PRESS RELEASE
The James Madison Center for Free Speech
's "A Defender of Freedom" awards banquet, held earlier this month, was not only educational but a wonderful evening of friends and fellowship. The purpose of the event was to honor Senator Mitch McConnell and Representative Tom DeLay for their efforts to defeat the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (A BCRA@ ) and protect the First Amendment rights of free speech and association of the American people.The Honorable Edwin Meese III served as master of ceremonies and Dr. Richard Land gave the invocation and benediction. Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert, gave an inspiring keynote address on how BCRA tramples on the First Amendment rights of the American people. Speaker Hastert joked that given the sheer density of the law, the acronym
A BCRA@ really means A before campaigning retain attorney.@James Bopp, Jr., general counsel for the James Madison Center presented a thought provoking message regarding the unconstitutional provisions of BCRA. According to Bopp,
A BCRA is an invidious law that not only tramples on the First Amendment rights of free speech and association but directly conflicts with the purposes of the founding fathers when enacting the First Amendment.@The highlight of the evening, however, came with the presentation of the awards. The Honorable Don Hodel presented the award to Senator McConnell and Betsy DeVos presented the award to Representative McConnell. Both Senator McConnell and Representative DeLay
= s acceptance speeches spoke of the A incumbent protectionist@ bent of BCRA. Representative DeLay credited Senator McConnell= s willingness to stand up to his peers on this issue as one of the reasons he himself had joined the fight.C-SPAN carried the event live and then re-ran it several times per day for the following week. If you would like to see the event, please go to www.cspan.org to the
A social policy@ section and then look for the A James Madison Center For Free Speech= s Defender of Freedom Awards Banquet@ held July 10, 2002. Pictures from the event can be seen by going to the James Madison Center= s website at www.jamesmadisoncenter.org and clicking on the Defender of Freedom Banquet.To unsubscribe from the James Madison Center for Free Speech e-mail list, please send an e-mail message with "UNSUBSCRIBE" as the subject to: dcundiff@bopplaw.com.