[EL] Romney changes mind on campaign finance

[Smith, Brad]

Quotes of the Day
Posted on January 17, 2012 7:31 pm by Rick Hasen
"I Think Contributions Are Fine, I Just Don't Want Them To Be Larger And Larger."
-Mitt Romney, in a 1994 speech (page 92 of the McCain oppo briefing book unearthed by Buzzfeed)
"Let people make contributions they want to make to campaigns; let campaigns then take responsibility for their own words."
-Mitt Romney, at yesterday's Republican debate


-          Nice to see that over 18 years people can change their mind. Otherwise, there would be no reason for Rick or I to publish half the stuff we do.

Bradley A. Smith
Josiah H. Blackmore II/Shirley M. Nault
  Designated Professor of Law
Capital University Law School
303 East Broad Street
Columbus, OH 43215
(614) 236-6317
bsmith at law.capital.edu<mailto:bsmith at law.capital.edu>
http://www.law.capital.edu/faculty/bios/bsmith.asp

From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu [mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] On Behalf Of Rick Hasen
Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2012 10:37 AM
To: law-election at UCI.edu
Subject: [EL] ELB News and Commentary 1/18/12

Watch Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert (with the Help of Trevor Potter) Not Coordinate<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=28180>
Posted on January 18, 2012 7:26 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=28180> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Hilarious.<http://politicalwire.com/archives/2012/01/18/mocking_super_pacs.html>
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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, chicanery<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>, election law "humor"<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=52> | Comments Off
"Did Rick Santorum Win the Iowa Caucuses, Not Mitt Romney?"<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=28178>
Posted on January 18, 2012 7:25 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=28178> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

The Daily Beast reports<http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/01/18/did-rick-santorum-win-the-iowa-caucuses-not-mitt-romney.html>.
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Posted in campaigns<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18> | Comments Off
No Texas Redistricting Opinion This Morning from SCOTUS<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=28175>
Posted on January 18, 2012 7:21 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=28175> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

See here<http://www.scotusblog.com/2012/01/live-blog-of-opinions-january-18-2012-sponsored-by-bloomberg-law/>. The next likely regular scheduled time for opinions is Monday.  The Court could always issue an opinion tomorrow or Friday if the opinion is ready.  We'll see.
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Posted in redistricting<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>, Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>, Voting Rights Act<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15> | Comments Off
"The Problem With Citizens United Is Not Corporate Personhood"<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=28173>
Posted on January 18, 2012 7:20 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=28173> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Rob Hager and James Marc Leas offer this analysis on Truth-Out<http://www.truth-out.org/problem-citizens-united-not-corporate-personhood/1326497162>.
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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10> | Comments Off
"Super-PACs Dominate Airwaves With Flood of Negative Commercials"<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=28169>
Posted on January 18, 2012 7:17 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=28169> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Bloomberg<http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-18/super-pacs-dominate-airwaves-with-flood-of-negative-commercials.html>: "Independent political committees supporting Republican candidates accounted for $3.1 million, or 60 percent of the more than $5.1 million spent on South Carolina broadcast TV advertising through Jan. 16, according to data from New York- based Kantar Media's CMAG, which tracks political advertising. About 80 percent of the ads from the political committees are negative in tone."
[Share]<http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D28169&title=%E2%80%9CSuper-PACs%20Dominate%20Airwaves%20With%20Flood%20of%20Negative%20Commercials%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10> | Comments Off
"Judge suggests reassigning lawyer's campaign-violation case"<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=28167>
Posted on January 18, 2012 7:15 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=28167> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

National Law Journal<http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202538616302&et=editorial&bu=National%20Law%20Journal&cn=20120118nlj&src=EMC-Email&pt=NLJ.com-%20Daily%20Headlines&kw=Judge%20suggests%20reassigning%20lawyer%27s%20campaign-violation%20case&slreturn=1>: "A federal judge, citing the prospect that attorney Pierce O'Donnell might suffer the "additional harm" of losing his California bar license, has tentatively delayed his trial on campaign finance violations and suggested that prosecutors seek to transfer the case to another judge."
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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, chicanery<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12> | Comments Off
"Obama's Not-So-Super PAC"<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=28165>
Posted on January 18, 2012 7:14 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=28165> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Politico reports<http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0112/71575.html>.
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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10> | Comments Off
Quotes of the Day<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=28162>
Posted on January 17, 2012 7:31 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=28162> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

"I Think Contributions Are Fine, I Just Don't Want Them To Be Larger And Larger."

