Whew! The U.S. Senate has passed their version of an ethics and lobby reform bill yesterday but, thank the Lord, the outrageous section that would have eliminated a lot of grassroots lobbying was defeated. That section was aimed especially at conservative groups that promote citizens to write, call and e-mail their political representatives about major moral issues. The section thus represented a clear violation of the Constitutional rights of freedom of speech, redress of grievance, and freedom of the press...so much so that even the ACLU had to argue against the measure.
And yet, so strong is the spirit of injustice and coercive power raging in the Democrat Party that 43 Senators voted against the amendment introduced by Sen. Robert Bennett (R-Utah) to strip the grassroots lobbying provision from the larger bill.
Amazing.
So, I certainly applaud the passage of the bill (with the tyrannical censorship of free speech removed) but I would argue that many other violations of ethics remain protected. And that 43 Senators dared to commit themselves to such a grievously unconstitutional power play as the original version of S. 1 represented is a tragic and very dangerous scandal.
So, thank you to Senator Bennett and the others who voted for the amendment (including 7 Democrats who I believe deserve our special gratitude) and a big, big raspberry to the irresponsible crowd of churls (all Democrats) who voted in favor.
Those folks are: Akaka (D-HI); Biden (D-DE); Bingaman (D-NM); Boxer (D-CA); Brown (D-OH); Byrd (D-WV); Cantwell (D-WA); Cardin (D-MD); Carper (D-DE); Casey (D-PA); Clinton (D-NY); Dodd (D-CT); Durbin (D-IL); Feingold (D-WI); Feinstein (D-CA); Harkin (D-IA); Inouye (D-HI); Kennedy (D-MA); Kerry (D-MA); Klobuchar (D-MN); Kohl (D-WI); Lautenberg (D-NJ); Leahy (D-VT); Levin (D-MI); Lieberman (ID-CT); Lincoln (D-AR); McCaskill (D-MO); Menendez (D-NJ); Mikulski (D-MD); Murray (D-WA); Nelson (D-FL); Obama (D-IL); Pryor (D-AR); Reed (D-RI); Reid (D-NV); Rockefeller (D-WV); Sanders (I-VT); Schumer (D-NY); Stabenow (D-MI); Tester (D-MT); Webb (D-VA); Whitehouse (D-RI); and Wyden (D-OR).
