Campaigns and the Internet: Part II
The Washington State Public Disclosure Commission (PDC) will discuss "Issues Related to Campaign Activity" at their meeting on Thursday, September 27th. Assistant Director Doug Ellis has prepared a memo for commission members talking about how they can proceed with general internet rulemaking if the commission decides to go in this direction.
(Last month, I participated on a PDC panel discussing the Internet and Campaigns.)
The memo's "guiding principles" are encouraging, recognizing the internet is unique, evolving, and critical to the free flow of political information. They suggest following the Federal Election Commission when possible--which has determined not to regulate uncompensated bloggers and treat them like media. People hired by political campaigns or advertising purchased are still covered by disclosure and reporting requirements.
Some questions proposed in the memo:
- Does the Public Disclosure Commission want to extend the media exemption to mainstream media web sites? To bloggers web sites?
- Does the Commission want to require "paid for by" disclaimers for web advertising, including web badges and other community-building tools?
- Does the Commission want to require disclosure beyond that currently required by candidates, political committees, or employers that pay bloggers? (They mention examples of "tip jar" or "pledge week" contributions are not currently tracked--something they questioned us at length during last month's panel.)
- Does the Commission want to require disclaimers on emails at a certain level of distribution or monitor complaints about unidentified emails?
- Does the Commission want reporting requirements for computer use, investments and maintenance when computers are for "general use"?
- Does the Commission want to add web site design, maintenance, and similar services to the list of "volunteer services" that do not require disclosure if the volunteer is not compensated as a professional outside of the campaign? (What is the threshold for compensated professional?)
If the PDC is going to propose new legislation, notice with the legislature would have to be filed before October 24th. Draft language could be presented at the PDC meeting on October 25th.
I'll blog from the meeting in Olympia tomorrow.
