The Free Speech Coalition plied members with margaritas, chips and salsa at its first Margarita Membership Meeting yesterday in the Sands Exposition Center. The event was sponsored by the Lion’s Den. New executive director Diane C. Duke revealed winners of the recent FSC board election and introduced speakers who brought members up to date on activity on various legal fronts.
Duke, who was appointed executive director late last year, announced the election results. Voted into two-year terms were attorney Jeffrey Douglas, Mara Epstein of MG Media and X-Biz, AVN senior editor Mark Kernes, Chicago-based attorney Reed Lee, Lynn Swanson, former general manager of M&M sales, and Naked Sword CEO Tim Valenti. Only Swanson is a newcomer; she replaces Nick Boylas.
They join present board members Jim Everett, Sid Grief, Joan Irvine, William Murphy, Gregory Shearer and Connor Young.
After announcing that the FSC is looking for office space, Duke introduced Scott Lowther, who talked about new benefits for FSC members.
FSC’s federal lobbyist, Robert Raben of The Raben Group, took members behind the scenes in Washington D.C, where issues of concern continue to be free speech, anti-piracy, over-regulation and taxation, and a fair and free Internet.
The good news, he said was the midterm election that brought Congress under Democratic control, with a change in the heads of committees like Judiciary and Commerce that have a bearing on the adult industry. He mentioned in particular new, liberal House committee leaders such as Jerry Nadler of New York, Michigan’s John Dingel and, in the Senate, Patrick Leahy of Vermont.
But he warned that the FSC must keep an eye out for the "moderate conservative Democrats," such as Blanche Lambert Lincoln of Arkansas, who has been pushing a 25% tax on adult internet content and a mandatory age certification system. Raben pointed out that some "non-finger-wagging Republicans are more laissez faire" about issues of concern to the FSC than some of the more culturally conservative Dems.
He also warned that "the only people elected officials are hearing from are those who are organized to put you out of business" and urged a greater effort to educate Americans who enjoy adult entertainment about the FSC’s purpose and goals.
Attorney Jeffrey Douglas weighed in with an update on the 2257 regulations, which he described as "something we cannot live with." He said that when Congress rewrote much of 2257 last year, "profound mistakes" were made which have made possible new challenges to the law. "The changes in 2257 provide us with opportunities to defeat the law once and for all," he said. "We are now on a path by which 2257 can be destroyed."
He warned that he was "not certain we’re going to prevail at the trial court in Denver, but the law is now on our side." Douglas ended with a plea for contributions to the FSC legal fund. "We need to raise $300,000 this year," he said, adding, "You are giving us the power to protect you."
Wrapping things up on the legal front was attorney Greg Piccionelli, who warned about the Utah Child Protection Registry which prohibits the emailing of promotional materials for anything a minor can’t purchase, from firearms to liquor to porn.
"If you email an ad for adult content to someone listed in the Registry, lawsuits can be brought by private parties as well as the attorney general."
A half-cent tax is imposed to have emails "scrubbed" from the registry. In Utah, he said, 20 million emails have been scrubbed. He called the law an "unconstitutional burden on free speech" that "actually subjects minors to greater danger." Legal challenges to it have already begun.
Echoing remarks made by Raben, Piccionelli noted that "passing regulations against the adult industry gets you big political points on both sides of the aisle."
For information on FSC and future meetings, visit www.freespeechcoalition.com.
