192 House Democrats Sign Petition to Curb Free Speech about Congress and Candidates; Some Republicans Threatens to Join Them

By NRLC Federal Legislative Office

WASHINGTON (May 11) - - Advocates of so-called "campaign reform" legislation are demanding fast action by the U.S. House of Representatives on the Shays-Meehan so-called "campaign reform" bill (HR 417). But pro-life House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Il.) is refusing to go along.

The Shays-Meehan bill is strongly opposed by NRLC, because it would severely restrict the right of NRLC, NRLC affiliates, and other pro-life groups to communicate effectively with the public about the positions and actions of federal lawmakers, including upcoming votes in Congress.

The bill is also opposed by many other issue-oriented organizations, including the Christian Coalition, Family Research Council, and Concerned Women for America.

[A Feb. 24 letter from NRLC to House members, summarizing NRLC's objections to the Shays-Meehan bill, was reproduced in the March 15 edition of NRL News, pages 22-23.]

Discharge Petition

On March 18, House supporters of the bill filed a "discharge petition," to the applause of special-interest groups such as Common Cause and the League of Women Voters and newspapers such as the New York Times and the Washington Post. If one-half of the House membership signs this petition - - 218 lawmakers - - it will force the bill to the floor even without committee approval and without the agreement of the House Republican leadership. This procedure would also severely restrict the number of amendments that could be considered to the bill.

As of May 7, 192 House Democrats had signed the petition (including Independent Bernard Sanders of Vermont, who is a member of the Democratic Caucus). (See list beginning on page 7.)
Hastert, who took over as House Speaker in January, has urged all Republicans to refrain from signing the petition, and so far no Republican has done so. (NRLC has urged pro-life House members of both parties not to sign the petition.)

Last August, the House passed the Shays-Meehan bill 252-179. Hastert voted against the bill - - but 61 Republicans voted for it. The bill died in the Senate, thanks to a Senate filibuster led by Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

So far this year, 31 Republicans have cosponsored the bill. (See below.)

Hastert has promised that he will allow a vote on the bill in September. However, advocates of the bill believe that delaying action that long would doom the measure. They want to pass the bill immediately and then focus media pressure on the Senate. [A similar bill has been introduced in the Senate by Sen. John McCain (R-Az.) and Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wi.).]

On April 29, 29 Republicans sent Hastert a letter urging him to bring up the bill promptly. On May 5, members of that group met with Hastert personally, and some warned that they might join Democrats on the discharge petition unless a vote is scheduled soon.

"We made it very clear that September is too late," said Rep. Marge Roukema (R-NJ).

Rep. Zach Wamp (R-Tn.), one of the most zealous Republican advocates of legislation to restrict free speech about politicians, told reporters that he told the Speaker, "Please don't put me in a position of having to sign the discharge petition." After the meeting, Wamp told the New York Times, "Let's give him a few days" to decide whether to schedule an earlier vote.

But Hastert offered the group little indication that he was inclined to speed up action on the bill. "I promised them that we would have a vote on campaign finance reform legislation by September of this year," Hastert said in a written statement issued after the meeting. "I have serious concerns about certain definitions of reform that unduly regulate free speech and that unfairly discriminate against certain political parties."

"A vote in September is totally, unequivocally unacceptable," responded Rep. Marty Meehan (Mass.), the lead Democratic sponsor of the bill.

Despite pressure from Democratic leaders and pro-restriction interest groups, 20 Democrats have so far declined to sign the discharge petition. Of these, 14 have generally pro-life voting records, and some of these have made it clear that they take seriously the objections of NRLC and other pro-life groups. [See "Action Requests," page seven.]

Free Speech Hearing

On May 5, pro-life Congressman Charles Canady (R-Fl.), chairman of the House Judiciary Constitution Subcommittee, held a public hearing on the implications of pending "campaign reform" proposals for rights protected by the First Amendment.

In opening the hearing, Rep. Canady quoted with approval words spoken by Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia: "The premise of our Bill of Rights . . . is that there are some things - - even some seemingly desirable things - - that government cannot be trusted to do. The very first of these is establishing the restrictions upon speech that will assure 'fair' political debate."

Among the witnesses was James Bopp, Jr., NRLC general counsel. Mr. Bopp is also general counsel of the James Madison Center for Free Speech, an organization formed in 1997 for the specific purpose of defending the right to free speech about political figures. He has represented NRLC and NRLC affiliates in many successful legal challenges to attempts by state and federal regulators to curb pro-life communications to the public.

"The nation stands at a crossroads," Bopp said. "Either it will claim the heritage of free expression in the political arena bequeathed to us by the Founders, or it will relinquish that hard-won liberty in favor of the long-rejected regime of political control of political speech. The First Amendment was enacted precisely to counter governmental controls on political speech. It is the first and foremost campaign reform. The First Amendment is not a loophole to be closed by misguided politicians who have forgotten the lessons of history."

