Right Wing Nut House

According to Daily Kos, Senate Democratic Minority Leader Harry Reid has introduced a bill that would exempt internet communications from campaign finance laws. Here’s the relevant passage: (PDF required)

Paragraph (22) of section 301 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 431(22)) is amended by adding at the end of the following new sentence: “Such term shall not include communications over the Internet.”

Reid also released a statement:

The Internet has generated a surge in grassroots involvement in our government and has proven to be a democratizing medium in our political process. Regulation of the Internet at this time would blunt its tremendous potential, discourage broad political involvement in our nation and diminish our representative democracy. For all these reasons, we should avoid silencing this new and important form of political speech.

And to top it off, the Senator sent a letter to FEC Chairman Thomas: (PDF Required)

One of your Democratic colleagues on the FEC recently made clear in public remarks that the regulation of blogs in particular is neither required by BCRA, nor by the litigation surrounding the FEC’s implementation of that law. I urge you to work with her and your other FEC colleagues in the coming weeks to avoid silencing this new and important form of political speech.

This is excellent news. In fact, I’m rather ashamed that no Republican has stood up for the concept of free speech on the internet. It’s not too late, however, At the moment, there’s no companion legislation in the House. If some prominent Republican were to introduce a similar amendment, the chances of protecting the rights of all to use the internet as it was intended-a place where the free, unfettered flow of information and ideas would lead to a more informed citizenry-would be dramatically increased.

The FEC will issue the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking next Thursday. As I’ve said before, the Commissioners on the FEC are creatures of politics. A move like this in Congress could affect how they view any proposed new rules as they relate to the internet.

What we’ve got to do is keep up the pressure. There have been dozens of articles and reports on cable outlets about this issue. We need much more. I would urge everyone to write their Congressman and Senators asking them to get behind Senator Reid’s proposed amendment.