[EL] query to list - Do I have this right?

[Benjamin Barr]

Frank,

The FECA and the BCRA contemplate IE's and EC's to be fundamentally
different categories of regulated speech with fundamentally different
reporting regimes.  *McConnell* and other courts recognized this difference
too.  The problem persists that the FEC doesn't clarify, or perhaps itself
even understand, which communications clearly fall into either category and
which would trigger each reporting regime.  See my appearances at the
August 23 FEC open meeting on behalf of National Defense Committee,
http://www.fec.gov/agenda/2012/agenda20120823.shtml, and  at the April 12
FEC open meeting on behalf of Free Speech,
http://www.fec.gov/agenda/2012/agenda20120412.shtml, for examples of this
absurdity.

It may be true that C4's could escape the Van Hollen trap, but without
discernable standards policing the boundaries between the two types of
speech and attendant regulatory regimes applicable to them, you simply have
to play FEC roulette when you speak.  Or you could stand up for your First
Amendment rights and charge headfirst into court.

Forward,

First Amendment Ben

On Thu, Aug 30, 2012 at 4:04 PM, Frank Askin <faskin at kinoy.rutgers.edu>wrote:

>     The question  is: In the last 60 days before an election, is there
> any difference between an Independent Expenditure and an Electioneering
> Communication? Both have to be reported, right?
>      Or does Van Hollen make a difference in that EC sponsors would
> have to report ALL donors, while (c)(4)s could avoid that under current
> regulations by explicitly advocating election or defeat of a candidate?
> Do I have that right?  FRANK
>
>
> Prof. Frank Askin
> Distinguished Professor of Law       and Director
> Constitutional Litigation Clinic
> Rutgers Law School/Newark
> (973) 353-5687
> _______________________________________________
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> Law-election at department-lists.uci.edu
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>
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