MoveOn.org Styled PAC’s Go Silent? No!

"Your invitation asks that we appear before a congressional committee in a public session and open the whole range of our political programs and strategies to committee scrutiny. A congressional committee may not simply call political organizations to answer under oath to whatever questions, however politically sensitive, members may have an interest in asking."

So was the wording of a letter sent to House Administration Chairman Robert Ney (R-OH) by representatives of America Coming Together, America Votes, Partnership for America's Families, Democratic Senate Majority Fund and New House PAC, all 527 organizations styled after the radical MoveOn.org political action group. The letter was in response to an “invitation” to appear before Ney’s panel in an effort to ascertain whether or not they are complying with the 2002 campaign finance law. It would appear they are not.

The McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform law banned “soft money”, or large unregulated contributions, to national political parties and federal campaign committees. But 527 organizations, named for the section of the tax code the organizations fall under, are not required to adhere to McCain-Feingold. However, there is a stipulation for their exclusion from the McCain-Feingold legislation. The groups may accept unlimited donations from anonymous donors for political purposes, so long as they do not expressly advocate the election or defeat of a candidate, and do not act in concert with any lawmaker or party committee.

As we travel down the road to the November 2004 elections it has become quite apparent that many of these 527 organizations, including ACT and MoveOn.org are, in my opinion, ignoring the prohibited activities as outlined by McCain-Feingold and are refusing to be called to task for it. ACT’s website explicitly states that one of its objectives is to mobilize “voters to defeat George W. Bush and elect progressive candidates all across America," and MoveOn.org just finished promoting a campaign in search of the commercial that best explains what this President and his policies are really about. Outrage was evident when a commercial entry depicted similarities between George W. Bush and Adolph Hitler. MoveOn.org removed the spot and denounced it but not until the effectiveness of the spot was felt.

Without question, these 527 organizations and their actions are in clear violation of McCain-Feingold yet those who run them have no qualms about breaking the law. While liberal Democrats around the country, and especially in political circles, were more prone to cry-out for campaign finance reform legislation it is the liberally orientated political groups who are not only pushing the limits of the law but also crossing the legal lines the law has drawn. And while the House Administration Committee is well within its rights to compel any organization that has applied for 527 status to testify before their panel in a effort to confirm that the law is being adhered to, the leaders of these organizations refuse to appear in a clear attempt to continue their practices, practices that arguably are in violation of McCain-Feingold.

The liberal activist’s refusal to adhere to McCain-Feingold is only one example of how the liberal left likes to establish laws for you and I but rebukes any effort to have the laws apply to them. While they pouted, whined and had the proverbial temper-tantrum until campaign finance reforms were enacted, today’s political campaigning finds them insisting that conservative campaign groups adhere to the new legislation while they refuse to abide by the same set of rules. In essence, they are saying, “we know what is best for you but we also know that the same standards don’t apply to us – do as I say, not as I do.” It could be considered the mantra of the liberal left, the standard-bearer, if you will.

It is not uncommon for the liberal left to impose its will onto the rest of the nation. There are examples of their over-reaching in almost every walk of life. If it isn’t Michael Newdow protesting the wording of the Pledge of Allegiance, the saying of which is not only a tradition in school classrooms throughout the country and whose recitation instills a needed sense of patriotism and civic pride in our youth, it is some ideological over-achiever on one end of the country complaining about the fact that there is a copy of the Ten Commandments in a teacher’s desk drawer on the other end of the country. To say that the liberal left’s ideology is being forced down the throats of Americans who don’t like the taste would be an understatement. If you don’t believe me just take a trip down to Alabama and ask the majority of the people there what they think about the ACLU championing the removal of the Ten Commandments from the Alabama Supreme Court building. Or go into any classroom where the teacher understands the importance of civic education and civic responsibility and ask if he or she agrees with Mr. Newdow’s idea of the separation of church and state (you would be well advised to not interrupt the reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance lest you receive a detention from the teacher).

