[EL] ELB News and Commentary 12/26/12
Rick Hasen
rhasen at law.uci.edu
Wed Dec 26 10:13:01 PST 2012
"How Dark Money Helped Republicans Hold the House and Hurt Voters"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45670>
Posted on December 26, 2012 10:04 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45670> by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
ProPublica
<http://www.propublica.org/article/how-dark-money-helped-republicans-hold-the-house-and-hurt-voters>:
'How did they dominate redistricting? A ProPublica investigation has
found that the GOP relied on opaque nonprofits funded by dark money,
supposedly nonpartisan campaign outfits, and millions in corporate
donations to achieve Republican-friendly maps throughout the country.
Two tobacco giants, Altria and Reynolds, each pitched in
<https://www.opensecrets.org/527s/527cmtedetail_contribs.php?cycle=2010&ein=050532524>
more than $1 million to the main Republican redistricting group, as did
Rove's super PAC, American Crossroads; Walmart and the pharmaceutical
industry also contributed. Other donors, who gave to the nonprofits
Republicans created, may never have to be disclosed
<http://www.propublica.org/article/how-nonprofits-spend-millions-on-elections-and-call-it-public-welfare>.'
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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,
redistricting <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6> | Comments Off
Interesting Election Law Angle in WaPo FreedomWorks Piece on Armed
Armey Coup <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45667>
Posted on December 26, 2012 10:01 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45667> by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
WaPo
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/freedomworks-tea-party-group-nearly-falls-apart-in-fight-between-old-and-new-guard/2012/12/25/dd095b68-4545-11e2-8061-253bccfc7532_story_1.html>:
According to public records, FreedomWorks received more than $12
million
<http://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/contrib_all.php?cmte=C00499020&type=A&cycle=2012>before
the election from two corporations based in Knoxville, Tenn.:
Specialty Investments Group and Kingston Pike Development. The firms
were established within a day of each other by William S. Rose III,
a local bankruptcy lawyer.
Rose, who could not be reached for comment, has said publicly he
would not answer questions about the donations. But according to
three current and former FreedomWorks employees with knowledge of
the donations, the money originated with Stephenson and his family,
who arranged for the contributions from the Tennessee firms to the
super PAC.
Brandon, FreedomWorks' executive vice president, told colleagues
starting in August that Stephenson would be giving between $10
million and $12 million, these sources said. Brandon also met
repeatedly with members of Stephenson's family who were involved in
arranging the donations, the sources said.
Stephenson attended a FreedomWorks retreat in Jackson Hole, Wyo., in
August at which a budget was being prepared in anticipation of a
large influx of money, according to several employees who attended
the retreat. At the retreat, Stephenson dictated some of the terms
of how the money would be spent, the employees said.
"There is no doubt that Dick Stephenson arranged for that money to
come to the super PAC," said one person who attended the retreat. "I
can assure you that everyone around the office knew about it."
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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
"Parties at odds over more election changes"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45664>
Posted on December 26, 2012 9:59 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45664> by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Important report
<http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/news/politics-national/parties-at-odds-over-more-election-changes-667547/>
in the /Pittsburgh Post-Gazette./
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Posted in election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>,
The Voting Wars <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60> | Comments Off
Covington Partner Representing Winger, Other Top Two Primary
Opponents, in Fee Appeal <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45662>
Posted on December 26, 2012 9:57 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45662> by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
See here
<http://www.hanfordsentinel.com/news/opinion/todays_opinions/california-focus-will-billionaire-s-intimidation-attempt-win/article_e811dbee-4e13-11e2-9cf7-0019bb2963f4.html>.
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Posted in Uncategorized <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1> | Comments Off
"Three-Step Election Reform" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45660>
Posted on December 26, 2012 9:55 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45660> by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
/Herald-Tribune/
<http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20121226/OPINION/312269998/2198/OPINION?Title=Three-step-election-reform>editorial.
<http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20121226/OPINION/312269998/2198/OPINION?Title=Three-step-election-reform>
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Posted in election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>,
The Voting Wars <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60> | Comments Off
"End the War on Voter Fraud" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45658>
Posted on December 26, 2012 9:54 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45658> by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
This editorial
<http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/editorials/end-the-war-on-voter-fraud/1267184>
appears in the /Tampa Bay Times./
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Posted in election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>,
The Voting Wars <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60> | Comments Off
"Petition for Certiorari Filed in Keith Lepak, et. al. v. City of
Irving, Texas" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45654>
Posted on December 26, 2012 9:51 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45654> by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
The Project on Fair Representation sent this release via email:
Yesterday, the plaintiffs in Keith Lepak et. al. v. City of Irving,
Texas petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to grant certiorari
<http://electionlawblog.org/wp-content/uploads/POFRLE4.pdf> and
overturn the lower court decision which upheld the constitutionality
of the City's new council districts. The new Plan resulted from an
agreement between the City and a Hispanic activist who successfully
challenged the City's at-large election system as a violation of
Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The new Plan created six
single-member districts, one of which was drawn with the purpose of
giving Hispanics an opportunity to elect a candidate of their
choice. The petition is attached.
