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6 février, 2008 16:08

Dibya Sarkar

The Associated Press

02-06-2008

The National Association of Manufacturers is suing the government over the new federal lobbying and ethics law, contending it jeopardizes its members' First Amendment rights.

The trade group, which filed the suit on Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, is also seeking a preliminary injunction to prevent enforcement of the provision of the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007.

"This pernicious law should be seen as a potentially lethal threat to trade associations," the trade group's President John Engler, a former Michigan governor, said in a press release.

The law requires trade associations to release the names of members, who contribute more than $5,000 for lobbying activities, which the group said violates their members' privacy. Congress tightened the lobbying-disclosure requirements to target "stealth coalitions" or groups that use nondescript names to lobby for industries.

Hank Cox, a NAM spokesman, said the law requires the group to disclose the names by April 21. The group contends it violates its members' constitutional rights for freedom of association.

But contributors won't contribute, Cox said, if their names are released.

"We have 11,000 members," he said. "You can assume we have several hundred members that give us more than $5,000 a year. Just a few of them are aware of (the provision) and the ones we talked to are very concerned about it."

NAM does not release the names of their members. Executives from PPG Industries Inc., DuPont & Co., General Motors Corp. and Verizon Communications Inc. sit on its board.

Cox said naming the companies could put them in a tenuous position with unions and community groups if NAM takes unpopular positions on issues. The group contends it could "lead to boycotts, political pressure, shareholder suits, or other forms of harassment."

President Bush in September signed the bill into law, which requires lawmakers, among other things, to disclose their efforts raise money from lobbyists and to fund pet projects, a measure that backers call the biggest ethics reform in decades.

Congressional Democrats drafted the law in response to lobbying scandals that landed two former Republican lawmakers in prison. It will bar House and Senate members from taking gifts from lobbyists or their clients.

NAM spent more than $2.6 million on lobbying in the first six months of 2007 on a variety of issues, including taxes, patent reform, trade agreements and health insurance.