The 2005 "man of the year" takes on 527 reform with the House Rules Committee

Mike Pence was the 2005 man of the year over at Human Events. We need more like him in the Senate.

"More Freedom Is Answer to 527 Reform"

...since I last fought for political freedom, one big thing has changed. The soft money ban from the first Shays-Meehan law forced money away from the political parties and ushered in what I like to call the "Summer of 527s." Because political speech and the money supporting such speech will always find a home in a free society, Swiftboat Veterans and MoveOn.org dominated the 2004 election airwaves, leaving political parties, political action committees, and the campaign committees of George Bush and John Kerry with very little control over their own messages.

Most people can agree that this imbalance in the political system is a problem. Where honest people then differ is the solution to the problem. To regulate or not to regulate; that is the question before us.

Mr. Chairman, I'm from a basketball state, so I tend to frame all issues in terms of basketball. In this case, if there are four people playing basketball, and three of them have rocks in their shoes, there are two ways to create a level playing field: put rocks in the fourth guy's shoes, or let the other three take the rocks out of their shoes.

Similarly, in the campaign system, we can fix an inequity by adding more burdensome federal regulations on the freer entities-in this case 527s-or we can remove some regulations from the other players in the system-parties, citizens groups, PACs, and trade associations.

More regulation or more freedom?

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As usual, the American people are at least one step ahead of Congress. According to the IRS website, the MoveOn.org Voter Fund (their 527) reported just $14,544 in total expenditures and zero contributions over $200 during the last six months of 2005. But MoveOn.org's PAC, which would NOT be affected by the new Shays-Meehan, reported $3.9 million in funds raised during the last half of 2005 and $1.2 million cash-on-hand as of Dec 31, 2005.

So, in at least one large respect, the new Shays-Meehan bill won't do what it's supposed to do. And perhaps we should be thankful.

In closing, Mr. Chairman, greater government control of political speech is not the solution to political inequities. More freedom is the answer.

And while this freedom may be less convenient, less predictable for some in the political class, as Thomas Jefferson said, "I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than those attending too small a degree of it."

My amendments today are about answering the inequities of the "Summer of 527s" with the only antidote a free people should ever administer: more freedom.

Click here for the complete article, with details of what his ammendments do/don't do.

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