The Petitioners, concerned voters residing in various council
districts, argue that while the new district's total population
numbers are roughly equal, the Plan creates substantial disparities
in citizen-voting age populations (CVAP). For example, the Plan's
Hispanic District 1 contains 11,231 citizens of voting age, while
District 3 contains 20,617 and District 6 contains 19,920 citizens
of voting age. This disparity means that the vote of those in
District 1 eligible to cast a ballot is worth nearly twice as much
as those of voters residing elsewhere in the City. This major
mal-apportionment violates the Petitioners one-person, one-vote
right to have their vote weighted equally to that of other citizens.
In opposing the lawsuit, the City sought and won summary judgment on
the grounds that whether to use CVAP, citizen population or total
population as the districting base is a policy choice left to the
discretion of the City.
The Petitioners argue that the one-person, one-vote principle
guarantees an equal vote to all electors. The Supreme Court has
explained that the Equal Protection Clause requires that each
qualified voter must be given an equal opportunity to participate in
elections and thus, "when members of an elected body are chosen from
separate districts, each district must be established on a basis
that will insure, as far as practicable, that equal numbers of
voters can vote for proportionally equal numbers of officials."
Hadley v. Junior College Dist of Metro Kansas City.
The United States filed an amicus brief and sought argument time in
the court of appeals. The brief noted that this case raises
"important questions regarding the appropriate population standard a
locality should use when drawing its election districts in
compliance with the Equal Protection Clause principles established
in Reynolds v. Sims."
The Petitioners argue that Lepak should be granted certiorari for a
number of reasons.
First, the Supreme Court has not determined whether total population
or voter population is the proper basis for assessing whether the
population differences between districts violates the one-person,
one-vote principle. In a similar case out of the Fifth Circuit, Chen
v. City of Houston, Justice Thomas dissented from a denial of
certiorari asserting that by not deciding this issue, the Court has
"left a critical variable in the requirement undefined." Moreover,
the dissent noted that, "[t]he one-person, one-vote principle may,
in the end, be of little consequence if [the Court] decide[s] that
each jurisdiction can choose its own measure of population. But as
long as [the Court] sustain[s] the one-person, one-vote principle,
[it has] an obligation to explain to States and localities what it
actually means."
Second, the circuits are divided. On the one hand, the Ninth Circuit
requires state and localities within its jurisdiction to use total
population for purposes of one-person, one-vote compliance. On the
other hand, the Fourth Circuit and Fifth Circuit allow states and
localities to choose either total population or a voter-based
approach without any judicial check as to whether that choice
complies with the Constitution.
Finally, the Supreme Court should decide this issue given the
tension it creates between Section 2 of the VRA and the one-person,
one-vote principle. Specifically, to prevail in a Section 2 vote
dilution case, a minority group must be able to demonstrate that it
is sufficiently large and geographically compact to constitute a
majority in a single-member district. Courts thus use CVAP to
evaluate whether a minority constituency possesses electoral power
in a particular geographic area.
Using total population for one-person, one-vote purposes but CVAP
for purpose of analyzing Section 2 thus creates intolerable conflict
between the Fourteenth Amendment and Section 2 of the VRA. It cannot
be the case that courts must look to CVAP figures in finding a
Section 2 violation, but may (or must) ignore CVAP figures entirely
in assessing whether the new districts they are creating comply with
the one-person, one-vote requirement.
The Project on Fair Representation (POFR) is a not-for-profit legal
defense foundation based in Alexandria, Virginia that provided
counsel to the plaintiffs. In addition to Lepak v. City of Irving,
POFR has provided counsel in two cases currently before the Supreme
Court, Fisher v. Univ. of Texas and Shelby Co. Ala. v. Holder.
