John Doolittle: “this is the amendment that basically protects voter guides to be distributed by groups. The Shays-Meehan bill severely…”

“this is the amendment that basically protects voter guides to be distributed by groups. The Shays-Meehan bill severely chills the freedom of speech in this regard and places restrictions that will subject anybody currently distributing voter guides to second-guessing by a Federal czar, and the imposition of sanctions should the second-guessing be interpreted as a violation of the provisions of the Shays-Meehan law. For this reason I have offered this amendment to make clear that organizations that do voter guides are exempt from the application of this law and may continue to issue their voter guides without fear of chilling their freedom of speech or of being intimidated. And the intimidation that I am talking about is the intimidation of having to spend $400,000 or $500,000 in attorneys' fees and months of disruption of schedules preparing for depositions, et cetera, for the act of exercising their right of free speech protected by our United States constitution, and which I feel the Shays-Meehan bill impinges upon. For that reason I have offered this amendment.”