ACTION ALERT-HR5175 DISCLOSE ACT

[carol ann parisi]

Action Alert! HR 5175 / The DISCLOSE Act June 17, 2010 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PLEASE VOTE NO on 5175 we have more information on the bill and expanded contact information for committee members. The vote on HR 5175 may take place as early as tonight. The DISCLOSE Act limits our freedom of speech and needs to be stopped. Please call, email, and fax representatives and ask them to vote no. We are all in this together

Urgent: Follow-up on H.R. 5175 / The DISCLOSE Act If you can't beat'em, shut'em up. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "DISCLOSE Act" Catchy name? Right? HR 5175 is the: ''Democracy is Strengthened by Casting Light on Spending in Elections Act'' This bill will limit our freedom of speech. We need to Call Representatives to Defeat the DISCLOSE Act: it will harm the Tea Party and conservative grassroots groups. Below are details from the Tea Party Patriots and links provided by the Commonwealth Foundation and Freedom Works. Click HERE for the complete bill text. We have received information from Capitol Hill regarding the "Disclose Act" and we must work to defeat this bill. The vote is expected to take place tonight or tomorrow. On April 29, 2010, Congressman Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) introduced H.R. 5175, the Democracy is Strengthened by Casting Light on Spending in Elections (DISCLOSE) Act. The bill is a direct response to Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (McCain- Feingold) - a First Amendment victory in which the Supreme Court overturned the prohibition on corporations and unions using treasury funds for independent expenditures supporting or opposing political candidates at any time of the year. Simply put, the DISCLOSE Act will limit the political speech that was protected and encouraged by Citizens United. Speaker Pelosi and the House Majority Leadership are making it a priority to pass this bill. This bill is designed to take away the influence of Tea Party and other conservative groups in the upcoming November election. We feel like this bill will be successfully challenged in the courts, but the ruling will not come before the November election. An exemption has been carved out for the Labor Unions and other leftist advocacy groups. The NRA was also exempted so they would not oppose it. Roll Call Magazine reports that they have carved out even deeper exemptions in order to assure passage and we believe it clearly shows the intent of the bill is to diminish the effectiveness of Tea Party groups and other newer conservative advocacy groups. "Facing wide-ranging blowback from an exemption tailored for the National Rifle Association, House Democratic leaders have decided to expand the carve-out from disclosure requirements in a campaign finance measure they are trying to pass this week. The new standard lowers the membership requirement for outside groups from 1 million members to 500,000. Those groups would still need to have members in 50 states, have existed for 10 years and can accept no more than 15 percent of their funding from corporate or union sources. The broader bill, called the DISCLOSE Act, comes in response to the controversial Supreme Court decision in January that struck down limits on corporate and union spending in elections. The bill would force groups participating in elections to name their top donors, among other changes." We need you to make phone calls, send emails and faxes and urge the Congressmen listed below to vote no on this bill. If you are a NRA member, we urge that you email the NRA and ask them to oppose this bill. NRA - [e-mail] and [e-mail] Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (SD) Blue Dog Co-Chair for Administration 202-225-2801 Fax: [phone] Rep. Jim Matheson (UT-02) Blue Dog Co-Chair for Communications 202-225-3011 Fax: [phone] Rep. Baron Hill (IN-09) Blue Dog Co-Chair for Policy 202-225-5315 Fax: [phone] Altmire, Jason (PA-04) 202-225-2565 Fax: [phone] Baca, Joe (CA-43) 202-225-6161 Fax: [phone] Barrow, John (GA-12) 202-225-2823 Fax: [phone] Berry, Marion (AR-01) 202-225-4076 Fax: [phone] Bishop, Sanford (GA-02) 202-225-3631 Fax: [phone] Boren, Dan (OK-02) 202-225-2701 Fax: [phone] Boyd, Allen (FL-02) 202-225-5235 Fax: [phone] Bright, Bobby (AL-02) 202-225-2901 Fax: [phone] Cardoza, Dennis (CA-18) 202-225-6131 Carney, Christopher (PA-10) 202-225-3731 Childers, Travis (MS-01) 202-225-4306 Fax: [phone] Cooper, Jim (TN-05) 202-225-4311 Fax: [phone] Costa, Jim (CA-20) 202-225-3341 Fax: [phone] Cuellar, Henry (TX-28) 202-225-1640 Fax: [phone] Dahlkemper, Kathy (PA-03) 202-225-5406 Fax: [phone] Davis, Lincoln (TN-04) 202-225-6831 Fax: [phone] Donnelly, Joe (IN-02) 202-225-3915 Fax: [phone] Gordon, Bart (TN-06) 202-225-4231 Holden, Tim (PA-17) 202-225-5546 Fax: [phone] Kratovil, Jr., Frank (MD-01) 202-225-5311 Fax: [phone] McIntyre, Mike (NC-07) 202-225-2731 Fax: [phone] Markey, Betsy (CO-04) 202-225-4676 Fax: [phone] Marshall, Jim (GA-08) 202-225-6531 Fax: [phone] Matheson, Jim (UT-02) 202-225-3011 Fax: [phone] Melancon, Charlie (LA-03) 202-225-4031 Fax: [phone] Michaud, Mike (ME-02) 202-225-6306 Fax: [phone] Minnick, Walt (ID-01) 202-225-6611 Fax: [phone] Mitchell, Harry (AZ-05) 202-225-2190 Moore, Dennis (KS-03) 202-225-2865 Fax: [phone] Murphy, Scott (NY-20) 202-225-5614 Fax: [phone] Nye, Glenn (VA-02) 202-225-4215 Fax: [phone] Peterson, Collin (MN-07) 202-225-2165 Fax: [phone] Salazar, John (CO-03) 202-225-4761 Fax: [phone] Scott, David (GA-13) 202-225-2939 Fax: [phone] Space, Zack (OH-18) 202-225-6265 Fax: [phone] Tanner, John (TN-08) 202-225-4714 Fax: [phone] Taylor, Gene (MS-04) 202-225-5772 Fax: [phone] Additional Information: The DISCLOSE Act Silences Speech The Principle Behind Campaign Finance Regulation Free Speech Watch Republican Study Committee Policy Brief NRA exemption shows campaign disclosure bill's cynical, fatal flaws

