Dr. Dobson and Free Speech: Does God Really Need a Lobbyist?

The nature of the God of Israel

being Truth and Light, at the very least it can be said that God does
not need a lobbyist who inflames public opinion with half-truths and
innuendo.
 

US
Senate Bill S.1, scheduled to reach the Senate floor next week, has
Dr. Dobson of Focus on the Family up in arms.

Using
phrases like “urgent matter,” “public muzzling”and “silencing
the opposition,” Dr. Dobson broke in by telephone to his
regularly-scheduled January 10^th radio broadcast to rally
millions of his listeners and supporters in a grassroots lobbying
effort against the bill.

The essence of his concern is that
the Democratic majority, with complicity on the part of moderate
Republicans (including Sen. Susan Collins, R-ME), is conspiring to
insulate itself from the public by requiring more stringent reporting
of spending to influence legislation.

An examination of the provisions
of S.1 had me wondering why an organization purporting to be
advocating for openness in government would object to openness in the
means by which it itself influences government.

 

More disturbing was the incendiary
nature of Dr. Dobson's appeal, omitting the details of the bill so
as to inflame latent passion from the “They're coming to get us”
faction of his audience. Failure to include the facts suggests that
not only is his constituency in eager pursuit of a cause but that
truth need not be an impediment to action: “Don't disturb me with
the facts!”

 

This is a curious strategy for one
who claims to “know the truth” and by it has been set free.

 

Specifically, S.1 tightens the
financial reporting requirements for lobbying from semi-annual to
quarterly. It raises fines for “knowing violation” of reporting
rules from $50,000 to $100,000 per instance, variable depending on
the severity of the fraudulent reporting.

 

In
listening to Dr. Dobson's report, he objects to such fines on the
grounds that listeners could be deprived of his voice, leading one to
conclude that a lower penalty for fraud, or no penalty at all, would
be more equitable.

 

Although he did not elaborate, it
is likely that his objection to the bill centers on a provision that
reaches beyond the direct influence of public officials to the
stimulation of grassroots lobbying of the kind displayed in his radio
broadcast of January 10.

 

If
passed, organizations would be required to disclose what it costs
them to stimulate a person or entity that spends more than $25,000
per quarter to influence government action. In other words, if Focus
on the Family were to spend
money to encourage the Church of What's Happening Now to spend
$25,000 or more a quarter on lobbying, they would have to report that
expenditure.

 

That provision is so obscure that
support in Congress is said to be fading into the woodwork.

 

That would impose an impossible
burden on institutions and individuals to monitor the spending of
affiliate organizations so as to trigger reporting requirements. Dr.
Dobson is right to oppose such a provision but is wrong in
encouraging millions to write to their representatives to kill the
entire bill.

 

To oppose the bill on the grounds
of the squelching of free speech is disingenuous at best. Any
non-profit or for-profit organization owes a reasonable obligation to
the public to inform it not only of its campaign contributions but of
its expenditures to influence legislation.

 

To require this is no restriction
on free speech. It provides valuable information on the morphing of
free speech into influence-peddling.

 

Non-profits with no lobbying
standing have abused their tax-free privileges for years by actively
supporting political candidates and parties and participating in
signature gathering for referendum questions. Forgotten is that
taxpayers are collectively chipping in to pay property taxes on prime
real estate that houses belief systems or activities that they may
not share.

 

Expect legislation to surface in
the near future to require reporting of such activities or
enforcement of restrictions against such activities.

All of which brings us to the
interesting question as to whether or not God needs a lobbyist. The
nature of the God of Israel being Truth and Light, at the very least
it can be said that God does not need a lobbyist who inflames public
opinion with half-truths and innuendo.