Posted by Jonathan Adler:
Did *NYT* Violate Campaign Finance Laws with MoveOn Ad?
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2007_09_23-2007_09_29.shtml#1190669188
Bob Bauer has some [1]interesting thoughts on the legal aspects of the
NYT's [2]acknowledgment that MoveOn.Org was not charged the proper
rate for its "General Betray-Us" ad at the [3]More Soft Money Hard Law
blog.
The campaign finance laws that the Times has so righteously
championed have, by its own admission, trapped the paper in a
violation. A salesperson got the rate wrong, and though the
advertisement is not aimed at an election, does not support a
candidate, and does not promote a political party�though its
purpose is to weigh in on a debate over national security
policy�the discounted price paid by MoveOn is arguably an illegal
contribution in kind from the Times to a federally regulated
�political committee.� Silly as this may seem, the Times is the
last publication in the land to grouse about the madness and
injustice of it all.
References
1. http://www.moresoftmoneyhardlaw.com/news.html?AID=1088
2.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/washington/politics-usa-politics-media.html?_r=2&oref=sloginand&oref=slogin
3. http://www.moresoftmoneyhardlaw.com/home.html
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