O.A.F.S.

President George Bush and Senator John McCain are expected to announce the formation of a new political action committee that the two will co-chair. The committee, called Officeholders Against Free Speech (OAFS) will be focused on finding and eliminating avenues for political expression available to non officeholders.

The two agreed to found OAFS when President Bush called McCain to pledge that his campaign would file suit in federal court to

prevent the independent groups, named for the section of the tax code that governs their activities, from raising and spending money in unlimited amounts.

The two head OAFS agreed that groups of ordinary common citizens - even really rich ones - pooling their resources to get their message heard during an election is a bad thing. The common, and the uncommon, must not have a voice.

The OAFS co-chairs also reached an agreement

to support legislation to regulate the groups, which have used a loophole in the new campaign finance law to become significant and controversial actors in the campaign in behalf of both the president and the senator from Massachusetts.

Speech it seems must be regulated - especially when it negatively impacts on a fellow OAFS member.

It is not known at this time if Senator Kerry will be officially joining the OAFS, but he has agreed to stop running an ad featuring McCain's criticism of President Bush from the 200 election campaign. Senator Kerry has in the past expressed his support of the curtailment of free speech.

I have consistently cosponsored the McCain/Feingold campaign finance reform bill. I have also cosponsored more sweeping reform measures

McCain expressed his satisfaction with the founding of OAFS but lamented

he believes it is too late to have any impact on the current campaign.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances

Posted by: Stephen Macklin at 05:45 PM | No Comments | Add Comment