[EL] ELB News and Commentary 12/20/12
Rick Hasen
rhasen at law.uci.edu
Thu Dec 20 16:48:34 PST 2012
Light Blogging through the Holidays
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45619>
Posted on December 20, 2012 4:47 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45619> by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Blogging will be intermittent over the next two weeks. Happy holidays
and a happy new year to all my ELB readers!
Here's to a happy, healthy and safe 2013.
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Posted in Uncategorized <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1> | Comments Off
Harvard Law Review Publishes My "Fixing Washington" Piece, Lessig's
Reply <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45616>
Posted on December 20, 2012 4:45 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45616> by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
From the new issue
<http://www.harvardlawreview.org/issues/126/december12/index.php> of the
Harvard Law Review
<http://www.harvardlawreview.org/issues/126/december12/index.php>:
Fixing Washington
<http://www.harvardlawreview.org/issues/126/december12/Book_Review_9410.php>
Book Review by Richard L. Hasen ::
REPUBLIC, LOST: HOW MONEY CORRUPTS POLITICS --- AND A PLAN TO STOP IT.
By Lawrence Lessig. New York, N.Y., and Boston, Mass.: Twelve Press.
2011. Pp. xiii, 383. $26.99.
CAPITOL PUNISHMENT: THE HARD TRUTH ABOUT WASHINGTON CORRUPTION FROM
AMERICA'S MOST NOTORIOUS LOBBYIST. By Jack Abramoff. Washington, D.C.:
WND Books. 2011. Pp. iii, 303. $25.95.
It is a tired cliché that Washington is "broken" and needs fixing. A
2011 Gallup poll found that sixty-four percent of voters had low or very
low trust in members of Congress, the lowest percentage ever recorded by
Gallup for a profession and below trust ratings for lobbyists,
telemarketers, and car salespeople. The recent economic downturn has not
only coincided with record-low approval ratings for Congress and with
general lack of trust in government but also produced two protest
movements: the Tea Party on the right and the Occupy movement on the
left. Despite the fact that these movements come from the fringes of the
Republican and Democratic parties, they share some common critiques of
federal lawmaking: they condemn the role of lobbyists in Washington and
the "crony capitalists" who hire them. From President Obama to Senator
Rand Paul and former Governor Sarah Palin, there is a widespread
sentiment that money in Washington skews political outcomes and that
lobbyists are the fixers who cut the deals that help insiders benefit
themselves at the expense of the public interest.
In their new and very different books, Harvard Professor Lawrence Lessig
from the left and disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff from the right come
to similar conclusions about what is wrong with Washington. Lessig's
book is a populist call to action for the people to "take back
Washington" through campaign finance reform. Abramoff's book is an
autobiography that is part apology and part justification for a
promising career that veered badly off track.
Despite the different starting points, the books end in much the same
place. Lessig and Abramoff both want to take lobbyists out of the
fundraising business, breaking the connection between money and
lobbyists' legitimate information-providing function. They seek to close
the revolving door between Congress and lobbying shops because of the
inherent conflict that arises when officeholders or staffers start
thinking about post-government lobbying jobs. They part company on what
else is needed, however: Lessig wants publicly financed campaign finance
vouchers to lessen further the power of special interests, while
Abramoff wants to shrink the size of government to give lobbyists a
smaller target.
Together, Lessig and Abramoff offer a mostly convincing critique of how
lobbying skews public policy and can harm the United States. The books
demonstrate that lobbying can thwart the public interest, especially
when players with much at stake use lobbyists to block or alter
legislation on issues that lack salience with the general public.
Although it is tempting to focus on Abramoff's admittedly illegal
behavior, both books illustrate that much of the problem with the
relationship among money, politics, and lobbying stems from what is
legal, not illegal. Indeed, although both Abramoff and Lessig present
the problem as one of "corruption," the real concern should be less with
exchanges of dollars for political favors and more with the decline in
national economic welfare that occurs thanks to lobbyist-facilitated
rent-seeking. Lessig also appears concerned with political inequality,
although he distances himself from egalitarian arguments for reform.
Defining the problem as one other than quid pro quo corruption, however,
threatens the constitutionality of reforms in a post--/Citizens United/
world.
Nonetheless, while the critiques of the Washington status quo are well
made, both books offer incomplete reform agendas and unconvincing paths
to enacting reform. Much of what is wrong with Washington has nothing to
do with money in politics. Instead, partisan gridlock and the divergence
of legislative action from the apparent public interest emerge from the
highly partisan and ideological nature of Congress and the presidency;
polarized views on the nature of the public interest; the breakdown of
civility and an era of "gotcha" politics; and structural impediments to
enacting legislation, such as the Senate filibuster and changes in the
House committee structure.
