Over at Red State, Adam Bonin notes:
Under the Commission's rules, "any person involved in a specific activity 'indistinguishable in all its material aspects'" from Fired Up! can rely upon this ruling unless Congress acts otherwise, and you can imagine what sites might feel better-protected today. Any such site engaged in news, commentary and editorial can continue in such activities without fear of falling into FEC filing requirements turning groups into political committees or incorporated sites into outlaws.
snip...
This is a tremendous victory for online free speech and will impact on the current debate in Congress. Kudos to Marc Elias and Brian Svoboda of the Perkins Coie law firm who are responsible, as well as the five FEC Commissioners who understood that neither the First Amendment, the statutes nor common sense could tolerate a different result.
Meanwhile, over at More Soft Money, Hard Law, Donna Lovecchio reports on the comments of various Commissioners:
Chairman Thomas questioned when an entity such as Fired Up might "cross the major purpose line" and be considered a political committee as defined by the Supreme Court. He notes that the major players involved with Fired Up have long-standing ties to the Democratic Party, and that the sites would advocate and solicit contributions to Democratic candidates
Of course, the major purpose test is already being litigated in the FEC v. Club for Growth case now pending in U.S. District Court in DC. See here for more information.
Vice Chair Toner strongly supported the Opinion, which in his view applied the press exemption broadly to online communications. He emphasized that express advocacy in no way removes the press exemption from Fired Up, even when the express advocacy is paid for with corporate funds. Vice Chair Toner also emphasized that soliciting for federal candidates, a profit motive, management by persons with strong political ties, and political bias of an entity in no way undermine the press exemption.
Vice Chair Toner believes the touchstone of the analysis in this instance is the sites' content of news stories, commentary and editorials, as well as the fact that they are not owned or controlled by a federal candidate or officeholder, or a political party.
In other words, Fired Up! is not different from any other press organziation like the New York Times or the Washington Post who have a profit motive, are managed by persons with strong political ties and have a political bias. Commissioner Weintraub agrees:
Commissioner Weintraub added that most media entities have political leadings, however pronounced, and that audiences often choose to read a publication or watch a particular program because of views generally expressed by the entity.
The comments submitted by various reform groups were addressed by Commissioner Mason
Commissioner Mason addressed the comments submitted by Democracy 21, the Campaign Legal Center and the Center for Responsive Politics. He believes those comments were misapplied. He did not understand how an entity like Fired Up could become a political committee "because it does too much politicking."
A few questions are raised by this AO, but over all this is pretty good news for the blogging community. Some of the questions that remain, include issues of express advocacy and solication of donations by a blog, even one that is a "press entity" or a personal blog. Would such activities change the "major purpose?" I am not sure, but even if a blatant partisan slant is present I fail to see how one person blogging on a personal blog can be considered either a campaign agent (particularly when there is no connection between the blogger and the candidate) or a political committee for purposes of the act. How is one person endorsing a candidate considered to be any different than a press entity like Fired Up! or the Post or Times or any of the thousands of other newspapers that expressly advocate and endores candidates? That particular question has not been asked of the FEC.
Linked At: Jo's Cafe, The Political Teen, California Conservative, Don Surber, Cao's Blog, TMH Bacon Bits, Blue State Conservatives, Blogging Outloud, Stuck on Stupid
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