Congressman Tom Perriello doesn’t think much of the Constitution’s free speech guarantees. He’s supporting the DISCLOSE Act, which is designed to stymie the political speech of American citizens. And we shouldn’t be surprised since he’s claimed it wasn’t up to him to figure out what’s constitutional.
The DISCLOSE act was crafted by cynical Democrats in response to the Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. FEC that when Americans organize into corporations they do not forfeit their political free speech rights any more than they would if they organize into labor unions. Yet the DISCLOSE Act will for the first time in campaign law history punish American citizens who come together in corporate forms for exercising their free speech rights while exempting those who come together in unions. The act is slickly crafted to unfairly stack the free speech deck in favor of labor unions over employers.
For Perriello, the free speech right of unions should be protected, but not that of employers. Maybe that’s because he’s beholden to labor unions who donate heavily to his campaign. And employers might question Perriello’s votes to kill jobs and increase their costs of doing business. Maybe Perriello’s afraid of that.
Edward W. Clark, Jr.
Reasonable Response
This is a horrible bill but Perriello is right on one thing. It is not his job to determine what laws are constitutional. That is the sole domain of the U.S. Supreme Court. While a member of congress should certainly consider whether or not a bill might be constitutional, the framers of our constitution did take that out of their hands and put it into the hands of the court.
WRONG! Perriello is a member of a SEPARATE but EQUAL branch of government. He does not need to ask permission or even consider what the judicial or executive thinks. He has 100% autonomy. If they don’t like it the executive has the authority to VETO a bill. The Judicial has the authority to overturn one. Why on earth would they have to take an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution if they didn’t have to do either?
It is clear who’s side Tommy is on, and it’s not the people of the 5th District of Virginia.
SAM ADAMS: you are right about that. Every day he makes another vote to drive our country into the ground. And even when we beat him in November, I am so afraid that he will step up his anti-capitalist voting during lame duck months.
Kelley you have to beat him first are you so sure Hurt can get the job done ?
at first, Perriello seemed to be doubling down on Obamacare by voting against repealing the individual mandate. I just got an email from him touting Obama’s patient bill of rights (most of which is completely untrue). So it looks like Perriello is tripling down on Obamacare.
who is Perriello polling that wants Obamacare? is he polling anyone that actually has to pay the tab for it?
Kelley I heard the DNC is going to give Perriello 1.5 million is this true ? How much is the Republican party going to give Hurt ?
You do understand that the first and foremost job of the US Supreme is to determine if the laws passed by the congress are constitutional don’t you? Congress can and does pass laws that are not constitutional. If there were not a chance that laws would be passed that were not, there would have never been a need for the supreme court in the first place. The framers of the constitution were wise in that they set up the three branches as a form of checks and balances. No matter how LOUD you want to say I am WRONG it is NOT the job of a congressman to determine if a law is constutional. It is and always has been the job of the US Supreme court. Saying it is his job because the three branches are seperate but equal is like saying he is also supposed to be doing the presidents job. After all, it is seperate but equal and they are all suposed to protect and defend the constitution.
I want the guy out too, but saying he is not doing his job, when the job he is not doing is not his to do makes no sense. I feel his voting record alone is enough to make the majority of the 5th district voters want to get rid of him.
mbl
Perriello’s voting record IS enough to doom him.
We have a congress full of Oath Breakers.. they need to go!