From Wired News:
3:00 a.m. 13.Jan.2000 PST
When George W. told the renegade
operator of a satirical Web site to shut
it down, Zack Exley put up his dukes
instead.
The leading Republican [reptilian?] presidential
contender claims the Web site --
containing material that highlights the
potential contradictions between
Bush's murky past and his "tough on
drugs" stance today -- violates Federal
Election Commission and copyright
laws. The Bush campaign has filed
complaints and cease-and-desist
letters to shut it down.
But FEC rules and regs appear to have
taken a back seat to the schoolyard
bully's code of conduct: If the scrawny
little guy you've been picking on brings
in his big brother and a few oversized
friends, it's time to rethink the original
strategy.
In early December, the
Massachusetts-based computer
programmer Exley, 30, received a call
from the Rutherford Institute -- a
conservative legal defense organization
whose celebrity-making case history
includes the Paula Jones sexual
harassment lawsuit against President
Clinton.
The Institute became interested in
Exley's case after it was featured in a
Washington Post article in November.
Soon thereafter, they offered to serve
as Exley's legal defenders. Exley
agreed.
"[The Bush campaign] hasn't really said
anything since," Exley said.
Rutherford Institute president John
Whitehead said his group is ready to
square off against Bush's should they
decide to press on with their case.
"If they pursue this any further, of
course, we'll be there with lawyers,"
Whitehead stated. "We've already
contacted some affiliate law firms, and
they're interested in taking this case.
So whatever happens, he'll have a
formidable defense.... If [Bush] wants
to fight this out, we're ready and willing
and would have a lot of fun doing it."
The central claim now being reviewed
by the FEC is that gwbush.com's
content constitutes advertising that's
termed an "independent expenditure."
Said Donald J. Simon, a
Washington-based lawyer and
specialist in FEC regulations: "An
'independent expenditure' is a public
communication that expressly
advocates the election or defeat of a
federal candidate."
Considering that early in its history,
gwbush.com did run a banner headline
stating, "Just Say 'No' to a Former
Cocaine User for President," Bush's
lawyers may have a point. Benjamin L.
Ginsberg, the lawyer for Bush's FEC
complaint against gwbush.com declined
to comment.
But not so fast, says Exley. "A Web
site is the same as the press," he said.
"It's the same thing as a person
publishing a newspaper. The press has
an exemption under the law; the press
is allowed to endorse candidates, and it
doesn't have to register with the
government."
Should Bush's FEC complaint succeed
in shutting down gwbush.com or
subjecting it to the morass of federal
election advertising regulations, Simon
said, it would represent a major
backsliding in freedom of speech at the
expense of political opportunism.
"You don't want somebody sitting at
home creating a Web page to have to
file a piece of paper with the Federal
Election Commission," he said,
"because that will have a chilling effect
on political activity.
"On the other hand, you don't want to
have corporations spend millions of
dollars buying ads on the Internet
influencing federal elections in a way
that evades the ban on corporate
spending in federal elections that's
been on the books since the Teddy
Roosevelt administration."
However, as all parties on the defense
are concerned, even if the FEC ruling
comes in favor of Bush, the litigious
wrangling will have only begun. There's
also the matter of Bush's allegations
that gwbush.com linked to
pornography Web sites. Exley said
those claims are so damaging and
unfounded that he's now considering a
defamation lawsuit against Bush.
"[Exley] said he would just like this to
end and would like an apology from
Bush," Whitehead said.
"But, you know," he continued with an
ironic glint in his voice, "we tried that
with Paula Jones."
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,33554,00.shtml
All Content © HiddenMysteries - TGS (1998-2005)
HiddenMysteries.com Internet Store ~ HiddenMysteries Information Central
Texas National Press ~ TGS Publishers Dealers Site
All Rights Reserved
Please send bug reports to the Information .