September 5th, 2007
FEC: Unaffiliated bloggers safe from campaign laws
Are partisan bloggers just independent blowhards or should they actually be monitored by the Federal Elections Commission? In two recent decisions, the FEC said bloggers don’t need to register as political committees, Ars Technica reports.
In one complaint, John Bambenek asked the FEC to find that the liberal blog site the Daily Kos should have registered as a political committee. The site said it was “out to elect Democrats” and that it contributed, in kind, $1,000 a year in hosting fees and salaries to this goal.
“Can a political committee avoid campaign regulations by simply organizing in the form of a blog?” he asked. “Surely not.”
Not so fast there. The FEC found DailyKos was eligible for the “media exemption” to these kinds of campaign finance rules. In 2006, the FEC said the media exemption applies to online sites. Blog posts are only contributions to a candidate if the blog is “owned by a political party, committee, or candidate.” Citizens, it seems, are free to blog as partisanly as they like.
As DailyKos sees it: “if you’re doing news, commentary or editorial, and you’re not owned/controlled by a political candidate, party or committee, you’re exempt.”
Another complaint said that a blog dedicated to defeating Rep. Mary Bono (yes, as in Sonny Bono) engaged in “fraudulent misrepresentation of campaign authority” and unreported “coordination” with a political campaign. Similarly, the FEC found that the blogger was a volunteer who received no pay from the campaign. And so the law appears to be settled here, as Ars concludes:
Two decisions, two years apart, both coming to similar conclusions: the FEC has little apparent interest in regulating speech in the blogosphere unless that speech is directly paid for by a candidate. Everyone else, though, is welcome to step up to the Internet driving range, pull out a 3 wood, and tee off.
