Posted by Thais Cesare on September 23, 2010 at 9:42am
I got this in my e-mail from the HSLDA. I am a Homeschooler, and it sounds to me like the govt. is trying to control us again. Please write to your senators!Dear HSLDA Members and Friends,The U.S. Senate is scheduled to debate the DISCLOSE Act today, andhold an important procedural vote tomorrow. HSLDA believes this billwill hurt the free speech rights of organizations to inform citizensabout political issues.We have previously urged http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=9200 you tocall your representatives to oppose the DISCLOSE Act. Although theU.S. House of Representatives already passed this bill, the proposedlegislation has been stopped once in the Senate, thanks in part toyour calls. This is another attempt by Senate leadership to pass thisbill before the November elections.The DISCLOSE Act, S. 3628, places severe disclosure requirements oncorporations and organizations that decide to use corporate funds tomake statements about candidates for federal office. Organizationsthat use funds for campaign activities (such as taking out anadvertisement in a newspaper urging people to vote for a candidate whosupports the U.S. Constitution over international law) would have toinclude the names of everyone who has given over $600 to theorganization.The bill does not appear to apply to organizations such as HSLDAbecause we do not spend membership revenue on campaign activities, andwe only send political communications (such as endorsements of federalcandidates) to our membership. Additionally, the DISCLOSE Act does notapply to organizations that only engage in advocacy and do not getinvolved in political activity. However, we believe that the bill aswritten will create a chilling effect on free speech.Furthermore, this legislation may lead to even greater restrictions onthe free speech of organizations such as HSLDA in the future.Action RequestedPlease call your two U.S. senators right now and urge them to voteagainst the DISCLOSE Act. You can call the Capitol Switchboard at(202) 224-3121 or use HSLDA's Legislative Toolboxhttp://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=9201 to find the name and contactinformation of your two U.S. senators. There is no need to identifyyourself as a homeschooler. You can make your message as simple as:"Please vote against S. 3628, the DISCLOSE Act. Congress should nottake away the free speech rights of organizations and corporationsthat are made up of ordinary American citizens."BackgroundCampaign finance reform is a complicated issue. While maintaining theintegrity of the campaign and election system is important, we believethat the DISCLOSE Act goes too far toward discouraging free speechthrough its imposition of severe disclosure requirements.The DISCLOSE Act, S. 3628, was intended to roll back the U.S. SupremeCourt's decision in Citizens United v. FEC. However, as stated above,the legislation places severe disclosure requirements on corporationsand organizations that decide to use corporate funds to makestatements about candidates for federal office. Organizations willhave to comply with onerous red tape and disclosure requirements,which will likely mean that they will cease to provide valuable andinformative statements on candidates and elections.To read more about HSLDA's concerns with the DISCLOSE Act, please seeour past updates about this bill athttp://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=9202 .Sincerely,Mike SmithHSLDA President
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