening of new loopholes that would return corrupting soft money to federal elections.

The organizations include the Campaign Legal Center, Common Cause, Democracy 21, the League of Women Voters, Public Citizen and U.S. PIRG.

The new FEC regulation also has been praised by bloggers and by the Center for Democracy and Technology.

Our organizations also believe the FEC regulation resolves the legal issues raised in the lawsuit brought by Representatives Christopher Shays (R-CT) and Marty Meehan (D-MA) regarding the application of the campaign finance laws to the Internet.

According to FEC Chairman Michael Toner’s description of the new Internet regulation, “the proposed rules totally exempt individuals who engage in political activity on the Internet from the restrictions of the campaign finance laws.”

At the same time, the FEC Internet regulation reaffirms that the federal campaign finance laws apply to campaign ads that are purchased on the Internet, and that federal candidates and political parties cannot use corrupting soft money to pay for such ads.

Nevertheless, H.R. 1606, introduced by Representative Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), remains scheduled for floor consideration by the House this week.

In light of the new FEC regulation, H.R 1606 is now completely unnecessary to protect the interests of bloggers and other individual users of the Internet. Those interests are fully protected by the FEC regulation.

The only difference between H.R. 1606 and the comparable language in the FEC regulation is that H.R. 1606 exempts campaign ads purchased on the Internet from the campaign finance laws. This exemption not only would allow federal candidates and political parties to use corrupting soft money in federal campaigns, but it would also lead to absurd results.

The Hensarling bill means, for example, that a state political party would be required to use hard money, subject to federal contribution limits, to pay for a campaign ad attacking or promoting a federal candidate that is run in The Washington Post. The same state political party, however, could use corrupting unlimited soft money to pay for the very same campaign ad if it is run on washingtonpost.com.

The only purpose that H.R. 1606 now serves is to open huge soft money loopholes in the campaign finance laws by allowing members of Congress and other federal candidates, and political parties, to use corrupting soft money to buy campaign ads on the Internet.

We strongly urge you to vote against overriding the FEC regulation and unraveling the campaign finance laws by voting against H.R. 1606 in its current form.

If H.R. 1606 does reach the House floor, Representatives Charles Bass (R-NH) and Tom Allen (D-ME) plan to introduce a new amendment to H.R. 1606 to codify the new FEC regulation adopted yesterday regarding public communications on the Internet.

The bipartisan Bass-Allen amendment would turn the soft-money loophole bill sponsored by Representative Hensarling into a statutory version of this FEC regulation.

We strongly urge you to support the FEC regulation by voting for the new Bass-Allen amendment to the Hensarling bill.

In striking down an earlier FEC regulation identical in language to the Hensarling bill, federal district court Judge Kollar-Kotelly found that the proposal “would permit rampant circumvention of the campaign finance laws and foster corruption or the appearance of corruption.”

Representatives should not vote to “foster corruption” and “permit rampant circumvention” of the campaign finance laws.

We strongly urge you to support the Bass-Allen amendment to the Hensarling bill. If the Hensarling bill is not amended to prevent the use of corrupting soft money in federal campaigns, we strongly urge you to vote against the Hensarling bill.

Campaign Legal Center
Common Cause
Democracy 21
League of Women Voters
Public Citizen
U.S. PIRG