Contact: April Waugh, Traditional Values Coalition, 202-547-8570

WASHINGTON, Jan. 18 /Christian Newswire/ --Rev Louis Sheldon, Chairman of the Traditional Values Coalition (TVC) made the following statement tonight regarding removal of the harmful grassroots provision (Section 220) in S.1, the Legislative Transparency and Accountability Act of 2007.

I applaud the Members of the U.S. Senate who voted for Bennett amendment 20 to remove section 220 from the bill.

"When you start the legislative year with a piece of legislation which is so bad that TVC and the ACLU unite to fight it – this does not bode well for the coming months.

"I am pleased we were able to stop this breach of the First Amendment masquerading as lobbying reform.

"Of course, I support any and all efforts to fight corruption, but not at the expense of a citizen's right to petition his or her government."