“We’re tired of being at the bottom of the economic barrel.”
It’s a wonder these guys weren’t arrested on the spot.
If the courts interpret the law as broadly as it’s written, judges will probably find it covers some of MHPC’s activities during the TABOR campaign. But if the interpretation is broad enough, it probably covers some of my activities, too. Like the center, I advocated for the proposal. The MHPC did it by writing press releases. I did it by writing columns. Like the center, I took money. The MHPC received donations. I got paid by this newspaper.
When I asked Lindemann what the difference was between their advocacy and mine, he said I was protected by the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of the press. When I asked why the same amendment’s guarantee of freedom of speech didn’t protect the center, he said, “If Bill Becker [the center’s executive director] is a journalist, of course he can do what he wants . . . but when Bill Becker gets 20 minutes to pitch his position on [Portland talk radio station] WGAN, is that not an unpaid political ad?”
Actually, I got 20 minutes on WGAN, too. Does that make me a PAC? Or, as unlikely as it seems, a think tank?
Was I educating? Are you kidding?
Was I advocating? You bet.
As Dan Billings, the lawyer for the MHPC put it, “You can call [the distinction between advocacy and education] a loophole in the law, but, frankly, I don’t see the First Amendment as a loophole.”
In 2007, I’ll be keeping Billings’s phone number handy.
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Al Diamon: aldiamon@herniahill.net
