John Doolittle: “during the course of debate on campaign reform, I have repeatedly voiced concern that the Shays-Meehan legislation, if…”

“during the course of debate on campaign reform, I have repeatedly voiced concern that the Shays-Meehan legislation, if enacted would threaten citizen participation in our democratic system. Numerous provisions in Shays-Meehan restrict the right of the people to express their opinions about elected officials and issues through unprecedented limitations on text accompanying issue group voting records and restraints on citizen commentary prior to an election. Why would any group of citizens distribute a voting guide or scorecard on a candidate when the Federal Election Commission (FEC) would be empowered to decide, after the distribution of the scorecard, whether it was written in an ``educational'' manner? Why would a citizen's activist organization issue a ``voter alert'' to its supporters warning them to an upcoming vote in Congress, when they could be potentially fined for violating the burdensome ``coordination'' section of the bill? Why would a group of citizens concerned about an issue like partial birth abortion or affirmative action run a television advertisement to try to influence the way their Member of Congress votes, when they could be fined for violating new free speech restrictions that are contained in the bill? The Shays-Meehan bill contains a provision that prohibits non- citizens from contributing to campaigns.…”