Ney Ready to Act on 527 Regulation

Roll Call ^ | September 1, 2004 | John Bresnahan and Amy Keller

[Almondjoy]

AMEN!

Why are these groups tax exempt anyways? It seems to me that that they groups are pulling in "income" which they are then using how they see fit. Make transfers taxable and if a Millionaire or Billionare wants to excerise his free rights then he can do it by buying the advertising directly.

[Leatherneck_MT]

You're right

So long as you and I continue to say "That will never happen" It WILL never happen.

Thank God our Forefathers didn't think that way or we would never have kicked the Crown off of these shores.

[lawdog]

Agree. Apparently he has never heard of the "Law of Unintended Consequences"?

[lawdog]

Something to ponder about these types...

"Good intentions will always be pleaded for every assumption of authority. It is hardly too strong to say that the Constitution was made to guard the people against the dangers of good intentions. There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters."

[anglian]

A good related sight here. The Brookings Institution - Recent Developments
in Campaign Finance Regulation
Federal Election Commission (FEC)
http://www.brookings.org/gs/cf/fec.htm

[Route66]

"McCain knew his bill had massive flaws but just wanted to have a major piece of legislation pushed through with his name on it. It's an old manufacturing trick--send it out broken to make the shipping date and fix it later when if comes back for warranty repair."

You let your customer base work out the bugs for you. In this case, the Dems thought they had tweaked McCain Feingold for a custom liberal fit. They were totally caught off guard when the SBVFT found a way to use what they considered to be their own little loophole against them.

[neverdem]

Thanks for the link.

[c-b 1]

The stupid campaign finance laws pased in the 70s didn't work so the more stupid McCain Finegold infringment on free speech was passed, someone immediately found a way around that, so now we are going to be stupid, and pass more laws that won't work.

Isn't doing the same thing over, and over, expecting different results, insanity?

[bIlluminati]

"Common Sense", published anonymously, would be outlawed by this standard. "Congress shall make no law" means exactly that.

[bIlluminati]

Who says the consequences are unintended? I maintain, that while many of the Congresscritters can barely tie their shoes, others, and many of their aides, know exactly what they're voting for. The thing is, this is about the best of all possible regulated worlds. Further, the U.S. Supreme Court might reject an entity trying to enforce the 60 days rule. Or they might not.

[AuH2ORepublican]

"What a delusioned dumbass to think that the cure to a bad law is another bad law."

---

Bob Ney OPPOSED McCain-Feingold. He was the lead sponsor of the alternative measure that would have preserved our First Amendment rights. Unfortunately, his measure failed, and McCain-Feingold was approved by both Houses and, in arguably the worst blunder of George W. Bush's first term, signed into law. Since it will be impossible to get the votes to repeal McCain-Feingold, I don't think it is unfair or unwise for Ney to propose that the rules that apply to everyone else apply with equal force to 527s.

[NonValueAdded]

If the act isn't retroactive then isn't the impact going to be felt only by newer groups such as the Swift Boat Vets? The $60 million of so from the big RAT contributors is already in, isn't it? If whatever they are proposing doesn't undo Soros, then I say leave it alone until after November. Otherwise, the impact will be uneven and probably punish conservative groups more than liberal groups.

[Agrarian]

A Republican who many FReepers seem to be excited about as a possibility for 2008, no less. Go figure...

[SunkenCiv]

The Ohio Republican said he has heard from “top Democrats” who are also interested in pushing such legislation through Congress before it adjourns for the fall elections. He declined to name those lawmakers.

Wasn't this a problem when the egregiously misnamed MoveOn.org was first operating? Or when Michael Moore (who is physically large enough to be considered an organization) spewed his venom (and so many times)?

George W. Bush will be reelected by a margin of at least ten per cent