One of the speakers I am really looking forward to hearing at LPAC is Federal Election Commission (FEC) Chairman Lee Goodman. Now you may be wondering: why is Campaign for Liberty having the head of any federal agency at LPAC--much less one that enforces unconstitutional and anti-free speech election laws--and why is Ron Paul's former Legislative Director excited to see him?
The answer is Lee Goodman is not your typical agency head in that he works to limit the power of his agency and protect our rights. Just check out these excerpts from this story in The Washington Examiner regarding Chairman Goodman's opposition efforts to regulate Paul Ryan's book on the grounds the book was "campaign literature":
The chairman of the Federal Election Commission today blasted Democratic colleagues opposed to his effort to protect conservative media after they imposed rules on the publisher of Rep. Paul Ryan's new book, opening the door to future book regulations -- or even a ban.
“By failing to affirm this publisher’s constitutional right, statutory right, to disseminate a political book free from FEC conditions and regulations, we have effectively asserted regulatory jurisdiction over a book publisher,” warned Chairman Lee E. Goodman, one of three Republicans on the six-person FEC.
“That failure reveals a festering legal uncertainty and chill for the free press rights of books and book publishers to publish and disseminate political books free from government regulation,” he added.
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Since becoming chairman, Goodman has been pushing to expand protections for all media and has noted how Democrats on the panel have been eager to nick at freedoms for conservative media while Republicans have been voting for broader protections even for liberals like Democratic financier George Soros.
He recently warned that conservative online media, like the Drudge Report, could face regulation as Democrats move to tighten the so-called “media exemption” that lets the press cover politics any way they want.
There is still time to get your tickets for LPAC and see Lee Goodman and other great speakers.
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PDFTags: LPAC, Free Speech, FEC