The current state of toxic politics and institutions inadequate to
constrain such politics arose not from an outsized influence of money on
politics but from a variety of sources, including the party realignment
in the South following the civil rights movement and the resurgence of
partisan media (and now social media). Even if the authors' complete
reform agendas were enacted and the amount of rent-seeking legislation
procured by lobbying significantly curbed, it is far from clear that
Washington would be "fixed." Lessig, for example, claims that money has
prevented both the left and the right from getting their agendas passed.
It is hard to see that money has been the primary stumbling block to
enacting competing agendas simultaneously. When it comes to
high-salience, big legislative questions such as immigration reform, the
primary barriers to reform are partisanship, deadlock, and vetogates,
not the role of money. In the rare circumstance when major legislative
reform does pass, as in the case of health care reform, the passage of
legislation further fuels partisan recriminations.
Nor is it clear that the kinds of fundamental campaign finance reforms
that Lessig advocates stand any realistic chance of being enacted under
current political conditions. Lessig acknowledges the hard road ahead,
but even so he seems overly optimistic. For example, he suggests there
is a ten percent chance that a call for a constitutional convention to
amend the Constitution to allow new campaign finance and lobbying reform
could succeed. But the same partisan, sclerotic politics that would make
reform of money in politics only a partial solution to a broken
Washington would also make the chances of calling a constitutional
convention to enact a reform agenda much slimmer than one in ten. Fixing
Washington's money problems may have to await widespread scandal, and
fixing its broader problems likely will have to await a societal shift
that alleviates the partisanship currently gripping national politics.
126 Harv. L. Rev. 550 (2012) | DOWNLOAD PDF
<http://www.harvardlawreview.org/media/pdf/vol126_hasen.pdf> | WESTLAW
<http://www.westlaw.com/find/default.wl?cite=126hvlr550FindType=F&ForceAction=Y&SV=Full&RS=WWMH1.0&VR=2.0%22%20target=%22_BLANK>
RESPONSE TO THIS ARTICLE
/A Reply to Professor Hasen/
<http://www.harvardlawreview.org/issues/126/december12/forum_983.php>
By Lawrence Lessig
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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,
chicanery <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>, legislation and
legislatures <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=27>, lobbying
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=28> | Comments Off
"Mass. lawmaker, member of election committee, pleads guilty to
voter fraud" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45613>
Posted on December 20, 2012 4:37 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45613> by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Boston Globe:
<http://www.boston.com/metrodesk/2012/12/20/mass-lawmaker-member-election-committee-pleads-guilty-voter-fraud/g9cBs3OJdeGsaSa9EmUiRI/story.html>"A
Democratic state representative from Everett, who served on the
Legislature's election law committee, pleaded guilty to federal charges
today that he cast fraudulent absentee ballots to help get himself elected."
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Posted in absentee ballots <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=53>,
chicanery <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12> | Comments Off
A Cry for Help at the FEC? <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45610>
Posted on December 20, 2012 4:34 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45610> by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
A knowledgeable reader points me to this item
<http://www.fec.gov/agenda/2012/mtgdoc_1289.pdf> on today's FEC meeting
agenda asking for public comment on certain aspects of the FEC's
enforcement process. (The request for public comment was approved 4-2.)
The reader writes: "I see it as a cry for help from the General
Counsel's Office, which is asking for public comment on two basic
issues: (1) can the FEC consider public information other than what's
specifically in a complaint and (2) can the FEC initiate enforcement
actions based on publicly available information even if no one files a
complaint? Both are long-standing practices that the Republican
commissioners, especially Don McGahn, have been trying to stamp out."
Do others see it this way too? I'm not close enough to the process to know.
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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10> |
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"House Rs Resurrect Congressional-Based Electoral College Plan"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45607>
Posted on December 20, 2012 4:27 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45607> by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Politics PA
<http://www.politicspa.com/house-rs-resurrect-congressional-based-electoral-college-plan/44960/>reports.
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Posted in electoral college <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=44> |
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Remembering Obama the Election Reformer
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45604>
Posted on December 20, 2012 4:14 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45604> by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
FairVote reminisces
<http://www.fairvote.org/when-barack-obama-was-a-leader-in-seeking-fair-voting-systems/#.UNOpr7bOalg>.
