So the left is creatively using a web of for-profit and “non-profit” groups to try to give us Big Government (well, Bigger Government) without normal Americans being aware of what’s going on. That seems pretty clear from this and the recent Wall Street Journal oped; at the very least there’s deviltry afoot.
The question is what to do about it.
Federal appellate litigation is regulated by Rule 26.1, which says: “Any nongovernmental corporate party to a proceeding in a court of appeals *must file a statement that identifies any parent corporation and any publicly held corporation that owns 10% or more of its stock or states that there is no such corporation.”
This could be a starting point for a rule governing executive branch proceedings. Does your leftist “non-profit” want to meet with a Democratic FCC commissioner? FEC commissioner? SEC commissioner? File comments in a regulatory proceeding? Sure, go ahead. But first, submit a sworn statement, under penalty of perjury, to be made public within 48 hours, that discloses enough about ownership and control that normal Americans can figure out what’s really going on behind the scenes. (See the FCC’s ex parte communication rules for another starting point.)
President Trump won’t be in office forever. And you can be sure that any leftist Democratic successor, but I repeat myself, won’t enact such a rule…
So the left is creatively using a web of for-profit and “non-profit” groups to try to give us Big Government (well, Bigger Government) without normal Americans being aware of what’s going on. That seems pretty clear from this and the recent Wall Street Journal oped; at the very least there’s deviltry afoot.
The question is what to do about it.
Federal appellate litigation is regulated by Rule 26.1, which says: “Any nongovernmental corporate party to a proceeding in a court of appeals *must file a statement that identifies any parent corporation and any publicly held corporation that owns 10% or more of its stock or states that there is no such corporation.”
This could be a starting point for a rule governing executive branch proceedings. Does your leftist “non-profit” want to meet with a Democratic FCC commissioner? FEC commissioner? SEC commissioner? File comments in a regulatory proceeding? Sure, go ahead. But first, submit a sworn statement, under penalty of perjury, to be made public within 48 hours, that discloses enough about ownership and control that normal Americans can figure out what’s really going on behind the scenes. (See the FCC’s ex parte communication rules for another starting point.)
President Trump won’t be in office forever. And you can be sure that any leftist Democratic successor, but I repeat myself, won’t enact such a rule…