There could be no clearer example of how “good-government” regulations chill free speech than the ruckus that has pitted Hip-Hop impresario Russell Simmons and the New York Civil Liberties Union against the Temporary State Commission on Lobbying. Mr. Simmons, the founder of Def Jam Records, entered the political fray earlier this year by undertaking a campaign to pressure the state’s politicians to reform the Rockefeller-era drug laws. It might have looked to the average New Yorker like a private, if prominent, citizen exercising his right to petition the government under the First Amendment. But to the lobbying commission’s chairman, David Grandeau, it apparently looked like lobbying and a chance to make Mr. Simmons register and file forms.

Mr. Simmons decided to fight this intrusion in court. The New York Civil Liberties Union promptly leapt to his defense with an amicus brief, only to find itself in hot water with the commission on an unrelated matter regarding registering a billboard that the civil rights group purchased. It filed a lawsuit of its own on Monday. Mr. Grandeau told The New York Sun yesterday that, despite intimations to the contrary in a news story in the New YorkTimes, there is no connection between the scuffle with the civil liberties group and the group’s support of Mr. Simmons. “Next thing you know I’ll be part of the plumbing crew at the Watergate,” he said.

It wouldn’t surprise us, given what Mr. Grandeau is trying to define as lobbying. For instance, the main issue between Mr. Simmons and the lobbying commission is an investigation into a rally organized by Mr. Simmons. The rally was held on the steps of City Hall on June 4, and included Andrew Cuomo as well as such celebrities as Mariah Carey, Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins, Jay-Z, Busta Rhymes, and the Beastie Boys. It was a plain old fashioned exercise of free speech to press for shorter sentences for drug criminals. But because legislation was pending on the topic, Mr. Grandeau said he thought some of the activity at the rally might have constituted lobbying.

Enter the civil liberties union, which is now under scrutiny from the lobbying commission with regard to a billboard it put up. It had the gall not to register the expenditure with Mr. Grandeau and Co. The group placed the billboard near the Crossgates Mall, where earlier this year an anti-war protester was arrested after wearing a shirt that said “Give Peace a Chance.” The group’s billboard has a picture of a person gagged and the words: “Welcome to the mall. You have the right to remain silent. Value free speech. www.nyclu.org.”Because there is legislation pending on a related topic — the civil liberties group is supporting a bill to make it harder for malls to restrict speech on their premises — Mr. Grandeau considers this lobbying. “How do you have advocacy on pending legislation that is not lobbying? Why did they run the billboard?” Mr. Grandeau was quoted as saying in the New York Times yesterday. “What was the point of it?”

Clearly the point was to influence the outcome in a democratic process. Rallies, billboards — these aren’t pornography or even campaign contributions from corporations. These are fundamental speech. This doesn’t move Mr. Grandeau. “What this is really about is the Nyclu wants to restrict the information available to New York’s citizens,” he told the Sun yesterday, in a reference to the disclosures involved in registering with the lobbying commission.

Which is pure balderdash. This is about a plain old-fashioned abuse of office by Mr. Grandeau. It’s hard to find in the First Amendment a footnote that says you have to register with the government of New York State before you speak. Why should the government be allowed to, or even want to, collect detailed financial information about anyone who dares speak up in the public square? “It would have been easy to pay a small fine, but what about the people who can’t afford a high-powered lawyer?” Mr. Simmons said this summer, explaining why he is putting up his fight. “What if I get punked and go home and allow them to punk everybody?”