July 09, 2005

The Creeping Effects of McCain-Feingold

A small discussion got going in yesterday's post (regarding Russ Feingold's visit to Nashville) over the "Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act" (aka McCain-Feingold). Some felt that McCain-Feingold was not a detriment to the First Amendment at all. In their near-sightedness, they contended that it only affected large corporations who wanted to "bribe" politicians, but it didn't affect an individual's right to freedom of speech at all. Oh really?

Not only did commenter "Smantix" dispatch that argument (he really should have his own blog), but today someone sent me a link to an article out of Washington state that provides an example of just how McCain-Feingold has a creeping effect on an individual's right to freedom of speech all across the country...

In a decision some critics said could threaten press rights, a Washington state judge ruled last week that two radio hosts’ on-air comments promoting an anti-gas-tax initiative should be considered in-kind campaign contributions.
...
“Each host is entitled to his own opinion on the issues of the day,” said Dennis Kelly, a top official at Fisher Broadcasting. “We don’t agree with the premise of the ruling. If the judge’s ruling holds, it will have a chilling effect on talk and news shows across America. It was a really unwise ruling.”

Michael Silence asks, "Bloggers, do you see that train coming?" Unfortunately I do, but I will still stick beside my earlier assertion of defiance.

Comments:

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I interviewed Senator Feingold Saturday evening, and I'll have that up on Monday morning.

While we talked about campaign finance reform, I focused more on the Patriot Act. As you probably know, Senator Feingold was the only person in the Senate to vote against it.

Best,
Sharon

Posted by: Sharon at July 10, 2005 02:58 AM