NRA seeks media exemption from campaign finance rules

WASHINGTON -- Hoping to spend as much as it wants on next year's elections, the National Rifle Association is looking to buy a television or radio station and declare that it should be treated as a news organization, exempt from spending limits in the campaign finance law.

"We're looking at bringing a court case that we're as legitimate a media outlet as Disney or Viacom or Time-Warner," the NRA's executive vice president, Wayne LaPierre, told The Associated Press.

"Why should they have an exclusive right to relay information to the public, and why should not NRA be considered as legitimate a news source as they are? That's never been explored legally," he said in an interview.

The nation's gun lobby is talking with potential investors about an NRA broadcast outlet and is considering all possible funding sources, including gun manufacturers, LaPierre said.

If the NRA were to be considered a media organization, it would be free to say what it wanted about candidates at any time and spend corporate money to do so, such as for commercials.

The group, financed in part with corporate money, is now banned under the campaign finance law from running ads, just before elections, that mention federal candidates who are on states' ballots.

The 4 million-member group has long been one of Washington's most powerful lobbies. It has spent millions of dollars over the years trying to influence elections toward candidates who oppose gun controls and support the position that Americans have an incontestable right to bear arms.

The NRA is one of the biggest magazine publishers in the United States and provides news over the Internet, LaPierre said. The group has close to a dozen publications, including the "American Rifleman" and "American Hunter" magazines.

LaPierre said the organization may pursue the media exemption even if its previous challenge to the campaign finance law should prevail in the Supreme Court, which is expected to rule soon. The NRA could ask the Federal Election Commission whether it qualifies for the media exemption, go to court, or both.

The finance law, which took effect in November 2002, bars interest groups financed with corporate or union money from airing television and radio ads the month before a primary and two months before a general election that identify federal candidates, are paid for with corporate or union money and target candidates' districts.

News organizations are exempt from the restrictions. That allows them to cover the news, write editorials endorsing or opposing candidates and air interviews.

The FEC also has exempted programming that broadcasters are not paid to air, such as public service announcements, comedy monologues and talk shows that mention or feature federal candidates. Movies and television shows also are free of the rules.

Like other corporations, media outlets cannot contribute money to federal campaigns or national political parties.

The FEC has shown some willingness to consider broader applications of the media exemption.

The commission this year dismissed a complaint that accused Wal-Mart of making an illegal corporate donation to then-Senate candidate Elizabeth Dole by providing shoppers with a company publication featuring the North Carolina Republican.

Three Republican commissioners who supported the dismissal said the publication qualified for a press exemption that lets news organizations run articles about candidates without violating the ban on corporate contributions.

The NRA and its lawyers will "look at every option to continue to exercise our First Amendment rights," even anchoring a ship "in international waters and beaming in" if necessary to get its gun-rights message on the air at election time, LaPierre said.

The NRA was first in line at a federal courthouse in Washington to challenge the new campaign finance law, filing its lawsuit immediately after President Bush signed the campaign finance legislation in March 2002.

------

On the Net:

National Rifle Association: http://www.nra.org/

Federal Election Commission: http://www.fec.gov/