UPDATED: Is this the begining of blogger laws?
I’m hearing that Daniello (in spite of the fact that he hates blogs and bloggErs) paid bloggers a backhanded compliment by sarcasticly commenting “if this thing doesn’t pass (HB177 ?), bloggers should have to register as lobbyists.” It was a kind of acknowledgment that blogs are having some impact.
“Yes, John Daniello is off the fucking reservation in his claim he’ll try and get someone to introduce a bill to require bloggers to register as lobbyists!”
WTF? Anybody know anything?
Here is the link to my post on Kos
If this is true, you can count on me NOT to register. Old-style civil disobedience. How can you require that if you do not actively lobby members of the legislature?
Will this mean the News Journal will also have to register?
LOL, I would like to see what the big lefty blogs make of the state DEM chairman proposing blogger registration laws.. it would blow their minds. But we have been telling them for years Delaware is topsy-turvy.
Hube –
I’ll put this on kos and it will certianly makes waves – but I have to know what Daniello said first.
Jokers to the Right might suddenly be based out of PA…or DC…or VA…hmmm
Good work, Jase. I’ve sent e-mails to Reynolds, Malkin and La Shawn Barber.
See this as step one in the fairness doctrine. If you were gun owners, you’d recognize that registration is little more than targeting.
Okay, Don V might have a sawed-off under the bed…
I’m still not 100% clear on this…
On a side note, Jason, can you do me a favor and e-mail me?
matmarshall@comcast.net
Relax, everyone. In spite of Mr. Daniello’s mania for proposing laws tailored to his enemies list (“don’t get mad, get a bill passed”), this latest outrage is his most far-fetched yet.
Though I have yet to delve into the lobbying laws in Delaware I can surmise a couple of things.
1) Public advocacy to influence the legislative process is not “lobbying” in the statutory sense unless you do it for compensation on behalf of another party.
If this were not the case any citizen speaking their own views on their own behalf would be considered a “lobbyist”.
I don’t know of any bloggers who have ever claimed to represent someone else’s interests or opinions and we certainly know they ain’t doin’ it for the money.
The key component of being a “lobbyist” is that the person is, in some manner, acting as an authorized agent of someone else.
2) Though somewhat of a grey area, the nature of blogs, especially political ones, would likely invoke some level of protection under the freedom of the press, namely where freedom of speech leaves off.
Just as your opinions are protected, so would be your political reporting in the same manner as any published information source. Though you are subject to the same defamation standards of journalists, you cannot be subjected to the restrictions imposed on ‘hired gun’ advocates merely because your reporting is politically biased for or against any particular interest.
Underlying all this is long-standing jurisprudence that 1st Amendment protections are most stringently applied in the context of political speech.
If any official act of government were undertaken, or even proposed, to muzzle or otherwise regulate any blogger or bloggers you can count on every bit of my legal ability and knowledge to fight on your behalf.
The mindset Mr. Daniello epitomizes is something I find incredibly disturbing. If you had any question about the true motives behind HB 177, Mr. Daniello’s reckless anti-blogger threats should put them to rest.
This person is of a mind that our laws, our government, and our political process exist, at his disposal, to dispose of his adversaries. A willingness to engage in such corrupt, self-serving manipulations of public power are nothing short of fascist.
Mr. Daniello’s fantasies of power and control, if unchecked and taken to their natural conclusion, would certainly lead to bills of attainder. Our founding fathers surely anticipated and sought to quash their ugly spectre with the Daniellos of the world in mind.
Thankfully they recognized that enlightenment and magnanimity are never the byproducts of power lust. Their legacy to us resides in iron clad protections against the outrages of men that are.
Hell, we can’t even get all our LOBBYISTS to register as lobbyists.
jason,
put a link up to the Kos article.
Tyler: Thanks much!
Its up.
I called you a “prominent Delaware blogger”
So…. Daniello was joking? And everyone spent the evening crying bloody murder?
I don’t know for sure Mike – but from the two or three times I’ve spoken to him, it seems like the bullshitty kind of crack he might make.
Also – Tyler is right about a pattern. He and I disagree about the fusion part, but a stronge argument can be made that the bills in question demostrate a very unhealthy approach to governing that Gilligan & Co. might be trying to codify into law.
I don’t question you on the background stuff; all of that is tied to legislation that we’ve seen and can argue as legislation.
The “register as lobbyist” thing was being treated as pending legislation, which I think may have been an over-reaction. People do make catty, snippy remarks.
What troubled me is that I could find no source beyond several blogs talking about what someone said he said.
Guilty. I wanted to hold off but got caught up in the excitment.
“paid bloggers a backhanded compliment by sarcasticly commenting “if this thing doesn’t pass (HB177 ?), bloggers should have to register as lobbyists.”
What would this make his threat to shove Mike Matthews’ camera down his throat?
A complimentary lunch offer?
What a card that guy is…a laugh a minute.
Hmmm. Tyler, that’s the first reference I’ve seen to any threat against Mike Mathews.
Of course, I don’t always have time to read every comment on the Delaware political blogs. SO I may have missed something.
Mike,
Sorry. I haven’t yet reported that fact. Daniello did, in fact, threated to shove my video camera down my throat.
Did everyone crack up?
Notes to self: Always carry small video camera. Look for chocolate flavored camera.
I missed the blogger – party boss blow out but when I saw Daniello and his daughter, Betsy together in the lobby around 3 o’clock, I went over to introduce myself. the confrontation earlier was amoung the things we discussed.
I asked Daniello if he said that he would promote legislation to force bloggers to register as lobbyists if 177 was not passed. He said that he did.
I told him that Rick Jensen said that Daniello would also have to require journalists and radio reporters to register as well and John D. said, sure, what the hell.
He did not once say that he was joking but since that is now his contention, I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.
First they went after the Bloggers, and I thought, It’s not me.
Then they went after the Radio talk show hosts, And I thought they deserved it.
Then they went after …
And then after me, and there was no one
left to help stop them.
Should bring the presidential complaint
“Selected not Elected” – HOME to Delaware
politics.