January 27, 2006: Ethics Reform - Call Your Legislators to Protect Your Right to Petition the Government

Dear Friends,

As you know, the Tennessee General Assembly is in a special session focusing on ethics. ACLU-TN supports the spirit of the ethics bill, especially the provisions providing full and open disclosure of legislative and campaign
activities. However, we are troubled by several sections which violate
individuals' right to petition their government and express their opinions.

Please contact your legislators as soon as possible, no later than Tuesday,
January 31, and tell them

1) to change the definition of lobbyists so that folks who are reimbursed
for incidental expenses (e.g., meals, travel, parking) by organizations when
they travel to Capitol Hill are not required to register as lobbyists, and

2) to vote against the outright ban on personal contributions by lobbyists
to political campaigns for the legislative members or the governor. See
the Talking Points below. Contact information for your state legislators can
be found at http://www.congress.org or http://www.legislature.state.tn.us.

Many thanks for using your voice to ensure the integrity of our political
system and our right to petition our government and express our opinions.

Hedy

Talking Points:

-- Definition of Lobbyists:
The current proposal's definition of a lobbyist needs to be narrowed.
Currently, the law defines lobbyists as "any person who engages in lobbying
for compensation," which excludes individuals who are not paid for their
lobbying but are reimbursed for incidental expenses. The pending proposal
interprets compensation to include incidental reimbursement. Under the
current proposal, a person attending a non-profit group's "Day on the Hill"
who is provided lunch by that group would be required to register as a
lobbyist. In addition, individuals who travel periodically to Capitol Hill
who are reimbursed by organizations for travel or parking would be required to register as lobbyists. This requirement infringes on individuals' First Amendment right to petition their government.

-- Ban on Campaign Contributions by Lobbyists:
This provision raises serious First Amendment constitutional questions
because it violates the standards set forth by the United States Supreme
Court in Buckley v. Valeo, issued in 1976. In that case the Court indicated
that government is not allowed to limit WHO can make campaign contributions, they can only limit the amount of campaign contributions.

In the Buckley case the Court recognized that restrictions on political
contributions and expenditures "necessarily reduce(d) the quantity of
expression by restricting the number of issues discussed, the depth of the
exploration, and the size of the audience reached. This is because virtually
every means of communicating ideas in today’s mass society requires the
expenditure of money." The Court then determined that such restrictions on
political speech could only be justified by an overriding governmental
interest.