[EL] GOP Senators Press IRS on Rule Changes - Washington Wire - WSJ

Wed Aug 8 07:27:40 PDT 2012

I generally prefer to lurk and learn from those on this list, but I would be very surprised if the following statement was indeed the case:

"No one cared much about Chic-fil-A until the CEO made his comments on video. It was that speech that triggered the public response, not any campaign donation that he gave."

Perhaps I am too cynical, but this being election season the cynic in me wins this one.

D. Eric Lycan
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-----Original Message-----
From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu [mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] On Behalf Of Michael McDonald
Sent: Tuesday, August 07, 2012 5:23 PM
To: law-election at UCI.EDU
Subject: Re: [EL] GOP Senators Press IRS on Rule Changes - Washington Wire - WSJ

Jim, I assume you meant to send your response to the list, so I am including it in this e-mail response.

My response to you is found in the recent exchange I had with Sean Parnell: why treat speech by money differently than speech by other means? You are offering no anonymity protections for non-moneyed speech, which is the evidence of harassment that you have been giving. This is the parallel with the vote fraud straw man: the fact that there is vote fraud by absentee ballot does not mean there is impersonation fraud. There are many people whose contributions have been disclosed to the FEC and have been made public. Yet, the public doesn’t really seem to care deeply about those donations. No one cared much about Chic-fil-A until the CEO made his comments on video. It was that speech that triggered the public response, not any campaign donation that he gave.

If you really think about it, federal law enforcement tracks the movement of large sums of money. A corrupt administration (i.e., public officials, which you identify as your concern) does not need campaign finance disclosure laws to identify who is contributing large sums of money to its opposition.

And this exchange does not absolve you from your snarky unprovoked attack on Fred Wertheimer.

============
Dr. Michael P. McDonald
Associate Professor, George Mason University Non-Resident Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution

                             Mailing address:
(o) 703-993-4191             George Mason University
(f) 703-993-1399             Dept. of Public and International Affairs
mmcdon at gmu.edu               4400 University Drive - 3F4
http://elections.gmu.edu     Fairfax, VA 22030-4444

From: JBoppjr at aol.com [mailto:JBoppjr at aol.com]
Sent: Tuesday, August 07, 2012 3:31 PM
To: mmcdon at gmu.edu
Subject: Re: [EL] GOP Senators Press IRS on Rule Changes - Washington Wire - WSJ

Over the last few weeks, I have shown numerous examples of harassment by public officials of citizens with whom they disagree politically.  Dr. McDonald calls this "Jim Bopp’s harassment straw man" because "it does not involve harassment originating from disclosure of a campaign donation," even when it is an example that Fred Wertheimer has given. If a public official is willing to harass citizens with whom they disagree, why wouldn't this include people disclosed through campaign finance reports?  It seems that the burden of proof on this one is on Dr. McDonald.  Jim Bopp

In a message dated 8/7/2012 1:00:15 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, mmcdon at gmu.edu writes:
There is an interesting juxtaposition of Jim Bopp’s harassment straw man with the vote fraud straw man. No one is saying that harassment does not occur. We know of people being killed. But it is interesting how every example of harassment is now given by Jim as evidence in opposition to campaign finance disclosure (or in this case to make an unnecessary snide comment about Fred Wertheimer that does nothing to advance an argument or improve the tone of the list serve), even when it does not involve harassment originating from disclosure of a campaign donation. The parallel with vote fraud is that we know there is virtually no in-person impersonation, what strict photo is laws are meant to address, yet other forms of vote fraud like absentee ballot fraud are given as reasons implement photo id.

============
Dr. Michael P. McDonald
Associate Professor, George Mason University Non-Resident Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution

                             Mailing address:
(o) 703-993-4191             George Mason University
(f) 703-993-1399             Dept. of Public and International Affairs
mmcdon at gmu.edu               4400 University Drive - 3F4
http://elections.gmu.edu     Fairfax, VA 22030-4444

From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu
[mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] On Behalf Of JBoppjr at aol.com
Sent: Tuesday, August 07, 2012 12:21 PM
To: rhasen at law.uci.edu; law-election at UCI.EDU
Subject: [EL] GOP Senators Press IRS on Rule Changes - Washington Wire - WSJ

Click here: GOP Senators Press IRS on Rule Changes - Washington Wire - WSJ

Old "Watch Dog" Fred only sees "harassment" and "intimidation" by Republican public officials, but at least he has finally conceded that it can happen.
Jim Bopp

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