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Posted in voting <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=31>, Voting Rights Act
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15> | Comments Off
"Corporate Campaign Contributions and Abnormal Stock Returns after
Presidential Elections" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45652>
Posted on December 26, 2012 9:47 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45652> by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
"*Editor's Note:* The following post
<http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/corpgov/2012/12/26/corporate-campaign-contributions-and-abnormal-stock-returns-after-presidential-elections/>comes
to us from Jürgen Huber
<http://www.uibk.ac.at/ibf/mitarbeiter/huberj.html>, Professor of
Finance at the University of Innsbruck, Austria, and Michael Kirchler
<http://www.uibk.ac.at/ibf/mitarbeiter/kirchler.html>, Associate
professor of Finance at the University of Innsbruck, Austria and
visiting professor at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden."
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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10> |
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"Walker open to changing state's Electoral College allocations"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45649>
Posted on December 26, 2012 9:45 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45649> by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
<http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/walker-open-to-changing-states-electoral-college-allocations-8884ck6-184566961.html>:
"Gov. Scott Walker is open to having Wisconsin allocate its Electoral
College votes based on results from each congressional district -- a
move that would offer Republicans a chance to score at least a partial
victory in a state that has gone Democratic in the last seven
presidential elections."
See also AP's story, Changes Advocated in Pennsylvania Electoral Vote
Counting
<http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2012/12/changes_advocated_in_pennsylva.html>.
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Posted in electoral college <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=44> |
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"Survey of Mutual Fund Support for Corporate Political Disclosure"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45647>
Posted on December 26, 2012 9:41 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45647> by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Bruce Freed blogs
<http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/corpgov/2012/12/23/survey-of-mutual-fund-support-for-corporate-political-disclosure/#more-37587>.
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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10> |
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"Exclusive: Nonprofit Funneled Money to Kochs' Voter Database
Effort, Other Conservative Groups"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45644>
Posted on December 26, 2012 9:39 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45644> by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Open Secrets
<http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2012/12/nonprofit-funneled-money-to-kochs-voter-database-effort-other-conservative-groups.html>:
"Exactly what part TC4 may have played in funding groups between
mid-2011 and this year's election is currently unknown, because the IRS
doesn't require nonprofits to file their 990s until many months after
the end of their fiscal years. TC4?s return showing any grants it gave
in late 2011 and early 2012 won't be available until the spring of 2013.
And documents showing its activity running up to Nov. 6 will remain out
of public view until the following spring, 2014. In many ways, TC4
appears to function like the Center to Protect Patient Rights
<http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2012/05/cppr.html> (CPPR) --- another
large tax-exempt group that has few programs of its own and practically
no staff, but through which millions of dollars flow to conservative,
politically active nonprofits"
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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
"FEC Dismissal of Super PAC Cases Raises Questions About Future
Rulings" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45642>
Posted on December 26, 2012 9:36 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45642> by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Bloomberg BNA
<http://news.bna.com/mpdm/MPDMWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=28928892&vname=mpebulallissues&jd=a0d5v4r2r6&split=0>:
"The Federal Election Commission recently closed two enforcement cases
related to alleged campaign finance violations by super PACs active
during the 2012 campaign, but the results of these cases provide few
clues about how the FEC would handle other allegations against super
PACs. In the two cases, the FEC dismissed charges against super PACs
linked to unsuccessful Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry and
defeated Republican Sen. Richard Lugar (Ind.). The cases were closed in
secret votes of the FEC commissioners taken last month, the results of
which were quietly released by the agency in recent days."
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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10> |
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Is Election Trutherism on Its Way to Becoming Tea Party Mainstay?
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45639>
Posted on December 26, 2012 9:33 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45639> by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
/New York Times, /Clout Diminished, Tea Party Turns to Narrower Issues
<http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/26/us/politics/tea-party-its-clout-diminished-turns-to-fringe-issues.html?ref=politics&_r=0>:
Grass-roots leaders said this month that after losing any chance of
repealing the national health care law
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/health_insurance_and_managed_care/health_care_reform/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier>,
they would press states to "nullify" or ignore it. They also plan to
focus on a two-decade-old United Nations resolution that they call a
plot against property rights, and on "fraud" by local election
boards that, some believe, let the Democrats steal the November vote.
But unlike the broader, galvanizing issues of health care and the
size of the federal government that ignited the Tea Party, the new
topics seem likely to bolster critics who portray the movement as a
distraction to the Republican Party....
Billie Tucker, an activist with the First Coast Tea Party in
Florida, said she and others suspected that corruption on local
election boards had led to Mr. Obama's victory in the state.
Activists want to investigate.
"Some people say it's just a conspiracy theory, but there's rumbling
all around," she said. "There's all kinds of data, and no one's
talking about it, including, hello, the mainstream media."
More onElection Trutherism
<http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2012/10/will_republicans_accept_if_barack_obama_defeats_mitt_romney_.html>.
