NAM to File Suit Over Disclosure?

New lobbying and ethics laws just might be facing their first legal challenge.

The National Association of Manufacturers has scheduled a press conference for tomorrow to "announce a major legal action which has significant implications for activist organizations, trade associations and government." In December, NAM - together with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Society of Association Executives - sent a letter to the secretary of the Senate requesting guidance on the new laws. Specifically, the trade groups wanted to know if language calling for the disclosure of any member who contributes more than $5,000 per quarter to lobbying activities and "actively participates in the planning, supervision or control" of lobbying applied to their membership lists.

The groups said the language could require disclosure of all their members, and might violate the constitutional guarantee of freedom of association.

A NAM spokesman, Hank Cox, couldn't say today whether the groups had received a response to their letter, and wouldn't confirm (or deny) that the legal action to be announced at the press conference was a challenge to the new lobbying and ethics rules. But in December, officials for both the Chamber and NAM told Legal Times that they wouldn't rule out a lawsuit.