Capital Times, August 31, 2006
By John Nichols

Herb Kohl does not face a lot of political pressure this year.

The three-term senator is running for re-election against a Democrat primary challenger best known as the organizer of the Great Midwest Marijuana Harvest Festival and Weedstock, a Republican who couldn't muster 5 percent of the vote in his own party's Senate primary two years ago, a Libertarian who couldn't get enough signatures to qualify for the ballot, and a Green who is mounting an impressive campaign but will never be able to match the campaign spending of the wealthy Kohl.

So the question is not whether Kohl will be scared into doing the right thing on any particular issue.

The question is whether he will be persuaded.

Anyone who has ever talked with him knows that Kohl takes issues seriously. But he is a confirmed moderate whose career has been defined by caution — and, of course, by the fact that he is a very wealthy man who can and does fully finance his own campaigns.

What persuades him? More often than not, a desire to do what's best for Wisconsin.

And what's best for Wisconsin is an Internet that serves rural and urban areas, rich and poor, young and old with equal quality and equal access to all of the technology's promise.

Today, media reform activists will attempt to get the senator to recognize this fact.

The message of those who visit Kohl's office will be that Wisconsin and the rest of the country need an Internet defined by the free flow of ideas and genuine competition.

Internet users in Wisconsin and across the country are concerned that the telecommunications bill pending in the Senate represents a massive giveaway to cable and telephone conglomerates that want to establish monopoly — or cartel — control of Internet service in communities such as Madison, Milwaukee, Mellen and Manitowoc. If the corporate giants get their way, the most fundamental consumer protection — the network neutrality requirement that currently ensures equal access to all sites on the Internet — will be lost. And with it will go the vision of the Internet as a tool for democratizing communications and opening up the public discourse.

Kohl, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee for Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights, can play a critical role in the debate. Indeed, his reputation as a moderate who works with Republicans could make him one of — if not the — most essential Democrats in the looming fight. As of now, Kohl has not taken a stand on the telecommunications legislation in general or on the particular question of Internet neutrality.

Activists were to visit his downtown Madison office today to ask that their senator join their fight to save the Internet. They want Herb Kohl to use his position and his influence in the Senate to defend the Internet that still holds so much promise for rural and urban Wisconsin, for honest debate and for American democracy. They won't scare him into doing the right thing, but let's hope they can persuade him.

This article is copyrighted material, the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.