[EL] ELB News and Commentary 7/22/11
Justin Levitt
levittj at lls.edu
Fri Jul 22 00:32:40 PDT 2011
"Law school class shows redistricting outside political arena"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=20749>
Posted on July 22, 2011 <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=20749> by Justin
Levitt <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=4>
Nate Persily's class at Columbia Law is highlighted in today's
Providence Journal
<http://www.projo.com/news/content/REDISTRICTING_STUDENT_MAPS_07-21-11_A5P99C8_v88.422fa.html>.
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Posted in redistricting <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6> | Comments Off
"Corporate money to be returned from Ark. GOP event"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=20746>
Posted on July 21, 2011 <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=20746> by Justin
Levitt <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=4>
"The top Republican in the Arkansas House said Thursday that about
$20,000 in corporate dollars raised last month at an event for state GOP
legislative candidates will be returned over concerns that it broke
campaign finance rules by listing a congressman as a co-host."
Sound familiar <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=20664>?
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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10> |
Comments Off
Louisiana NVRA suit goes forward --- no, the other one
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=20743>
Posted on July 21, 2011 <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=20743> by Justin
Levitt <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=4>
The Louisiana NAACP's NVRA suit
<http://naacpldf.org/case-issue/ferrand-v-schedler> against Louisiana
for its public assistance agencies' alleged failure to comply with voter
registration requirements survived a motion to dismiss
<http://naacpldf.org/files/case_issue/Order%20-%20Motions%20to%20Dismiss.pdf>
today.
This suit is distinct from the NVRA public-assistance-agency enforcement
lawsuit just filed
<http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2011/July/11-crt-908.html> by DOJ.
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Posted in Department of Justice <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=26>,
NVRA (motor voter) <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=33> | Comments Off
No deadlock here <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=20741>
Posted on July 21, 2011 <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=20741> by Justin
Levitt <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=4>
The FEC agrees unanimously
<http://www.npr.org/2011/07/21/138577473/fec-orders-edwards-campaign-to-repay-2-3-million>
with the audit report <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=20579>, ordering
John Edwards' campaign to repay $ 2.3 million to the Treasury (he's
reported to have had $ 2.6 million cash on hand as of June 30).
Every little bit helps the budget, right?
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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, John
Edwards <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=17> | Comments Off
"Redistricting Cases Challenge The Voting Rights Act"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=20739>
Posted on July 21, 2011 <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=20739> by Justin
Levitt <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=4>
All Things Considered considers
<http://www.npr.org/2011/07/21/138472568/redistricting-cases-challenge-the-voting-rights-act>.
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Posted in redistricting <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>, Voting
Rights Act <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15> | Comments Off
"Shifting Power in Sacramento: The Effects of Term Limits on
Legislative Staff" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=20737>
Posted on July 21, 2011 <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=20737> by Justin
Levitt <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=4>
Another new article <http://www.bepress.com/cjpp/vol3/iss1/15/>. The
abstract:
Does legislative staff become more powerful when state legislators
are term limited? This article explores the impact of term limits on
the power and duties of staff. Staff play an important role in
today's politics, and this study seeks to contribute qualitative and
quantitative data on the changes in California's legislative staff
since the passage of term limits in 1990. I obtained data through
interviews with senior staff in Sacramento, an online survey created
for the study, and staff salary and staff turnover data from both
the California and Illinois state legislatures.
I find that term limits have changed the duties of staff, made staff
jobs less stable, and affected the relationship between legislators
and staff. Levels of staff experience have gone down in the State
Senate and risen slightly in the Assembly, but do not vary
considerably from staff levels of experience in the Illinois State
Legislature in 2009 and 2010. Staff salaries increased at a faster
rate in the California Legislature than in the Illinois Legislature
between 2006 and 2009. I conclude that term limits have made staff
potentially more powerful, but less competent.
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Posted in legislation and legislatures
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=27>, voting
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=31> | Comments Off
Voter registration forms are public records under the NVRA
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=20735>
Posted on July 21, 2011 <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=20735> by Justin
Levitt <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=4>
So, says Politico
<http://www.politico.com/blogs/joshgerstein/0711/Judge_Virginia_voter_registrations_must_be_public.html%E2%80%9D>,
says the Eastern District of Virginia
<http://www.politico.com/static/PPM226_110721_order_granting_summary.html>.
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Posted in voter registration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=37> |
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Intrigue over IRV in Utah <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=20733>
Posted on July 21, 2011 <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=20733> by Justin
Levitt <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=4>
From the Salt Lake Tribune
<http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/politics/52226924-90/candidates-voting-allow-majority.html.csp>.
And more on IRV
<http://www.fairvote.org/ranked-choice-absentee-ballots-preventing-the-disenfranchisement-of-military-and-overseas-voters>
--- this time in the context of absentee and military voters --- from
FairVote.
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Posted in voting <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=31> | Comments Off
More on ALEC as well <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=20731>
Posted on July 21, 2011 <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=20731> by Justin
Levitt <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=4>
Bloomberg reports
<http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-21/koch-exxon-mobil-among-corporations-helping-write-state-laws.html>
on Koch Industries and Exxon Mobil's involvement in ALEC
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=20703>.
Mike Allen yawns <http://www.politico.com/playbook/>:
"--*PLAYBOOK TRANSLATION*: The collusion turns out to be a think tank's
model legislation, called up on the web by like-minded legislators. The
'seat at the legislative drafting table' turns out to be foundation
donations or annual-meeting sponsorships. "
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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,
legislation and legislatures <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=27>,
lobbying <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=28> | Comments Off
More on the IRS denial of (c)(4) status: recipients revealed
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=20728>
Posted on July 21, 2011 <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=20728> by Justin
Levitt <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=4>
Following on these <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=20669> posts
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=20560>, more news today:
The NYT reports
<http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/21/business/advocacy-groups-denied-tax-exempt-status-are-named.html?_r=1>
that the three groups denied (c)(4) status are Emerge Nevada, Emerge
Maine and Emerge Massachusetts, all affiliates of Emerge America
<http://www.emergeamerica.org/>, which says on its homepage that its
mission is "to increase the number of Democratic women in public office"
through training and mentoring. With this sort of express and direct
partisan link, it doesn't seem particularly surprising to raise eyebrows
in a (c)(4) application to the IRS.
Crossroads
<http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0711/Crossroads_reassures_donors_on_tax_issue.html>
has taken steps to explain that it was not the recipient of the letters.
And Paul Streckfus, at EO Tax Journal <http://eotaxjournal.com/eotj/>
(subscription required), unearths an I-told-you-so 2002 letter
<http://eotaxjournal.com/eotj/?p=1384> to the IRS, asking for further
clarification of the rules governing 501(c)(4) organizations.
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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, tax law
and election law <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=22> | Comments Off
--
Justin Levitt
Associate Professor of Law
Loyola Law School | Los Angeles
919 Albany St.
Los Angeles, CA 90015
213-736-7417
justin.levitt at lls.edu
ssrn.com/author=698321
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