The fact that the liberal left is arrogant should come as no surprise. They stand armed with the insistence their ideology is the only correct way to look at things and frighteningly enough they really believe it. Although they profess to be the political faction of our society that champions tolerance, in their ideology there is no room for any other to exist. Here again their hypocrisy is exposed.

Rep. Ney has threatened to use his panel’s subpoena power to compel the 527 organizations in question to testify before his committee. I hope he does subpoena them. The trick will be getting them to actually say something when they finally appear. Something tells me there will be quite a bit of breath holding, many blue faces and a plethora of fingers in the ears rather than testimony. I can hear it now, “I know you are but what am I?”

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Frank Salvato is a political media consultant, an editor for The Washington Dispatch. He has appeared as a guest on The O’Reilly Factor, The Kevin Matthews Radio Show (Chicago) and The Brad Messer Radio Show (San Antonio). His pieces are occasionally featured in The Washington Times and The London Morning Paper as well as other national and international publications.

My suspicion is that if Ney achieves his goal of getting the 527 ads shutdown, only then will the real wrath of the American people be felt on Congress over the speech limitations imposed by CFR. Currently, as long as people believe that the speech limitations can be circumvented (and this is NOT the exclusive domain of the left; right-wing organizations are also looking for ways to circumvent CFR), there will not be a backlash against the politicians. I believe that when the free speech limitations of CFR are fully understood by a dumbed down population, THAT's when Congress may want to lock itself INSIDE to avoid being assaulted (verbally, of course) by an angry American electorate.

It's going to be real hard to close down DEAN's money sites in Red CHina, North Korea, Indonesia, and all the other communist countries that are pouring in money to his campaign - $199.99 at a time(under $200 is not checked supposedly).

Bill & Gore simply showed that you didn't want to be photographed with communist foreigners handing you maoney.

I'm glad to see these organizations effectively telling Congressman Ney to stick his "invitation" up his you-know-where.

The idea that political advocacy organizations can be called before Congressional committees and questioned about their activities is abhorent in a free society. The entire McCain-Feingold Act is abhorrent.

Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has followed the Congress and the President in shirking their responsibility to kill McCain-Feingold, the best way to deal with it is to use every legal loophole and gray area in it, and to ignore it on a widespread basis, thus turning it into an dead letter.

The ONLY way to get this bad law repealed is to prosecute EVERY infraction of the law. THEN the Dems will beg for it to be repealed.

When these cases are finally prosecuted (after years and years of stalling), the dems will scream that their First Amendment rights are being trampled. The judge will agree with them, and throw out the case.

The law will stay in place, the Republicans will continue to abide by it, and the democrats will continue to break it. This is the only hope the democrat party has -- if they abide by their own laws, they'll be extinct by 2008.

You will have to forgive me but after having been a member of the NRA for many years I can tell you that they are no longer a Conservative voice. They are continuning to support GWB even though he has proved that he is anti gun and anti constitution. GWB is the most liberal republican president since Lincoln. Like most PAC's as they get into maturity the message gets lost and it becomes only about the money. For example at least 2 times a month I get a fund raising letter from the NRA begging for money but in the Aug. issue of the American Rifleman there is an article about how they sen one of their vice presidents on a big game hunting trip to Africa. A trip the even at the cheapest rates start at $50,000.00. So they got the money to have wild parties, fly in corporate jets to go on $100,000.00 hunting trips but they will not stand up to GWB.

You will have to forgive me but after having been a member of the NRA for many years I can tell you that they are no longer a Conservative voice.

Nothing is as good as it used to be. Oh for the good old days when men were men and conservatives were conservatives.

Too bad we have to live in a real world where you have to settle for the lesser of two evils.

And if the NRA and George W. Bush are so liberal, why do the left hate them so much?

An "invitation" to appear means we want to play nice .. but if you don't appear .. then you will receive a "subpoena" and will be FORCED to appear. It doesn't matter what they say at this point. Their failure to accept the invitation REALLY SAYS EVERYTHING!!

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