I spoke with Congressman Dennis Moore about the current state of laws regulating political action on blogs, and his office sent me his official statement. He voted against HR 1606 when it came up for a vote. In talking with him, he made clear specifically that he backs the media exemption for blogs, and his comments below the fold suggest that he wouldn't currently back new regulations.
His full statement is below the fold.
An account of our earlier meeting is at Thoughts from Kansas.
Moore's comments follow:
I have supported and continue to support campaign finance reform because I believe that public cynicism is eating away at voter participation, causing citizens to tune out discussions of very serious issues, and turning a whole generation of young people away from our political system as a means of social change.
Any attempt to regulate the Internet must protect civil liberties and advocates' rights to express themselves and organize via the Internet. While I believe it is imperative that we protect the right of free speech on the Internet, I am also concerned that by completely exempting the Internet from regulation as a communications medium we would dramatically undercut the effects of recently enacted campaign finance laws; opening up "soft money" loopholes to allow large corporate donations of up to $1 million to pay for Internet advertising and campaigning.
Many of these concerns were addressed, however, by the Federal Elections Commission's new regulations, which totally exempt individuals who engage in political activity on the Internet from the restrictions of federal campaign finance laws, while also reaffirming that these laws apply to campaign ads that are purchased on the Internet.