I do a radio show in Southwest Florida called Constitutionally Speaking. In February I interviewed Congressional Candidate Curt Clawson on the show regarding the constitutional duties and responsibilities of a member of Congress. There is a special election to replace Trey Radel who resigned following his arrest and guilty plea for cocaine possession.
The election is April 22. I intended to rerun my interview with Clawson on this Saturday's show (April 19) bringing information to voters just a few days before the election. My plan unexepectedly ran into FCC election rules and the show didn't air. I instead did a show about the FCC issues with rerunning my show, and the chilling effect and subtle prior restraint of the regulations: Constitutionally Speaking FCC & 1st Amendment w/Tony Renda Tony Renda is the general manager of the station on which my show airs. He and I discussed why my show with Clawson did not air.
While the show centered on the FCC issue, I think the way the scenario played out, it is an example of a much larger issue: a government so big and powerful that people prefer not to act rather than "maybe" offending the government.
The show did address a real absurdity in the election rules. Potential FCC issues are triggered by the use of a candidate's voice or image. That is, there were no issues if Clawson's voice was not heard during the programming. However, the campaign has advertised on the show for about 8 weeks now, and of course the ads require "I'm Curt Clawson and I approved this message". So his voice was not allowed during the programming, but mandated for the ads. A kind of Alice in Wonderland scenario. BTW: A media poll released yesterday shows him with a 19 point lead, and I believe he will be an effective advocate for limited constitutional government in Congress. You may want to listen to the show that I couldn't rerun on 4/19. Constitutionally Speaking Duties of a House Member w/Curt Clawson This was his first interview as a congressional candidate on air anywhere and it's likely you will be hearing much more from him in the future.
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