[EL] Question of the day

Fri Jul 15 13:47:34 PDT 2011

Colleagues:

The Obama campaign has already begun disclosing the identities of, and amounts raised by, its bundlers. The records, which were released today, are available at:

http://www.barackobama.com/pages/volunteer-fundraisers-Q2

Craig Holman, Ph.D.
Government Affairs Lobbyist
Public Citizen
215 Pennsylvania Avenue NE
Washington, D.C. 20003
TEL: (202) 454-5182
CEL: (202) 905-7413
FAX: (202) 547-7392
Holman at aol.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Rick Hasen <rhasen at law.uci.edu>
To: law-election <law-election at uci.edu>
Sent: Fri, Jul 15, 2011 4:12 pm
Subject: [EL] more news 7/15/11

 Question of the Day 

                Posted on                July 15, 2011 by Rick Hasen              

Who will be Obama’s first $1 million bundler? (Maybe                  he has one–or more–already.)

  Posted in campaign finance  | Comments Off              

“Legislators ask secretary          of state why police involved in inquiry of voters” 

        Posted on July 15, 2011        by Rick Hasen 

News          from New Mexico.

  Posted            in election administration, voter            registration  | Comments            Off 

 “Voting Groups To Feds: Don’t          Let Florida’s Restrictive Voting Law Go Through” 

        Posted on July 15, 2011        by Rick Hasen 

TPM reports          on            this letter sent by a number of election reform groups          to DOJ.  See also this            press release.

  Posted            in Department of Justice, election            administration, Voting Rights Act         | Comments Off 

 “Two fundraisers confirmed to          iWatch News that when the Obama campaign releases its list of          bundlers on Friday, a number of individuals will be listed as          having already raised more than $500,000.” 

        Posted on July 15, 2011        by Rick Hasen 

Wow.           That’s early (via Nick            Confessore).

Find the bundlers here.

  Posted            in campaign            finance  |        Comments Off 

 The Secretary          of State Project 

        Posted on July 15, 2011        by Rick Hasen 

The Secretary of State project was a pretty influential          liberal group dedicated to electing Democrats as Secretary of          State.  Here’s a 2008 Politico profile          of the group.

While researching my book, I came across this article from          the Washington Times,            Soros and Liberal Groups Seeking Top Election Posts in            Battleground States. The article is from June 23 of this          year, but there are three serious problems with it.

1. George Soros’s role with the project is minimal.  So far          as I can tell, he gave only one $10,000 donation to the          group.  The rest of the article highlights Soros’s          contributions to other groups, or the contributions to the          SOSP by those who are somehow allies of Soros.

2. The article completely misunderstands the nature of          non-federal 527s.  The paper writes: “While FEC          regulations limit individual donations to a maximum of $2,500          per candidate and $5,000 to a PAC, a number of 527 groups have          poured tens of millions of unregulated dollars into various          political efforts.”  Here, the author is contrasting rules          which apply to federal PACs (and thanks to the          emergence of Super-PACs, they don’t apply to many PACs          anymore), with the activities of a group involved in actions          in the states, involving state elections,          which are subject to their own campaign finance rules.

3. Most importantly, it is not clear to me that the SOSP          continues to exist.  Their website has not been updated since          2009.  Clicking on the group’s home page leads          to an “Account suspended” message.  I see no indication the          group is active for 2012.  It is odd that the Washington            Times would run such a story without even mentioning          this fact.

  Posted            in election administration  | Comments Off 

 “Florida League Of Women          Voters Drops Registration Plan Over Restrictive Laws” 

        Posted on July 15, 2011        by Rick Hasen 

TPM offers this            report, part of a new “Crackdown            on Voting” series.

  Posted            in chicanery,          election            administration  | Comments            Off 

 “Carded at the Polls; Will the Justice          Department stop the assault on voting rights for minorities,          the elderly, and the poor?” 

        Posted on July 15, 2011        by Rick Hasen 

This            item appears at The American Prospect.

  Posted            in Uncategorized         | Comments Off 

 “Best Practices for Independent Spending: Part          One” 

        Posted on July 15, 2011        by Rick Hasen 

National            Institute on Money in State Politics: “What is          independent spending? Organizations and individuals spend          millions of dollars every election cycle supporting or          opposing candidates and ballot measures-without coordinating          or consulting with the candidate or measure committee. Most of          the time, a state calls these independent expenditures. In          Part One of a two-part review of disclosure of this          independent spending in the 50 states, researchers at the          National Institute on Money in State Politics reviewed each          state’s law to define best practices for independent spending          disclosure.”

  Posted            in campaign            finance  |        Comments Off 

 “Colbert’s Knock Knock Joke is          Funny Because It’s True….Unless” 

        Posted on July 15, 2011        by Rick Hasen 

The Corporate Library Blog has this            item.

  Posted            in campaign            finance  |        Comments Off 

 Big Coup: Open Secret’s Dave Levinthal to          Politico 

        Posted on July 15, 2011        by Rick Hasen 

A note from Dave via email: “A note to let you know that          today is my last day with the Center for Responsive Politics          and OpenSecrets.org,          as I’m leaving to take a job with POLITICO.          Starting Monday, I’ll be reporting on political influence          issues and writing the appropriately titled daily dispatch, POLITICO Influence. (Please read it          regularly!)”

Congratulations and good luck, Dave.  I know that so many of          us thinking about money and politics have relied upon Dave’s          dispatches from the Center for Responsive Politics, dispatches          will continue from the Center’s Michael Beckel.

  Posted            in campaign            finance  |        Comments Off 

 “Rules Be Damned; Former FEC Chairman Trevor          Potter expects lots of ‘secret money’ to flow into the 2012          campaigns.” 

        Posted on July 15, 2011        by Rick Hasen 

A National Journal interview.

  Posted            in campaign            finance  |        Comments Off 

 “A Tale of Two Special          Elections; Costing Out Louisiana and Massachusetts” 

        Posted on July 15, 2011        by Rick Hasen 

That’s the lead story in this week’s Electionline            Weekly.

  Posted            in election administration  | Comments Off 

 Guest Blogging          Schedule 

        Posted on July 14, 2011        by Rick Hasen 

I am happy to announce that Justin Levitt will be guest          blogging for me next week (7/17 to 7/23) and Dan Tokaji will          be guest blogging 7/31-8/6.

During those two weeks, please send your tips to Justin or          Dan.

Thanks to Justin and Dan for filling in as I make a final          pre-fall semester writing push for The Voting Wars.

Thanks!

-- 
      Rick Hasen
      Professor of Law and Political Science
      UC Irvine School of Law
      401 E. Peltason Dr., Suite 1000
      Irvine, CA 92697-8000
      949.824.3072 - office
      949.824.0495 - fax
      rhasen at law.uci.edu
      http://law.uci.edu/faculty/page1_r_hasen.html
      http://electionlawblog.org

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