Apparently John McCain missed the memo…

As James Bopp, Jr., General Counsel for the James Madison Center for Free Speech and one of the foremost experts on election law in this country, was kind enough to point out, the Republican National Committee unanimously passed a resolution at its winter meeting in January opposing any further regulation of citizens’ groups, including ‘527′ organizations.

It would seem that McCain missed that memo — Republicans are against muzzling political speech.

Bopp was the chief sponsor of that resolution, which is posted below…

RESOLUTION URGING THE CONGRESS TO SUPPORT COMMON SENSE REFORM OF CURRENT FEDERAL CAMPAIGN FINANCE LAWS

WHEREAS, Congress adopted the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (“BCRA’) in 2002 which imposed new and severe limitations on national, state and local political parties by requiring federally limited funds to be used for generic voter registration, voter identification and get-out-the-vote activities; and

WHEREAS, federal campaign finance laws also severely limits the activities that political parties can do in coordination with their federal candidates; and

WHEREAS, preventing political parties from coordinating its activities with their candidates reduces the effectiveness of such activities, and increases voter cynicism when it is truthfully explained that such activities are “independent”; and 

WHEREAS, these restrictions on political parties have reduced the effectiveness of political parties and have spawned the creation of 527 organizations which are less accountable to voters and are often dominated by wealth donors; and 

WHEREAS, the good faith efforts to clarify the scope of regulation of 527 organizations have failed and the Democrats in Congress have no interest in clarifying this area; and 

WHEREAS, without such clarity, the FEC has engaged in erratic behavior toward 527 groups, beginning with the FEC’s initial “green light” for 527s to proceed without restriction and followed by random, arbitrary, and delayed FEC enforcement, which has resulted in unfair and unequal treatment of 527 groups and chilled citizen participation; and 

WHEREAS, the BCRA has made campaign finance regulations unbearably complex, which has deterred political participation by many average citizens and modest sized citizens groups, particularly state and local political parties; and 

WHEREAS, reform of the BCRA through deregulation is preferable to the adoption of more restrictions on the political activities of citizens and citizens groups; and 

WHEREAS, the Republican National Committee believes in the mandate of the First Amendment that citizens are entitled to robust participation in our representative democracy and in our elections and that the People’s participation can only be limited if justified by the most compelling reasons; 

THEREFOR, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Members of the Republican National Committee urge the Congress to adopt common sense reforms of the BCRA by allowing political parties to engage in generic voter registration, voter identification and get-out-the-vote activities with lawfully raised state funds and by allowing political parties increased freedom to coordinate their activities with their candidates; and 

FURTHER BE IT RESOLVED, that the Members of the Republican National Committee urge the Congress to oppose additional restrictions on the political activities of citizens and citizen groups, such as on churches and other 501(c)(3) charities, 501(c)(4) lobby groups and 527 issue advocacy organizations; and 

FURTHER BE IT RESOLVED, that the Members of the Republican National Committee urge all Americans to fully participate in our democracy and elections to the fullest extent permitted by law. 

Submitted by 

James Bopp, Jr. National Committeeman, Indiana

Amata Radewagen, National Committeewoman, American Samoa

Tim Morgan, National Committeeman, California

Barbara Alby, National Committeewoman, California

Honorable Bob Schaffer, National Committeeman, Colorado

Mary Jo Arndt, National Committeewoman, Illinois

Murray Clark, Indiana Republican Party Chairman

Diane Adams, National Committeewoman, Indiana

Steve Roberts, National Committeeman, Iowa

Ron Kaufman, National Committeeman, Massachusetts

David Norcross, National Committeeman, New Jersey

Honorable Linda Shaw, National Committeewoman, North Carolina

Bob Bennett, Ohio Republican Party, Chairman

Lynn Windel, National Committeeman, Oklahoma

Solomon Yue, National Committeeman, Oregon

Patricia Morgan, Rhode Island Republican Party, Chairman

Mary Jean Jensen, National Committeewoman, South Dakota

Tina Benkiser, Republican Party of Texas, Chairman

Sara Gear Boyd, National Committeewoman, Vermont

Honorable Morton Blackwell, National Committeeman, Virginia

Diane Tebelius, Washington State Republican Party, Chairman

Terry Kohler, National Committeeman, Wisconsin