[jackie menconi]

HR5175 Disclosure Act was passed by the house tonight, next stop the senate. This is a
bad day for free speech in America.

[carol ann parisi]

We need you to make phone calls, send emails and faxes and urge the Congressmen listed above to vote no on this bill.
Together, we can make a difference!


Useful links:

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0610/38500.html

http://www.redstate.com/erick/2010/06/14/yet-again-the-nra-sells-ou...

Disclose Act

DISCLOSE Act Seeks to Blunt Impacts of Citizens United

[carol ann parisi]

Update
The U.S. House of Representatives could vote on a new campaign finance bill as early as this week, which, if passed, would silence political speech by nonprofit organizations and even discourage financial support!

The bill, H.R. 5175, called the DISCLOSE (Democracy Is Strengthened by Casting Light on Spending in Elections) Act, goes against the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling earlier this year that struck down unconstitutional restrictions on speech. If passed, it could even impact the non-partisan voter guide we produce each election! The National Rifle Association (NRA) struck a deal with the U.S. House Democrats pushing the bill so they could be exempted, but no other organization is exempt!

There are 114 co-sponsors of this legislation, including Illinois' Congressmen Bill Foster (D-14th), Phil Hare (D-17th), Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-2nd), Daniel Lipinski (D-3rd), and Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (D-9th).

Background

According to our friends at the Family Research Council, this legislation:

"...adds to the already onerous burdens placed on law-abiding organizations by exposing their donors in places like TV, radio and newspaper ads. The bill exposes the hypocrisy of its supporters by giving special treatment to favored special interests, even though the bill is designed to crack down on the power of many other special interests!

These tactics are used to intimidate donors. They were used in the 1960s during the Civil Rights struggles, and more recently have been employed against Christians in states like Massachusetts, California and Maine for merely voicing their beliefs on marriage being between one man and one woman.

...

The goal behind this bill, written by the head of the Democratic Congressional Committee and a liberal Republican who fears a primary challenge, is to influence this election in particular. Liberals are well aware that the DISCLOSE Act is unconstitutional. They know that the courts may eventually overturn the law, but not before November 2nd, 2010 -- election day. By then, the damage to free speech will have already been done."

Please contact your House Member today and tell him to oppose H.R. 5175, the DISCLOSE Act.

Read more:

NRLC: DISCLOSE bad for voters, bad for groups (OneNewsNow.com)

ACLU Slams the DISCLOSE Act (Reason.com

[jackie menconi]

Proposal on HR5175 Disclosure Act was pulled from the floor of the House of Representative this week when it was learned that the NRA became exempt from it's demands allegedly in exchange for the NRA's dropping it's opposition to the bill.
The internet ignited with criticism of the NRA's "Deal with the devil"
Beware the bill will be back soon we need to keep up the pressure on our Reps. to defeat this bill.