FEC Democrats Continue to Ignore the First Amendment

Three Democrat Commissioners are continuing their relentless effort to regulate and impede free speech on the Internet.  Despite the existence of a clear set of regulations adopted unanimously by the Commission in 2006, the three Democrat Commissioners have voted as a bloc twice in the past weeks to countermand the clear regulations.  This is further proof that Democrat Commissioners enforce only the laws they like on any given day, depending on the regulatory outcome they desire, and with respect to the respondents they prefer (or don't prefer).  

In the first vote, three Democrat Commissioners ignored a clear law that exempts Internet communications from regulation as public communications and in-kind contributions.  In 2006, the Commission decided, as a matter of policy, to let citizens speak freely on the Internet without worrying about the federal government treating their low-cost communications as in-kind contributions to candidates.  The law couldn't be clearer on this point.  But last month Commissioner-for-Life Ellen Weintraub, Commissioner I-Don't-Apply-The-First-Amendment Ann Ravel, and "Independent" Commissioner Steven Walther voted to countermand clear law.  They voted to treat a webcast as an in-kind contribution to a candidate.  The relevant Statement of three Republican Commissioners can be found here.