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Posted in election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18> |
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Then and Now <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45602>
Posted on December 20, 2012 4:13 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45602> by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
A reader writes:
How times change:
FLASHBACK
<http://www.politifact.com/florida/statements/2011/may/06/mike-bennett/think-we-have-it-tough-africa-people-walk-300-mile/>:
In 2011, then-State Senator Mike Bennett was a major supporter of
HB1355, Florida's controversial election law which (among other
things) cut back on early voting. Bennett famously said during the
debates over HB1355 that he wanted to make voting harder, not easier.
NOW
<http://www.bradenton.com/2012/12/20/4323470/new-manatee-elections-chief-mike.html>:
Only a year later, Bennett has left the legislature to become
Manatee County's elected Supervisor of Election. Now, he wants to
expand early voting back to 14 days, and increase the legally
permissible locations at which the county may offer early voting.
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Posted in election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>,
The Voting Wars <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60> | Comments Off
"Politico's Dave Levinthal joins Center for Public Integrity"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45600>
Posted on December 20, 2012 4:11 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45600> by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Great news for CPI,
<http://www.publicintegrity.org/2012/12/20/11957/politicos-dave-levinthal-joins-center-public-integrity>
which has been doing great work on campaign disclosure issues.
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Posted in election law biz <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=51> |
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"The Myth of State Autonomy: Federalism, Political Parties, and the
National Colonization of State Politics"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45597>
Posted on December 20, 2012 4:08 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45597> by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Jim Gardner has posted this draft
<http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2191150> on SSRN.
Here is the abstract:
American federalism contemplates that states will retain a
significant degree of autonomy so that state power can serve as a
meaningful counterweight to national power. It is often said that
states exercise this function through extraconstitutional processes
centered on the political party system. That is, states influence
the content of national law and protect themselves from undesirable
exercises of national power by using the mechanisms of internal
party processes. If this process is to work properly, however,
states must retain considerable political autonomy, for the
possibility of state objection to exercises of national power is
merely theoretical if state political processes are not sufficiently
independent of their national counterparts to enable the state to
adopt and assert ends or interests different from those asserted by
the national government.
The evidence, however, suggests strongly that the growth of national
political parties during and since the early nineteenth century
created a two-way street. Parties not only offered states a way to
influence national politics, but also created a reverse pathway by
which national politics could influence, and in many cases overawe,
any independent state-level politics. As a result, the same
extraconstitutional pathways that provided states a means to protect
themselves from national domination simultaneously eroded the
political autonomy necessary for states to maintain the kind of
independent wills contemplated by the federal arrangement. This does
not mean that states lack entirely the capacity to stand up to the
federal government, but it does mean that their ability to do so is
limited, not necessarily for lack of power but for lack of
autonomous control over their political agendas and positions. This
in turn suggests a much chastened conception of what it might mean
for a subnational government to have the ability to "check" national
power.
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Pew Data Dispatch about Provisional Ballots in Maricopa County, AZ
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45595>
Posted on December 20, 2012 4:06 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45595> by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Here
<http://www.pewstates.org/research/analysis/notable-county-maricopa-county-arizonapart-i-85899437864>.
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Posted in election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>,
provisional ballots <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=67>, The Voting
Wars <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60> | Comments Off
Controversial George Will Column on Nonvoting
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45592>
Posted on December 20, 2012 4:04 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45592> by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
George Will:
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/george-will-federal-voting-drive-makes-a-mountain-out-of-a-molehill/2012/12/19/461e17c4-494c-11e2-ad54-580638ede391_story.html>
The poet Carl Sandburg supposedly was asked by a young playwright to
attend a rehearsal. Sandburg did but fell asleep. The playwright
exclaimed, "How could you sleep when you knew I wanted your
opinion?" Sandburg replied, "Sleep /is/an opinion."
So is nonvoting. Remember this as the Obama administration mounts a
drive to federalize voter registration
<http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-05-30/national/35457450_1_voter-id-requirements-voter-laws-voter-registration-efforts>,
a step toward making voting mandatory.
Andrew Cohen
<http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/12/george-will-gets-almost-everything-wrong-about-voting-rights/266504/>:
There are so many things wrong with George Will's latest column on
voting that it's hard to know where to begin. Actually, that's not
right. It's easy to know where to begin. The very title of the
piece, "Mountain out of a molehill
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/george-will-federal-voting-drive-makes-a-mountain-out-of-a-molehill/2012/12/19/461e17c4-494c-11e2-ad54-580638ede391_story.html>,"
is offensive to every American whose right to vote was jeopardized
this past election cycle by Republican voter-suppression efforts
<http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/11/why-mitt-romney-lost-a-simple-overriding-theory/264491/>.
