The Watchdog Awakes

THE WATCHDOG AWAKES
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Editorial Staff]
[Commentary] The Federal Election Commission finally did the right thing in ruling that the Internet must not be used as a conduit for unregulated salvos of big-money political advertising. Scolded by a federal judge, the commission reversed its earlier rule that threatened to turn the Web into a giant trough for the six- and seven-figure donations from corporations, unions and fat-cat influence shoppers that Congress banned in the campaign reforms of 2002. The F.E.C. ruling against such "soft money" corruption is welcome as well for its ringing endorsement of the free-speech rights of political bloggers, who had been concerned that they would be unfairly hobbled by any campaign controls on the Web. To the contrary, bloggers have now been assured of the same wide latitude to opine free of government control as newspapers enjoy, so long as they are not paid by a political campaign. The commission's action is timely for effectively skewering a brazen attempt in the House this week to make the Internet a soft money cornucopia beyond the reach of campaign law. The measure was peddled in the name of protecting bloggers' free speech, but that veil has been shredded by the F.E.C.'s rule. House Republican leaders wisely pulled the measure from the agenda rather than laying bare the political greed of trying to make the Web a supermarket for influence peddling.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/30/opinion/30thur3.html
(requires registration)