[EL] Electionlawblog news and commentary 5/17/11

Tue May 17 13:56:41 PDT 2011

As always, I'm impressed with Jim Bopp's ability to push the envelope.
 Judging from the Politico article, it appears his legal theory is that the
funds solicited by federal officeholders to the Republican Super PAC are
raised in accordance with the limitations and prohibitions of BCRA since
super PACs were freed from these restrictions in the SpeechNow.org case.
 Therefore, the solicitations don't run afoul of 2 U.S.C. 441i(e).

I wonder if Jim would be willing to share his thinking with the list.  And I
wonder if other listers think this theory is correct.  441i(e)(a)(1)
prohibits solicitations "unless the funds are subject to the limitations,
prohibitions, and reporting requirements of this Act."  Jim is correct when
he says the funds will be reported, but the funds are not subject to the
amount limitations and source prohibitions since the DC District Court
declared those limits unconstitutional as applied to contributions to super
PACs.  It does not seem to me unconstitutional to apply the plain language
of 441i(e) to federal officeholders' solicitations, even for contributions
to super PACs.

--
Steven Gold
General Counsel
ActBlue
steve at actblue.com
617.517.7636
www.actblue.com

On Tue, May 17, 2011 at 11:34 AM, Rick Hasen <rhasen at law.uci.edu> wrote:

>  May 17, 2011
> "GOP 'Super PAC' seeks surplus cash"
>
> *Politico* reports <http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0511/55091.html>.
>  Posted by Rick Hasen at 08:30 AM<http://electionlawblog.org/archives/019514.html>
>  "Business groups to Obama: Drop order on contractor disclosure"
>
> *The Hill* reports<http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/161573-business-coalition-tells-obama-to-abandon-draft-contractor-order>
> .
>  Posted by Rick Hasen at 08:27 AM<http://electionlawblog.org/archives/019513.html>
>  Why is Kloppenberg Continuing the Recount?
>
> In her own words <http://www.jsonline.com/news/opinion/121958509.html>:
>
>    The recount has uncovered significant and widespread errors and
>    anomalies in the securing of ballots and recording of votes on election day.
>    There have been changes to vote totals in every county due to miscounted or
>    missing votes.
>
>    Many bags of ballots have been found to be essentially unsealed or
>    ripped to the extent that ballot security is compromised. A stack of
>    ballots, unbagged, was found in a clerk's office. Ballots were found in
>    voting machines where they had been left. Seal numbers on ballot bags and
>    tags were not recorded in the inspector's reports, creating doubt that the
>    bags were properly sealed on election night.
>
>    Touchscreen voting machine tapes were missing votes, or worse, were
>    entirely blank and had to be reproduced from machine memory to allow a
>    recount of the vote.
>
>    The most widespread and systemic errors and anomalies have been
>    discovered in Waukesha County. That county was already under a cloud, and
>    this recount has revealed more questions about elections practices there.
>
> Posted by Rick Hasen at 08:22 AM<http://electionlawblog.org/archives/019512.html>
>  More Coverage of Eighth Circuit Opinion
>
> WSJ<http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2011/05/16/eighth-circuit-companies-must-disclose-campaign-spending/?mod=WSJBlog&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wsj%2Flaw%2Ffeed+%28WSJ.com%3A+Law+Blog%29>;
> AP<http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2011/05/16/general-mn-corporate-donations-disclosure_8469018.html>;
> Star Tribune <http://www.startribune.com/politics/121895804.html>.
>
> It is interesting that all of these reports focus on the disclosure issue.
> What I think is at least equally important is the Court's decision to uphold
> the ban <http://electionlawblog.org/archives/019498.html> on direct
> corporate contributions to candidates.
>  Posted by Rick Hasen at 08:15 AM<http://electionlawblog.org/archives/019511.html>
>  "Public Citizen Seeks Silent Citizens"
>
> Eric Wang has written this oped<http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/may/16/public-citizen-seeks-silent-citizens/print/>in the Washington Times.
>  Posted by Rick Hasen at 08:05 AM<http://electionlawblog.org/archives/019510.html>
>  Three Judge Federal District Court Issues Opinion in Redistricting
> Challenge in Mississippi
>
> See here<http://www.scribd.com/doc/55555733/Order-NAACP-v-Haley-Barbour-Et-Al>
> .
>  Posted by Rick Hasen at 08:01 AM<http://electionlawblog.org/archives/019509.html>
>  "IRS Seeks to Impose Gift Taxes on 501(c)(4) Donors"
>
> Harmon, Curran offers this eUpdate<http://www.harmoncurran.com/?fuseaction=eUpdate.getArchives&newsletter_id=89>
> .
>  Posted by Rick Hasen at 07:57 AM<http://electionlawblog.org/archives/019508.html>
>  "At fundraiser, Obama introduced by civil rights hero who pleaded guilty
> in campaign finance probe"
>
> Josh Gerstein blogs<http://www.politico.com/blogs/joshgerstein/0511/At_fundraiser_Obama_introduced_by_civil_rights_hero_who_pled_guilty_in_campaign_finance_probe.html>
> .
>  Posted by Rick Hasen at 07:50 AM<http://electionlawblog.org/archives/019507.html>
>  Quote of the Day
>
> "Colbert Super PAC will also pay usual and normal administrative expenses,
> including but not limited to luxury hotel stays, private jet travel, and PAC
> mementos from Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus."
>
> ---Colbert Super PAC Advisory Opinion Request<http://www.colbertpac.com/AO_REQUEST.PDF>to FEC
>  Posted by Rick Hasen at 07:48 AM<http://electionlawblog.org/archives/019506.html>
>  --
> Rick Hasen
> Visiting Professor
> 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
>
> William H. Hannon Distinguished Professor of Law
> Loyola Law School
> http://electionlawblog.org
>
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