Will's piece is 14 paragraphs long and the only one that survives
close scrutiny is the first, because it consists mostly of a quote
from Carl Sandburg. The other 13 paragraphs render wholly
unrecognizable both the voting-rights battles of 2012 and the
national debate over how those battles ought to be resolved
<http://www.brennancenter.org/content/resource/2012_summary_of_voting_law_changes/>.
Let's take it one graph at a time.
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The Voting Wars <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60> | Comments Off
"FEC & DOJ Complaints Filed Against 'Straw Companies' that Funneled
$12 million to FreedomWorks Super PAC"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45589>
Posted on December 20, 2012 4:00 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45589> by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
See this press release
<http://www.campaignlegalcenter.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1993:december-20-2012-fec-a-doj-complaints-filed-against-straw-companies-that-funneled-12-million-to-freedomworks-super-pac-&catid=63:legal-center-press-releases&Itemid=61>.
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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
"A voter's-eye view of Election Day 2012; Despite well-publicized
problems, overall voters satisfied with process"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45587>
Posted on December 20, 2012 3:59 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45587> by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Charles Stewart leads off this week's Electionline Weekly.
<http://www.electionline.org/index.php/electionline-weekly>
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Posted in election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18> |
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"Fundraising starts up soon after election, filings show"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45584>
Posted on December 20, 2012 3:56 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45584> by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
WaPo reports.
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/fundraising-starts-up-soon-after-election-filings-show/2012/12/19/853e16d0-4a0e-11e2-ad54-580638ede391_story.html>
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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10> |
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Interesting Perspectives on Politics Issue
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45580>
Posted on December 20, 2012 3:50 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45580> by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Paul Gronke writes: "The most recent issue ofPerspectives on Politics
<http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJournal?jid=PPS> is a theme
issue about the role of elections and other democratic institutions in
non-democratic nations (authoritarian and autocratic regimes). The issue
has very rich content, including original research articles,
"controversy" pieces, and a large number of book reviews broadly on the
topic of elections, from an American, comparative, and normative
perspective. The website link is gated but the table of contents is open
access, and anyone at an academic institution should be able to access
the content."
APSA Journals
December Issue of
<http://APSA.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT0yMDExNDc3JnA9MSZ1PTc3MDcyNTk5NiZsaT05ODU3MDIy/index.html>/Perspectives
on Politics
<http://APSA.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT0yMDExNDc3JnA9MSZ1PTc3MDcyNTk5NiZsaT05ODU3MDIy/index.html>/
*From the Editor*
Authoritarianism, Elections, Democracy?
<http://APSA.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT0yMDExNDc3JnA9MSZ1PTc3MDcyNTk5NiZsaT05ODU3MDIz/index.html>-
Jeffrey C. Isaac*Research Articles*
Beyond Patronage: Violent Struggle, Ruling Party Cohesion, and
Authoritarian Durability
<http://APSA.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT0yMDExNDc3JnA9MSZ1PTc3MDcyNTk5NiZsaT05ODU3MDI0/index.html>
-- Steven R. Levitsky & Lucan A. Way
Improbable but Potentially Pivotal Oppositions: Privatization,
Capitalists, and Political Contestation in the Post-Soviet Autocracies
<http://APSA.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT0yMDExNDc3JnA9MSZ1PTc3MDcyNTk5NiZsaT05ODU3MDI1/index.html>
-- Barbara Junisbai
The Arab Spring: Why the Surprising Similarities with the Revolutionary
Wave of 1848?
<http://APSA.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT0yMDExNDc3JnA9MSZ1PTc3MDcyNTk5NiZsaT05ODU3MDI2/index.html>
-- Kurt Weyland
When Multi-Method Research Subverts Methological Pluralism- or, Why We
Still Need Single-Method Research
<http://APSA.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT0yMDExNDc3JnA9MSZ1PTc3MDcyNTk5NiZsaT05ODU3MDI3/index.html>
-- Amel Ahmed & Rudra Sil
*Review Essay*
From Representative Democracy to Participatory Competitive
Authoritarianism: Hugo Chavez and Venezuelan Politics
<http://APSA.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT0yMDExNDc3JnA9MSZ1PTc3MDcyNTk5NiZsaT05ODU3MDI4/index.html>
-- Scott Mainwaring
Whither Russia? Autocracy Is Here for Now, but Is It Here to Stay?
