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March 13, 2005
FEC Crackdown on Poli-Blogging?
Unlike most of the high traffic bloggers, Hugh Hewitt, hasn't spent much time blogging about recent statements by FEC Commisioner Bradley Smith that suggested the FEC may regulate political blogging. According to Hewitt, a Con Law Professor, "it would be patently and obviously unconstitutional to classify the content of a political blog --which is essentially a cyber-newspaper-- as within the purview of the FEC."
I thought for sure that McCain-Feingold would be found to be unconstitutional, but it was not. Mark Tapscott thought so as well and penned this FoxNews article written shortly after the ruling in December 2003.
I searched Hugh's archives, although not exhaustively, and found few comments regarding the McCain-Feingold. I wonder if he thought that legislation was blatantly unconstitutional?
I signed this petition, which was also signed by the likes of Glenn Reynolds (Instapundit), Captain Ed (Captain's Quarters), Michelle Malkin, and Mike Krempasky (Red State), Mark Tapscott (Tapscott's Copy Desk), Arthur Baker (Okie on the Lam - Thanks for the tip!), and 2,200+ others to date. Oh, BTW - those links provide commentary on the petition and the potential FEC crackdown. Read them all, but here's a highlight from the Instapundit:
Scott Thomas, chairman of the FEC, spoke before me. He opened with some rather uncharitable remarks regarding fellow commissioner Brad Smith's comments on FEC regulation of blogs, but followed up with a discussion of FEC intent that, although it was supposed to be reassuring, actually left me thinking that the FEC was thinking more seriously about regulating blogs than I had previously believed. I wasn't reassured at all, and the complexity of the reasoning he outlined just illustrated how much discretion -- and how little real guidance -- the FEC has on these kinds of questions.Sure, it SHOULD be blatantly and obviously unconstitutional to classify poli-blogs any differently than conventional newspapers, but better safe than sorry - right?
Posted by Rick at March 13, 2005 08:46 PM