Senate Drops Effort to Seek Data on Grass-Roots Drives

By Suzanne Perry

Washington

The Senate on Thursday night voted to delete language from an ethics bill that would have required nonprofit groups and others to file reports about their grass-roots lobbying activities.

The provision, which was supported by many liberal advocacy and government-watchdog groups, was designed to shine light on the source of money that is used to encourage members of the public to contact Congress or federal officals about legislation or policies. But a coalition of mostly conservative advocacy groups said the measure would violate constitution's free-speech guarantees, and members of the Senate dropped it before they approved the final legislation.

Supporters of the requirement argue that action is needed to uncover sham grass-roots campaigns — those that appear to be generated by members of the public but are actually paid for by an industry group, for example. They will now take their battle to the House of Representatives, which will soon be drafting its own version of the ethics bill.

But opponents — many of them conservative groups such as Focus on the Family, an influential Christian organization in Colorado Springs, Colo., but also including the American Civil Liberties Union — conducted an intense lobbying campaign to defeat the provision, saying it would be burdensome for small groups and interfere with citizens' rights to contact lawmakers.

"The very core of that First Amendment freedom of speech is the right of petition," the Rev. Louis Sheldon, chairman of the Traditional Values Coalition, a conservative Christian advocacy group, told reporters during a teleconference before the Senate voted.

The language on grass-roots lobbying, which was defeated by a 55-43 vote, was included in a bill that sets new rules on lobbying in an effort to curb corruption and influence-peddling. It would have required any group, including charities, that already does enough direct lobbying to register under the federal Lobbying Disclosure Act to file quarterly reports on the money it spent on grass-roots lobbying — if it spent at least $25,000 during the quarter on such activities.

Supporters of the language note that charities already must record their grassroots-lobbying activities on the informational tax returns they submit to the Internal Revenue Service. Requiring other groups to report such information "would level the playing field," says Gary Bass, executive director of OMB Watch, a government watchdog group in Washington.

He says opponents of the language misrepresented the bill's intent, which is not to stifle genuine grass-roots lobbying or curtail free speech. But he says that the wording in some parts of the Senate measure was confusing, so supporters will work to ensure the House version is clearer.

But Marv Johnson, a legislative counsel for the ACLU, says he's not sure the language can be fixed. "I'm not sure it's something [the bill] needs to be regulating," he adds.