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Evolving Law

By George Baumler

 Not being a member of the lawyer race, it is a little bit of a reach for me to write about law, but since I am expected to live under these rules it is appropriate for me to discuss them in a general sense.  The Libertarian Party of Greater Louisville had a guest speaker from a local "news" paper, who made the remark that campaign finance law was an evolving thing; in such a tone you could tell he thought it a good idea, too.  Now, I don't know much, but evolving sounds like changing to me.  The campaign finance laws are as Byzantine as the rules for six-legged hopscotch without throwing “evolving” into the equation.  

  Take, for example, the term "coordination"; definitions are adopted and discarded as frequently as politicians fabricate distortions of their accomplishments.  One local rogue office seeker was summoned to an FEC hearing for violating the proscription against coordination, even though the courts had previously excluded the definition, under which he was being investigated.  The definition had "evolved", which did not stop the FEC from investigating and causing financial and emotional hardship to the rogue and "conspirators" for over nine years.  The definition of “coordination” is in flux even today; the meaning du jour does not require that any communication take place at all in order for various people be deemed to be “coordinating” their efforts.  In fact, almost anyone at any time could be found guilty of coordination in an election.  But, the rules are evolving and that could change; you already may be a winner.

  Those who favor evolving rules should get together with me and a few of my pals for a few hands of evolving rules poker.  I'm sure the reporter from the C-J who gleefully supported the notion of evolving rules for purposes of campaign finance would really enjoy the game of evolving rules poker.  I could tell you the rules, but hey, they're evolving.

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