The Volokh Conspiracy » Obama Campaign Adviser Participated on JournoList
Here is the thing: the fact one of their guys is part of the liberal in-crowd with journalists is not news. But the fact is that coordination is against the campaign finance laws. Of course, as a matter of substance this is trivial: most what they did and talked about would surely have happened without the guy being on the list. The law is overly broadly drawn. But a bad law is still a law. What will happen is that the establishment will concede the law was technically violated but argue that substantively it didn't matter because they were all liberals anyway. That is a problem for two reasons. For one thing, it is a violation of law anyway. But more interestingly, the defense puts a lie to the claim that the "profession" of journalism is in some significant way to be accepted as a neutral authority.
It raises a number of fascinating questions, too. For instance, what is an "organization"? You are a member of journolist. What does that mean? Being on an address list makes you a member of something? That is scary considering some of the mailing lists I am a member of.
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