Also highly critical of the Shays-Meehan bill was Laura Murphy, director of the Washington office of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). She testified that the bill "will abridge the very speech that the First Amendment was designed to protect - - political speech. . . . [The bill] contains the harshest and most unconstitutional controls on issue advocacy groups."

If anyone proposed similar restrictions on the news media, "the media powerhouses would engage in a frenzy of protest," Murphy said, noting that the bill exempts the institutional news media from its restrictions on discussion of political figures.

Representing the pro-restriction viewpoint, Glenn Moramarco, an attorney with the Brennan Center in New York, and Richard Briffault, a professor at Columbia Law School in New York, testified that they thought that Congress could restrict even communications that merely mention the names of those who seek federal office, at least in the periods close to an election.

Resources

NRLC has prepared a detailed critique of HR 417, titled "An Analysis of the Speech-Restriction Provisions of the Shays-Meehan Bill." This analysis is available from the NRLC Federal Legislative Office, 419 Seventh Street, Northwest, Suite 500, Washington, D.C. 20004. It is also available at the NRLC website at www.nrlc.org/Federal/Free_ Speech/Shaysbig.htm. The NRLC website also contains a great deal of documentation on the ways in which restrictions on free speech about political figures would hurt the pro-life cause.

Action Requests

· As of May 7, the following Democrats who generally vote against abortion had NOT signed the discharge petition (in order by state): Ken Lucas (Ky.), Richard Neal (Mass.), Joseph Moakley (Mass.), James Barcia (Mi.), Jim Oberstar (Mn.), Collin Peterson (Mn.), Gene Taylor (Ms.), James Traficant (Ohio), Tim Holden (Pa.), John Murtha (Pa.), Ralph Hall (Tx.), Virgil Goode (Va.), Alan Mollohan (WV), and Nick Rahall (WV).

Constituents of these lawmakers should write to thank them for resisting pressures to sign the petition, because the petition would advance measures that would greatly harm the ability of NRLC and NRLC affiliates to communicate with the public regarding the positions and voting records of those who hold or seek federal office.

· A number of other Democratic House members who generally or often vote against abortion - - whose names appear in boldface on the list below - - have signed the discharge petition. They should be urged to re-examine the issue and to withhold support from the Shays-Meehan bill or other forms of so-called "reform" legislation that tramples on the rights of citizen groups, such as NRLC and other pro-life groups, to comment on political figures.

· As of May 7, no House Republican had signed the discharge petition, but 31 House Republicans had cosponsored the Shays-Meehan bill (HR 417). Their names appear in a box on page 6. Most of these cosponsors are pro-abortion, but a small number (shown in boldface) have pro-life voting records. Pro-life constituents should urge them to drop their support for restrictions on free speech about political figures.

The address for all House members is: The Honorable _________, House Office Building, Washing-ton, D.C. 20515. Please send a copy of any reply received from a lawmaker to the NRLC Federal Legislative Office, 419-Seventh Street, Northwest, Washington, D.C. 20004.

U.S. House Signers of "Discharge Petition" to Restrict Free Speech about Politicians

As explained above, the following 192 members of the U.S. House Democratic caucus have signed a "discharge petition," an extraordinary procedural device, in an attempt to force rapid passage of the Shays-Meehan "campaign reform" bill, which would severely restrict the right of NRLC and NRLC affiliates to communicate with the public regarding pro-life legislation being considered in Congress, and regarding the positions and voting records of individual politicians on right-to-life issues. No Republicans have yet signed the discharge petition, but scores of House Republicans have expressed support for the Shays-Meehan bill itself, and some are threatening to sign the petition.

Boldface names are House members who usually or often vote pro-life. (F) denotes a freshman lawmaker.

Alabama: Bud Cramer

Arizona: Ed Pastor

Arkansas: Marion Berry, Vic Snyder

California: Xavier Becerra, Howard Berman, George Brown, Lois Capps, Gary Condit, Julian Dixon, Calvin Dooley, Anna Eshoo, Sam Farr, Bob Filner, Tom Lantos, Barbara Lee, Zoe Lofgren, Robert Matsui, Juanita Millender-McDonald, George Miller, Nancy Pelosi, Lucille Roybal-Allard, Loretta Sanchez, Brad Sherman, Pete Stark, Ellen Tauscher, Maxine Waters, Henry Waxman, Lynn Woolsey, Mike Thompson (F), Grace Napolitano (F)

Colorado: Diana DeGette, Mark Udall (F)

Connecticut: Rosa DeLauro, Sam Gejdenson, James Maloney, John Larson (F)

