Boehner Column: "Grassroots Lobbying of Members of Congress By Constituents Under Attack"

Via email:

1,830: The number of 8th District constituent letters my office has received from April 1 through April 18.

12,460: The number of 8th District constituent letters my office has received from Jan. 1 through April 18.

37,296: The number of 8th District constituent letters my office has received in the last 12 months.

The cost to communicate your views to your representative: Priceless, until an expected Democratic grassroots lobbying reform measure gains traction in the U.S. House. The cost will be your privacy as the bill will force the creation of an enormous database that records contacts that citizens make with their government.

Feeling a little like Big Brother is peeking through your windows? I don’t like it, either. And over the past few days, my office received more than 200 letters from 8th District constituents opposing this legislation.

Since the beginning of the 110th Congress, we’ve seen some good – and some bad – legislation come before the U.S. House.

On the good side, we passed with bipartisan support the Small Business Tax Relief Act to help small business owners withstand the impact of the recently mandated increase in the minimum wage. We also approved the Wounded Warrior Assistance Act to make comprehensive improvements to medical care, qualify of life and administrative procedures to ensure our soldiers receive the care they need and deserve.

On the bad side, we’ve seen knee-jerk legislative reactions that include a pork-and-retreat-from-Iraq bill as well as unbelievably confusing ethics reform measures. For example, under the new rules, a Member may accept a $20 hat from the Farm Bureau but not a $12 mug. We will soon be able to include an attempt to kill grassroots communications from constituents to their representatives among the bad bills with which we’re grappling.

I expect that we’ll soon see a proposal from Democrats that will seek to redefine communications by the general public with their government—or encouraging others to do the same—as a form of lobbying. Member offices and Federal officials may have to catalogue constituent contacts in a public database. If you write a letter to my office, your name, the date of your letter and the topic will be recorded in this database. If you meet with the government to discuss your views on issues important to you, these meetings will be recorded in the database. Failure to register and report could carry severe civil and even criminal sanctions.

But the proposal may go even further than that. It may attempt to regulate the how citizens contact their government, by forcing disclosure of which entities helped with grassroots communications, how they spent their money and how much. It does not matter who notifies citizens about an issue for the choice to contact me or any government official rests with the individual. This opens up the possibility of intimidation or harassment just for exercising your First Amendment rights to Petition your Government and of Freedom of Speech. All this because you took the time to write me a letter.

When I was elected to represent the 8th District, one of the first things I did after arriving here was to join with six other Congressmen to form the “Gang of Seven” to expose and put an end to certain practices that brought dishonor to the People’s Congress. We uncovered “dine and dash” practices at the House restaurant, exposed cozy drug sales and cash-for-stamps deals at the House Post Office and close the corrupt House Bank. I believe that sunshine is the best disinfectant, and I support efforts to make congressional activity more transparent and accountable to the public

I do not, however, support efforts disguised as “reform measures” that will serve only to muzzle my constituents – and Americans from all walks of life. It says something when conservative groups like National Right to Life and liberal groups like the ACLU oppose the grassroots legislation being discussed. I am fully committed to defeating this violation of our Constitution and will continue to work to create common-sense lobbying reform that will restore the American peoples’ confidence in their elected officials.