Posted on 07/24/2014 12:04:20 PM PDT by kristinn
Federal Election Commission Chairman Lee Goodman issued a stark warning on Wednesday when he suggested that political speech and press freedoms were under assault by federal regulators.
In August, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) will engage in a bus tour promoting his new book, The Way Forward: Renewing the American Idea. This was revealed in the release of a letter from the FEC following a request from Ryan’s attorneys to ensure that the House Budget Committee chairman remained in compliance with campaign regulations. Ryan’s team asked for and received permission to use campaign funds to purchase his own book in order to disseminate it as political literature.
While the FEC advisory opinion endorsed Ryan’s right to author and promote this work, the commission failed to answer whether Ryan’s publisher, Grand Central Publishing, would be immune from federal regulation under a standard “media exemption” – the same provision which exempts media outlets like newspapers, television networks, and online outlets from regulation.
“By failing to affirm this publisher’s constitutional right, statutory right, to disseminate a political book free from FEC conditions and regulations, we have effectively asserted regulatory jurisdiction over a book publisher,” Chairman Goodman,...
SNIP
The onerous burden of having to mount a challenge in court in order to affirm the rights accorded to most media outlets is itself chilling, and Goodman is leery of the precedents being set by the FEC.
“I don’t think there is any question that the FEC regulates speech,” the chairman conceded. “The question in this case was whether or not the press is going to be regulated along with all other speakers.”
The Federal Election Commission chairman closed with a foreboding message. “There is a move afoot to constrict press freedoms along with everybody else’s freedoms within this agency,” he warned.
(Excerpt) Read more at hotair.com ...
FEC chair warns of chilling regulations, book ban on conservative publishers
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3184340/posts
get around the whole thing by charging $0.01 for the book and place a wishing well next to the stack of books.
charge ONE WISH (which requires a penny tossed over the shoulder) for the book
then just take a loss on book costs
I want my AMERICA BACK!!!!
NOW!!!
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