Who Needs the FEC When You Have San Francisco?
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America's favorite insane asylum, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, is at it again:
Cutting to the chase, some California blawgs are posting that a San Francisco City Attorney has said that any blogpost that receives more than 500 hits would qualify as an "electronic communication" and would require the disclosure.
I'm not going to revisit here the blogstorm over the controversial FEC member comment about blogging under McCain-Feingold. The civil disobedience (including from this blogger) would so swamp the Internet as to render any private blog-chilling interpretation moot.
Instead, let's focus on a different question — isn't it time to rein in "activist" state and local legislatures? If the San Francisco Board of Supervisors has enough excess capacity (i.e, free time on its hands) to try to regulate the Internet, then perhaps it's time to have "less" San Francisco Board of Supervisors.
Whatever happened to part-time legislators? Whatever happened to making sure the streetlights worked, the potholes were fixed and the police were paid enough? When did states and cities get into the business of controlling the Internet, or taxing grocery bags, or rewriting the tort law of handguns, or establishing price controls for autographs, or quashing the property rights of bar owners, or suing their own state over gay marriage?
And don't forget — San Francisco taxpayers are subsidizing the suppression of their own First Amendment rights. Go figure.
I hope the California bloggers and blawgers will stay on top of this. I look forward to seeing the local hack politicians who support this nonsense smacked down for this inanity.
Hat tip to Overlawyered.
Every electioneering communication shall include a disclosure statement identifying the person who paid for the communication. Such disclosure statement shall, at a minimum, contain the following words, "paid for by _______ (insert the name of the person who paid for the communication)."
(2) Any disclosure statement required by this section to be in printed form shall be printed in a type and color so as to be easily legible to the intended public. In no situation shall such disclosure statement be printed in less than 14 point type or in a color or print that does not contrast with the background so as to be easily legible to the intended public.
Cutting to the chase, some California blawgs are posting that a San Francisco City Attorney has said that any blogpost that receives more than 500 hits would qualify as an "electronic communication" and would require the disclosure.
I'm not going to revisit here the blogstorm over the controversial FEC member comment about blogging under McCain-Feingold. The civil disobedience (including from this blogger) would so swamp the Internet as to render any private blog-chilling interpretation moot.
Instead, let's focus on a different question — isn't it time to rein in "activist" state and local legislatures? If the San Francisco Board of Supervisors has enough excess capacity (i.e, free time on its hands) to try to regulate the Internet, then perhaps it's time to have "less" San Francisco Board of Supervisors.
Whatever happened to part-time legislators? Whatever happened to making sure the streetlights worked, the potholes were fixed and the police were paid enough? When did states and cities get into the business of controlling the Internet, or taxing grocery bags, or rewriting the tort law of handguns, or establishing price controls for autographs, or quashing the property rights of bar owners, or suing their own state over gay marriage?
And don't forget — San Francisco taxpayers are subsidizing the suppression of their own First Amendment rights. Go figure.
I hope the California bloggers and blawgers will stay on top of this. I look forward to seeing the local hack politicians who support this nonsense smacked down for this inanity.
Hat tip to Overlawyered.
Related Posts (on one page):
- Who Needs the FEC When You Have San Francisco?
- Rhode Island Set to Ban Charging for Autographs
- Linkfest -- Special "Activist Legislatures" Edition
Posted by KipEsquire on
3 April 2005
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