Florida: Allen Boyd, Corrine Brown, Jim Davis, Peter Deutsch, Alcee Hastings, Carrie Meek, Karen Thurman, Robert Wexler

Georgia: Sanford Bishop, John Lewis, Cynthia McKinney

Hawaii: Neil Abercrombie, Patsy Mink

Illinois: Rod Blagojevich, Jerry Costello, Danny Davis, Lane Evans, Luis Gutierrez, Jesse Jackson, Jr., William Lipinski, Bobby Rush, David Phelps (F), Jan Schakowsky (F)

Indiana: Julia Carson, Tim Roemer, Baron Hill (F)

Iowa: Leonard Boswell

Kansas: Dennis Moore (F)

Louisiana: William Jefferson, Chris John

Maine: Tom Allen, John Baldacci

Maryland: Ben Cardin, Elijah Cummings, Steny Hoyer, Albert Wynn

Massachusetts: William Delahunt, Barney Frank, Edward Markey, James McGovern, Marty Meehan, John Olver, John Tierney, Michael Capuano (F)

Michigan: David Bonior, John Conyers, John Dingell, Dale Kildee, Carolyn Kilpatrick, Sander Levin, Lynn Rivers, Debbie Stabenow, Bart Stupak

Minnesota: Bill Luther, David Minge, Martin Sabo, Bruce Vento

Mississippi: Ronnie Shows (F)

Missouri: Bill Clay, Pat Danner, Dick Gephardt, Karen McCarthy, Ike Skelton

Nevada: Shelley Berkley (F)

New Jersey: Robert Andrews, Robert Menendez, Frank Pallone, William Pascrell, Donald Payne, Steven Rothman, Rush Holt (F)

New Mexico: Tom Udall (F)

New York: Gary Ackerman, Eliot Engel, Maurice Hinchey, John LaFalce, Nita Lowey, Carolyn Maloney, Carolyn McCarthy, Michael McNulty, Gregory Meeks, Jerrold Nadler, Major Owens, Charles Rangel, Jose Serrano, Louise Slaughter, Edolphus Towns, Nydia Velazquez, Joseph Crowley (F), Anthony Weiner (F)

North Carolina: Eva Clayton, Bob Etheridge, Mike McIntyre, David Price, Melvin Watt

North Dakota: Earl Pomeroy

Ohio: Sherrod Brown, Tony Hall, Marcy Kaptur, Dennis Kucinich, Thomas Sawyer, Ted Strickland, Stephanie Tubbs Jones (F)

Oregon: Earl Blumenauer, Peter DeFazio, Darlene Hooley, David Wu (F)

Pennsylvania: Robert Borski, William Coyne, Mike Doyle, Chaka Fattah, Paul Kanjorski, Frank Mascara, Ron Klink, Robert Brady, Joe Hoeffel (F)

Rhode Island: Patrick Kennedy, Robert Weygand

South Carolina: James Clyburn, John Spratt

Tennessee: Bob Clement, Harold Ford, Jr., Bart Gordon, John Tanner

Texas: Ken Bentsen, Lloyd Doggett, Chet Edwards, Martin Frost, Gene Green, Ruben Hinojosa, Eddie Bernice Johnson, Nick Lampson, Sheila Jackson Lee, Solomon Ortiz, Silvestre Reyes, Ciro Rodriguez, Max Sandlin, Charles Stenholm, Jim Turner, Charles A. Gonzalez (F)

Vermont: Bernard Sanders

Virginia: Jim Moran, Robert Scott, Norman Sisisky, Rick Boucher

Washington: Norman Dicks, Jim McDermott, Adam Smith, Jay Inslee (F), Brian Baird (F)

West Virginia: Robert Wise

Wisconsin: Thomas Barrett, Ronald Kind, Jerry Kleczka, Tammy Baldwin (F)

The following 31 House Republicans had co-sponsored the Shays-Meehan "campaign reform" bill as of May 7, 1999 (the names of lawmakers who have generally pro-life voting records appear in boldface):

California: Brian Bilbray, Tom Campbell, Elton Gallegly, Steve Horn

Connecticut: Nancy Johnson, Chris Shays

Delaware: Michael Castle

Illinois: John Porter

Iowa: Jim Leach, Greg Ganske

Maryland: Wayne Gilchrest, Connie Morella

Minnesota: Jim Ramstad

Nebraska: Bill Barrett

New Hampshire: Charles Bass

New Jersey: Frank LoBiondo, Marge Roukema, Bob Franks, Rodney Frelinghuysen

New York: Sherwood Boehlert, Benjamin Gilman, Amo Houghton, Sue Kelly, Michael Forbes, Jim Walsh

Ohio: Paul Gillmor

Pennsylvania: Jim Greenwood

South Carolina: Lindsey Graham, Mark Sanford

Tennessee: Zach Wamp

Washington: Jack Metcalf