Over 100 organizations came together to send a letter to Congress on June 19th, asking that legislators stop using software that blocks constituent messages sent through organization websites. For the letter and its signers, click here.

According to BNA, the IRS will be making a draft of a redesigned Form 990 available for comment by May 2007 for the 2008 tax year. Exempt Organizations Director Lois Lerner, at the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants conference on June 14 said that the "form is being completely redesigned so that, first and foremost, it can be used as a compliance tool for IRS". And,she said, "We are trying to make the form make sense".

Newt Gingrich on BCRA, and the electioneering communications rule: This is horribly wrong. What would the Founding Fathers have thought of such free speech “blackout periods”? The days leading up to an election ought to be filled with debate. Free speech and activism, by informing and organizing the public, empower average citizens to promote a cause they believe in and to demand honest and responsive representation. Instead, the incumbent politicians that supported McCain-Feingold prefer to keep us quiet and prevent us from making noise about their records as Election Day gets closer.

The American Civil Liberties Union today filed a federal lawsuit to force the Department of Defense to turn over records it wrongly kept on peace groups and law-abiding Americans throughout the country. "The U.S. military should not be in the business of maintaining secret databases about lawful First Amendment activities," said ACLU attorney Ben Wizner. "It is an abuse of power and an abuse of trust for the military to play any role in monitoring critics of administration policies." For the press release