The introduction of the "gagging clause" to ban charities using government grants to campaign has put the question of charity campaigning back in the spotlight.
New rules mean charities will be banned from using government grants for campaigns to pressure ministers to change policies.
Grant Shapps' campaign for re-election took a dramatic turn yesterday when it emerged he will be running against his business pseudonym, Michael Green, after a campaign by the online blog Political Scrapbook.
Once permission was granted, the campaign had access to millions of names and faces they could match against their lists of persuadable voters, potential donors, unregistered voters and so on.
When people opted to do so, they were met with a prompt asking to grant the campaign permission to scan their Facebook friends lists, their photos and other personal information.
But after some Christian conservatives criticized that decision and warned that Mr. Bush should not take religious conservatives for granted, the campaign announced that Mr. Bush would videotape remarks to be played to the group.
Granted, the campaign (the ads for which can often be seen in the small black-and-yellow rectangular box on the top-right of the City Room blog front) is big on celebrities, fashionistas and people who are famous and fabulous in some circles.
The main issue supporters of the constitutional amendment have with the Buckley decision and subsequent court rulings is the full free speech rights granted to campaign spending.
The Grants for Good campaign led by us, Charity Finance Group, Children England, NAVCA and Lloyds Bank Foundation believes that grants are essential for charities and community groups.
The new buildings would not have gone up without a capital campaign, grants that included $3 million from the Luce Foundation and a loan from the Bank of America.
