It’s almost as if consultant and Texas Medical Association (TMA) lobbyist Bryan Eppstein runs the anti 1st Amendment caucus.
What else would you say about a consultant with so many clients aggressively on the wrong side of the 1st Amendment?
The latest example is SB 346, authored by an Eppstein client and pushed along by a bunch of other Eppstein clients. The bill would unconstitutionally apply reporting requirements to some groups and not others.
One of the armload of constitutional precedents this bill would violate says you cannot treat some corporate entities different than others. This bill carves some corporate entities out of its hefty, unconstitutional reporting requirements – the unions. This is a Republican-authored pro-union bill.
The bill’s author Kel Seliger, like many Republicans in the Eppstein stable, is the kind of Republican that might be a Democrat if Texas weren’t so conservative. A pro-union, anti-free speech bill isn’t such a stretch for this kind of Republican.
Another first amendment precedent SB346 tramples is the “significant purpose” test from the landmark U.S. Supreme Ct. decision in Buckley v Valeo. It established that heavy reporting requirements are only constitutional if the “major purpose” of an organization is the nomination and/or election of a candidate. Seliger’s SB 346 would apply these requirements to groups that aren’t even allowed to directly campaign. What’s his justification? If the group is connected to a PAC, well, it should be treated as part of it.
This is interesting corporate precedent. Maybe Obama could pick up on Seliger’s idea and decide that charities and money-losing businesses set up by people who own wealthy businesses should just be considered part of the business and taxed accordingly.
It’s Seliger’s own logic. If any of the same people are involved in two corporations, treat them both like they are the one with the higher governmental burden, be it taxes or reporting requirements.
Eppstein clients Bob Deuell, Charles Schwertner, and Tommy Williams all voted for this anti-first amendment, anti-corporate bill.
Eppstein’s other hat is TMA lobbyist. TMA is the Texas chapter of crucial ObamaCare partner, The American Medical Association. Senator Duncan, who voted for this bill, has received tens of thousands of dollars from TMA. So has Senator Robert Nichols, who also voted for this bill.
Senator Kevin Eltife also voted for this anti-free speech bill. While he isn’t an Eppstein client, he gave to Eppstein clients last election cycle – Chuck Hopson, Jeff Wentworth, Craig Estes and Joe Straus.
Senators Van de Putte, Zaffarini, and Lucio, Jr. joined the anti-first amendment crew, and all received large amounts of contributions from health care related PACs in the 2011-2012 political cycle.
This isn’t the first attack on free speech, either. Eppstein client Byron Cook tried to get AgendaWise shut down last year when we reported his office was breaking the law.