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Posted in election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>,
fraudulent fraud squad <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=8>, The Voting
Wars <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60> | Comments Off
"American Tradition Partnership: Feds take secretive conservative
group's documents" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45636>
Posted on December 22, 2012 8:36 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45636> by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Missoulian
<http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/american-tradition-partnership-feds-take-secretive-conservative-group-s-documents/article_8667b282-4b71-11e2-b866-001a4bcf887a.html>:
"HELENA --- State officials said Thursday that a federal grand jury has
subpoenaed disputed documents involving a secretive conservative group
that critics argue has been illegally coordinating with candidates. The
disclosure was made by state officials responding to a Livingston
judge's order requesting the American Tradition Partnership documents.
The documents were featured in an October documentary by 'Frontline' and
a story by ProPublica suggesting the tax-exempt social welfare group
coordinated with Republican candidates."
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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10> |
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"Adelson gave $40 million to super PACs in final weeks of election;
Top 25 donors supplied more than a third of super PAC cash"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45632>
Posted on December 22, 2012 8:33 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45632> by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
The Center for Public Integrityreports.
<http://www.publicintegrity.org/2012/12/21/11950/adelson-gave-40-million-super-pacs-final-weeks-election>
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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10> |
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"Not guilty' verdict in Rensselaer County voter fraud case"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45630>
Posted on December 22, 2012 8:32 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45630> by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
The Saratogian:
<http://saratogian.com/articles/2012/12/21/news/doc50d51a1db8ca7221831766.txt?viewmode=fullstory>TROY
--- Rensselaer County Board of Elections Democratic Commissioner Edward
McDonough was found not guilty on 61 counts brought against him in the
ballot fraud case linked to the 2009 Working Families Party primary.
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Posted in election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>,
The Voting Wars <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60> | Comments Off
"While Politicians Run, Conservative Judges Stand for Voting Rights"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45627>
Posted on December 21, 2012 4:31 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45627> by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Doug Kendall and Emily Phelps blog
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/doug-kendall/while-politicians-run-con_b_2332118.html>.
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Posted in Supreme Court <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>, Voting
Rights Act <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15> | Comments Off
"Southern discomfort: Pigeon Forge liquor referendum headed to court
" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45624>
Posted on December 21, 2012 4:29 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45624> by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
News from TN
<http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2012/dec/21/southern-discomfort-pigeon-forge-liquor-headed/>:
"Some of the things that happened in Pigeon Forge's Nov. 6 liquor
referendum are enough to drive a teetotaler to drink. Or even lead an
imbiber to hop on the sobriety wagon. Only bona fide city residents, or
owners of property inside the city limits, were supposed to vote in that
referendum. Liquor by the drink was narrowly approved by exactly 100
votes, 1,232 to 1,132. Yet there were 303 more votes cast in the
election than there were qualified Pigeon Forge residents or property
owners who signed in at the polls to vote. Most of those are now known
to have been cast at the Pigeon Forge City Hall polling place, said
Dennis Francis, attorney for the Sevier County Election Commission."
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Posted in election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18> |
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"New Hampshire and Justice Department Reach First State Bailout
Agreement" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45621>
Posted on December 21, 2012 4:26 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=45621> by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Press release
<http://www.campaignlegalcenter.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1997:december-21-2012-new-hampshire-and-justice-department-reach-first-state-bailout-agreement-&catid=63:legal-center-press-releases&Itemid=61>:
"The State of New Hampshire and the United States Attorney General
reached an agreement today that would grant a bailout for the ten towns
and townships in the State that are subject to the preclearance
requirements of the Voting Rights Act. The agreement was submitted to a
three-judge court in Washington, DC, and asks the court to wait thirty
days to enter it, so that the towns can publicize the proposed
settlement. Campaign Legal Center Executive Director J. Gerald Hebert
serves as legal counsel to the State of New Hampshire in his capacity as
a solo practitioner. New Hampshire becomes the first state to bailout
since Congress changed the bailout requirements under the Voting Rights
Act in 1982. To read the joint motion to enter consent judgment and
decree, click here
<http://www.campaignlegalcenter.org/images/NH-DOJ_Joint_Motion_to_Enter_Consent_Judgment_and_Decree_12-21-12.pdf>.
To read the proposed consent judgment and decree, click here
<http://www.campaignlegalcenter.org/images/NH-DOJ_Proposed_Consent_Judgment_and_Decree_12-21-12.pdf>."
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Posted in Department of Justice <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=26>,
Voting Rights Act <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15> | Comments Off
--
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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