The FCC Muzzle

[Commentary] Congress tried and failed last year to limit corporate political speech in the wake of the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision, but the threat hasn't gone away. The new liberal hope is that the Federal Communications Commission will do the deed.

Liberal activists at the Media Access Project filed a petition last week asking the FCC to re-interpret decades of law to require that groups that run political ads disclose the names of their top donors. The 1934 Communications Act already requires any group paying for an ad—whether commercial or political—to disclose its identity as part of the ad. But liberals want President Obama's FCC to stretch this reading to require the on-air disclosure of any donor providing 25% or more of funding. (The petition is unclear whether that means funding for the ad or for the group.) They also want the FCC to require ad buyers to disclose in public records all financial backers who contribute more than 10% of their budget. The goal here is to use "transparency" to intimidate businesses out of making political donations. Disclosure sounds good, but liberals have begun to wield it as a weapon to vilify business donors. If Republicans can't stop the FCC from imposing backdoor restrictions on speech, they can make clear that partisan rule-making will jeopardize its funding.