Kerry Asks FEC to Block NRA's Media Plan
NewsMax.com Wires
Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2003
WASHINGTON – Democrat presidential hopeful John Kerry
doesn't want to tune in to a National Rifle Association channel
anytime soon.
The junior U.S. senator from Massachusetts sent Federal Election Commission Chairwoman Ellen Weintraub a letter Tuesday asking the commission to block any attempt by the NRA to get a media exemption to
campaign finance rules.
The gun-rights lobby is considering acquiring a television or
radio outlet and seeking the same exemption from campaign finance
rules that news organizations have. If the group won a media
exemption, it would be free to say whatever it wanted about
candidates at any time and spend unlimited amounts doing so.
"We urge you to prevent the NRA from hijacking America's
airwaves with the gun lobby's money," Kerry's letter said. "If
the NRA has something to say, it can play by the rules, just like
the millions of people in America who do every day."
The NRA, financed in part with corporate money, is banned by the
campaign finance law from running ads identifying federal
candidates close to elections in states where they are on the
ballot. It contends the rules violate free-speech rights, and is
among several groups asking the Supreme Court to strike them down.
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