RV Weekly

Congress is at it again. It seems that this current bunch of hooligans just isn’t happy unless it is trampling on someone’s rights to freedom of expression. The latest effort is so jaw-dropping in its complexity, it’s hard to imagine that any elected official seriously contemplated the bill that is not only winding its way through Congress now, it passed the Senate Committee of Government Oversight by a vote of 20 to 0. Just a few years after Congress passed the Incumbent Protection Act, also known as campaign finance reform, H.R. 894 threatens the very foundation of political free speech in America. Called the Executive Branch Reform Act, this bill was introduced by — surprise — a Hollywood Democrat. It would impose amazing new requirements on 9,000 executive branch employees to keep track of the names of citizens who contact them and what they talked about.  All that information would be compiled four times a year and published in a massive directory. In other words, your boss and neighbors will not only be able to see what contacts you have made with some government employees, they can also see what you talked about. It treats every citizen as a lobbyist and seeks to intimidate people to the point they don’t contact government officials for fear of exposure. If this bill is passed, influential employees of the executive branch of government must keep records of all conversations during work, at a bar, an RV industry reception or after work. Even a discussion with a spouse might be construed as desiring to influence national policy — and must be reported, critics say.  Its passage would have a chilling effect on speech between citizens who pay for 100 percent of government services, and the people they hire to serve them. 

This June, members of the RV industry will descend upon Washington for the annual Committee Week meetings, some of which involve visiting Capitol Hill to lobby legislators.  Surprisingly, this bill will not cover contact with senators and representatives.  But, if anyone in the RV industry dared to contact a senior official of the National Park Service, Federal Highway Administration or Bureau of Land Management for any reason, that contact would be recorded and disseminated for the world to see.  Perhaps our legislators need to review a Congressional resolution adopted in 1791.  Called the Bill of Rights, the very first provision states:  

 ”Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to . . . petition the government for a redress of grievances.”  

 

Now I’m no attorney, but neither was the guy who drafted this provision. It clearly states that Congress cannot, in any way, create a law that prohibits someone from contacting a government official to vent frustration or attempt to influence the government agent to adopt the citizen’s point of view in any area that is of interest to the citizen. This bill is very similar to the now defunct Section 220 of the Senate’s Lobby Reform bill. That provision would have required grassroots organizations (RVIA, RVDA, RVAA, ARVC, ARC) to document every phone call, e-mail, office visit, fundraising appeal, newspaper interview or public appearance they made either in support of or in opposition to any matter before Congress. The organizations would have been required to regularly submit that document to the government for auditing and verification. Fortunately, the very grassroots organizations that the legislation set to silence rose up and defeated this provision.  But, when elected officials are hellbent on protecting their own power, it appears nothing will stop them in accomplishing their mission, especially pesky citizens who dare to question the king.  This isn’t a time for complacency. Americans learned their lesson a few years ago when they were convinced the U.S. Supreme Court would strike down Congress’ infamous campaign finance reform act that prevents citizens from engaging in political speech 30 days before a primary election and 60 days before a general election. The Supreme Court upheld the very provision of free speech our founding fathers thought so highly of that they made it the FIRST provision in the Bill of Rights.  

When the RV industry’s leaders arrive in Washington in June, the defeat of this outrageous bill should top their agenda when talking with elected officials.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 20th, 2007 at 11:35 am and is filed under Previous Blogs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.