SURVEY CLOSES MONDAY, FEB. 12 AT 5 p.m. EST Take the survey today! Dear Friend of OMB Watch: As the Senate debated lobby reform in January, a provision dealing with federal grassroots lobbying disclosure was struck from the bill — the same provision that passed in the Senate last year. So what happened? Several groups and individuals, mostly conservatives, lobbied hard to kill the disclosure requirement. And when Sen. John McCain, who introduced a similar version in 2005, switched from support to opposition this year, enough votes switched to kill the provision. OMB Watch supported the provision for a number of reasons. Any successful lobbying effort today involves a grassroots lobbying campaign — that is, trying to get the public to voice support or opposition to legislation. The Lobbying Disclosure Act, in place for more than a decade, currently requires disclosure of direct lobbying efforts, but not grassroots lobbying. We believe if disclosure of lobbying is a national priority, it should capture all types of lobbying. Second, through grassroots lobbying activities, some lobbyists may distort the truth, not only with false messages, but also with fake messengers. We do not support regulating First Amendment free speech. Instead, we support disclosure of grassroots activities and the financial interests behind such activities. This can allow the American people to see who is behind grassroots lobbying campaigns, including those that are fraudulent, misleading or inappropriate. Disclosure can, in turn, increase public confidence in the integrity of our government. Finally, the charitable community has been disclosing information about grassroots lobbying to the IRS for decades. If charities disclose, why shouldn't powerful special interests? It is a question of fairness. And it is a step toward leveling the playing field for nonprofits wanting to engage in public policy. OMB Watch is seeking your input on the importance of this federal grassroots lobbying disclosure provision as the House considers lobby reform. We would also like your feedback on specific principles that could be included in the House bill. We value your ideas as we go forward — and we promise it will only take about 4 minutes of your time to share your thoughts with us. Here are the five principles we support. You can react to them in our survey.

1. Only organizations conducting expensive federal grassroots campaigns should be required to disclose information about their grassroots lobbying activities. For example, only those organizations that have lobbyists directly lobbying Congress and also spend more than $50,000 per quarter on federal grassroots lobbying should be required to disclose their grassroots lobbying activities.
2. All grassroots lobbying firms should be required to disclose their activities. This would capture "Astroturf" lobbying.
3. Communications with an organization's members or congregants should not be counted as grassroots lobbying. This membership exemption would parallel the IRS rules for charities. (The exclusion of congregants would allow houses of worship to discuss public policy without fear of registering and disclosing.)
4. Communications through the Internet should not be counted as grassroots lobbying. This includes communications by bloggers since communication via the Internet is not costly and is mostly transparent.
5. Only grassroots lobbying expenditures would be counted in the disclosure requirements. For example, activities undertaken by volunteers would not be counted, but any paid travel or training of volunteers would be disclosed.

PLEASE GIVE US YOUR THOUGHTS IN THIS SHORT SURVEY. Yours truly, Gary D. Bass Executive Director