This afternoon, I had the opportunity to attend a luncheon at which David M. Mason, a Commissioner at the Federal Election Commission, spoke. The title of Commissioner Mason’s address was “Should Bloggers Be Regulated?“, a topic particularly germane to this blog and others.
Mason indicated that he — along with his fellow FEC Commissioners — was loath to regulate political activity on the Internet, though court cases have forced his hand on the matter. Although he arrived at this belief from conservative (or libertarian), rather than liberal perspective, it is a conclusion almost all liberal bloggers would agree with.
After the address, I was able to speak with Commissioner Mason for a few moments. To begin with, I asked about his feelings towards Sen. John Thune’s (R-SD) payments to bloggers in return for positive coverage.
David Mason: The first pertinent point about the South Dakota situation is to note that it came to light because of existing campaign finance regulations. So rather than pointing to it as a failure, point to it as a success of the existing disclosure regime.
And so the complaint, really, if there is one, is that it was not disclosed contemporaneously with the activity. There are sort of two ways, if you think that’s a problem, to go at it.
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