<http://APSA.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT0yMDExNDc3JnA9MSZ1PTc3MDcyNTk5NiZsaT05ODU3MDI5/index.html>
-- Kathryn Stoner
*Review Symposium*
Neoliberalism, Race, and the American Welfare State
<http://APSA.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT0yMDExNDc3JnA9MSZ1PTc3MDcyNTk5NiZsaT05ODU3MDMw/index.html>
-- Russell L. Hanson, Lawrence M. Mead, Rose Ernst, Peter J. Boettke,
Mary Fainsod Katzenstein
*Critical Dialogue
*Violence, Nonviolence, and the Palestinian National Movement
<http://APSA.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT0yMDExNDc3JnA9MSZ1PTc3MDcyNTk5NiZsaT05ODU3MDMx/index.html>
Sharon Erickson Nepstad, Wendy Pearlman, Matthew N. Beckmann, Matthew N.
Green
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Posted in Uncategorized <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1> | Comments Off
The NRA and Lobbying/Campaign Finance Reform
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45576>
Posted on December 19, 2012 8:49 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45576> by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Former Bush ethics czar Richard Painter pens an interesting /NYT /oped
<http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/20/opinion/the-nra-protection-racket.html?hp>:
Republican politicians must free themselves from the N.R.A.
protection racket and others like it. For starters, the party
establishment should refuse to endorse anyone who runs in a primary
with N.R.A. money against a sitting Republican. If the establishment
refuses to support Republicans using other Republicans for target
practice, the N.R.A. will take its shooting game somewhere else.
Reasonable gun control legislation will then be able to pass
Congress and the state legislatures. Next, Republicans should
embrace legislation like the proposed American Anti-Corruption Act
<http://anticorruptionact.org/>, which would rid both parties of
their dependence on big money from groups like the N.R.A. The
Republican Party will once again be proud to be part of the solution
rather than part of the problem. And voters will go back to feeling
that their children are safe, their democracy works, and they will
once again consider voting Republican.
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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
"Death threats made against the Colorado Secretary of State"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45573>
Posted on December 19, 2012 8:27 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45573> by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Disgusting.
<http://www.9news.com/shows/evenings/305998/510/Threats-made-against-the-secretary-of-state>
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Posted in chicanery <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>, The Voting
Wars <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60> | Comments Off
"THE BATTLE OVER ELECTION REFORM IN THE SWING STATE OF FLORIDA"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45570>
Posted on December 19, 2012 8:23 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45570> by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Susan MacManus has written this article <http://t.co/hIKOSBw5> for the
New England Journal of Political Science.
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Posted in election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>,
The Voting Wars <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60> | Comments Off
"Ethics restrictions so strict they undermine democracy"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45567>
Posted on December 19, 2012 8:10 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45567> by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Kathleen Clark blogs
<http://www.legalethicsforum.com/blog/2012/12/ethics-restrictions-so-strict-they-undermine-democracy.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+LegalEthicsForum+%28Legal+Ethics+Forum%29&utm_content=Google+Reader>
on Congress' passage of
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/wp/2012/12/19/congress-sends-hatch-act-reform-bill-to-president/?print=1>
the Hatch Act Modernization Act
<http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/112/s2170/text>,
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Posted in conflict of interest laws
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=20>, ethics investigations
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=42> | Comments Off
"As Charlie Crist testifies before Congress on Florida's voting
problems, Gov. Rick Scott voices support for changes"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45564>
Posted on December 19, 2012 3:42 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45564> by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
The Tampa Bay Times reports.
<http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/national/as-charlie-crist-testifies-before-congress-on-floridas-voting-problems-gov/1266861>
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Posted in election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>,
The Voting Wars <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60> | Comments Off
"Former Governor Urges Congress to Consider New National Voting
Standards" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45561>
Posted on December 19, 2012 3:32 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45561> by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
BLT reports.
<http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2012/12/former-governor-urges-congress-to-consider-new-national-voting-standards.html>
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Posted in election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>,
The Voting Wars <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60> | Comments Off
"Outside Money Takes the Inside Track"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45559>
Posted on December 19, 2012 3:31 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45559> by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Public Citizen <http://www.citizen.org/Page.aspx?pid=5833>: "In First
Full Post-Citizens United Cycle, Unrestricted Groups Moved Closer to
Eclipsing Candidates and National Parties in Election Spending in 2012 "
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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10> |
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--
Rick Hasen
Chancellor's 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
Now available: The Voting Wars: http://amzn.to/y22ZTv
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