There’s much debate taking place over the fate of the Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act, a bill the Sunlight Foundation claims has been blocked with a “secret hold.” Following up on David All’s post from yesterday, I accused bloggers of getting the story wrong. Apparently, I should have include mainstream journalists as well. (See coverage in the San Francisco Examiner, New York Times and The Hill.)

The problem with this story is that bloggers and reporters writing about it have failed to check the facts, and in the process have misconstrued Senate procedure. (For more, see Danny Glover’s Beltway Blogroll post.) There’s a clear difference between a “secret hold” and an objection to unanimous consent, which is what happened in the case of this bill. A secret hold is done in committee when a bill has been hotlined.

The biggest mistake being made is the assertion that the bill has been blocked. In fact, it has not been. Instead, an attempt to put the bill on the fast track to passage got shot down, meaning it’ll have to wait for a vote as part of the regular order of business. “It is on the legislative calendar,” Senate Republican spokesman Don Stewart told the Washington Post. “Senators are now reviewing the bill in anticipation of legislative action.”

I’m not trying to pick a fight with my friends at Sunlight on this. I’m a strong supporter of the legislation, and while I’m not sure it needed to be rushed to passage, I do hope it comes up soon for a vote. If bloggers want to pressure Senate leadership, I’d encourage them to do so. But please, when you’re writing about this bill, stick to the facts. It’s not a secret hold.

UPDATE — 1:32 p.m.: Danny Glover has changed his mind. And in the spirit of transparency (I’m being sarcastic), he deleted his original post, which I linked to above. Actually, Glover tells me it was “accidentally posted.” He thought he was saving it offline, but it accidentally showed up.

UPDATE — April 20, 10:05 p.m.: I just noticed that Danny Glover actually re-posted the post I criticized him for deleting. I applaud Danny for his commitment to transparency.