AAM Government Affairs sent out an alert this evening on the
Istook-McIntosh-Ehrlich amendment -- the amendment that defines almost any
public speech as advocacy and forbids organizations that engage in such
activity to accept federal grants.  Advocacy would include writing a
letter to the editor, fighting a zoning ordinance, or commenting on
proposed regulations -- something that I expect many folks on museum-l
might be asked to do from time to time.  This is not about "lobbying,"
it's about free speech.

We are recommending that museum people write to their senators to ask
them to oppose the amendment.

This *does* affect the museum field, because:

1)  organizations that receive funds passed from the federal agencies
through state or local granting agencies are covered;

2)  if you do*any* advocacy, you must have a reporting system in place to
report *all* advocacy to the federal granting agency;

3)  using *private* funds to procure any good or service from an
organization that spends 15% of its budget on "advocacy" is defined as an
advocacy activity and must be reported; and

4)  grantee's records will be posted to the Internet.

We argue that this curtails free speech activities by voluntary
associations, which have been a defining feature of American political
and social life; that it deprives the government of the scrutiny of an
informed citizenry, and thus results in bad public policy; and we
consider it unfair in that it covers only non-profit
grantees, not for-profit contractors.

I hope you'll agree that this is as pernicious and anti-American -- not a
word I throw about lightly -- piece of legislation as has come around in
years.

You can contact senators at The Hon. ___ ___, U.S. Senate,
Washington, DC 20510.  A lot of them have e-mail -- you can find it
through the Library of Congress or through the House gopher "house.gov".

For those of you interested, there is supposed to be an op-ed article in
the Washington Post tomorrow (8/29) by former Attorney General (and GOP
stalwart) Elliot Richardson, opposing the amendment.

Please contact me if you have any questions.

Andy Finch
AAM Government Affairs
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202-289-9125
FAX 289-6578