Vigilance

When FEC Commissioner Bradley Smith gave an interview to CNET last week, he touched off a firestorm that has yet to subside. Hundreds of blogs decried the possibility of the FEC regulating them. Then Mark Glaze, a director at the Campaign Legal Center, a pro-campaign finance reform advocacy group, sent a press release castigating Smith for raising the concerns. Numerous bloggers seized the press release as proof that Smith’s concerns were unfounded, and that blogs were safe. But as I discussed here, Glaze didn’t really respond to Smith’s concerns at all. Both a district court’s opinion last fall, and the FEC refusal to appeal the decision, left serious doubts. Moreover, no one ever disputed that current statutes and court opinions grant the FEC the power to regulate, even if the will to do so isn’t present.
Now comes Sens. McCain and Feingold, along with Ellen Weintraub, head of the FEC, penning a column on CNET attempting to put out the remaining fires. Weintraub writes:

For people who worry about the influence of money on politics, the Internet can only be seen as a force for good, for the simple reason that it’s generally a very cheap form of communication. As the Internet becomes an increasingly effective political tool, a candidate may not need to raise large sums of cash to run television ads, if she can get her message out cheaply and efficiently over the Internet.
It would be ironic indeed if, in the name of campaign finance reform, we were to try to squelch inexpensive online grassroots political rabble-rousing.

For bloggers who didn’t buy Glaze’s justification, Weintraub seems to have quieted the rest, with Lucas Sayre being one example. But a close examination of Weintraub’s column reveals her promises are as empty as Glaze’s. Captain Ed offers a healthy dose of skepticism here. “While McCain and Feingold protest that their lawsuit only targets paid advertising, their action and the [district court] decision points out that they are being dishonest about it. The decision forces the FEC to regulate unpaid communications, including the Internet.” Perhaps more importantly, Weintraub never explains why the FEC voted not to appeal the district court’s ruling. She also fails to note that the FEC has yet to draft its rules. She assures us that bloggers will get to “use their electronic soapbox to voice their political views.” Thanks, but we’re not worried about losing our soapboxes. We’re worried about them being regulated.