I noticed a post on BoingBoing about giving iPods to Senators. Why should we do that? Well, iPac argues that once the Senators have iPods, then they’ll understand why fair use and other laws are so important, and won’t keep voting in inane new provisions like the Sonny Bono act and the Broadcast Flag.
That sounds great, but I thought one thing we were supposed to have learned from the Abramoff fiasco is that Senators aren’t supposed to accept gifts worth more than $50.
I e-mailed Cory Doctorow with the question, and he forwarded it to Ren Bucholz of iPac. Here’s Ren’s reply:
Great question! Campaign finance laws prohibit gifts to Senators that exceed $50, but they don’t preclude in-kind gifts their *campaigns.* We’ll be sending these to their campaign offices, and we’ll be encouraging them to use the device for “campaign related” activities like watching news clips and learning about important constituent issue like balanced copyright. Hope that helps!
Aha! So all we have to do is give “campaign” gifts, and we’re excluded from such limits. So why stop at iPods? Couldn’t a crafty donor group give, say, a Hummer, to a “campaign,” so Senators could “research” the impact of global warming?
This isn’t to say I don’t support Ren’s cause, but more to suggest that all these lobbying reforms aren’t going to add up to squat if they don’t also address “campaign” donations.
Update: Ren points out that the limit on in-kind donations is a $5,000 cash value for PACs, so a Hummer, apparently, is out. Segway, anyone?