-Mitt Romney, in a 1994 speech (page 92 of the McCain oppo briefing book unearthed by Buzzfeed)<http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/the-book-on-mitt-romney-here-is-john-mccains-ent>

"Let people make contributions they want to make to campaigns; let campaigns then take responsibility for their own words."

-Mitt Romney, at yesterday's Republican debate<http://ktar.com/793/1488559/Romney-Scrap-campaign-finance-laws?nid=101>
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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10> | Comments Off
"Super PACs: GOP rivals reap benefits of groups they claim to disdain"<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=28159>
Posted on January 17, 2012 7:13 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=28159> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Must-read Dan Eggen WaPo report<http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/super-pacs-gop-rivals-reap-benefits-of-groups-they-claim-to-disdain/2012/01/17/gIQAEuil6P_story.html>.
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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10> | Comments Off
"Adopting a Fair Voting Plan"<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=28156>
Posted on January 17, 2012 7:10 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=28156> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Rob Richie and Lindsey Needham have written this redistricting-related oped<http://www.statesman.com/opinion/adopting-a-fair-vote-plan-2107711.html> in the Austin-American Statesman.
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Posted in redistricting<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6> | Comments Off
"Holder Speaks At Voting Rights Rally"<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=28153>
Posted on January 17, 2012 7:05 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=28153> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

NPR reports.<http://www.npr.org/2012/01/16/145309340/holder-speaks-at-voting-rights-rally>
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Posted in Department of Justice<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=26>, election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>, voter id<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=9>, Voting Rights Act<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15> | Comments Off
"Texas says redistricting was open, bipartisan in opening day of testimony"<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=28150>
Posted on January 17, 2012 7:02 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=28150> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

The first day<http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Texas-says-redistricting-was-open-bipartisan-in-2587633.php> of the preclearance trial.
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Posted in Department of Justice<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=26>, redistricting<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>, Voting Rights Act<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15> | Comments Off
"FEC Releases Documents in Buchanan Case Including Settlements With Car Dealerships"<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=28147>
Posted on January 17, 2012 6:29 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=28147> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Bloomberg BNA reports<http://news.bna.com/mpdm/MPDMWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=24311105&vname=mpebulallissues&fn=24311105&jd=a0d0k0h7z7&split=0>.  (This is the same, subscription-only "BNA Money and Politics Report" I often link to, but the name has changed because Bloomberg bought this business.)

As a reader points out to me, FEC Chair Hunter issued an interesting statement of reasons<http://eqs.nictusa.com/eqsdocsMUR/11044310155.pdf> for herself only in which she suggested that she was not going to follow the traditional understanding of the term "probable cause" as used in FEC enforcement proceedings.  She was instead going to read the term to require a much higher threshold of "preponderance of the evidence."
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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10> | Comments Off
"Primaries Dispatch: Thousands of Military and Overseas Ballots Already Cast in Upcoming Elections"<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=28144>
Posted on January 17, 2012 5:46 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=28144> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

The latest Pew Election Data Dispatch<http://www.pewcenteronthestates.org/initiatives_detail.aspx?initiativeID=85899362969#Jan17>.
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Posted in election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18> | Comments Off
"Missouri Supreme Court Orders Closer Look at Redistricting"<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=28141>
Posted on January 17, 2012 5:43 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=28141> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Roll Call<http://www.rollcall.com/news/missouri_supreme_court_orders_closer_look_at_redistricting-211555-1.html>: 'In a ruling that may help Rep. Russ Carnahan (D), the Missouri Supreme Court has asked a lower court to determine whether the state's new Congressional map complies with the state constitution."
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Posted in redistricting<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6> | Comments Off
"New W. Va. Map Being Drawn"<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=28138>
Posted on January 17, 2012 5:40 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=28138> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Developments<http://www.scotusblog.com/2012/01/new-w-va-map-being-drawn/> in the SCOTUS case.
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Posted in redistricting<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>, Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29> | Comments Off
13% Would Support Colbert over Romney or Obama in New PPP Poll<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=28136>
Posted on January 17, 2012 5:38 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=28136> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Seriously<http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/main/2012/01/obama-up-5-on-romney-nationally.html>.
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Posted in campaigns<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59> | Comments Off
"Activists Mount Anniversary Push to Undo Citizens United"<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=28133>
Posted on January 17, 2012 1:24 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=28133> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Eliza Newlin Carney reports<http://www.rollcall.com/news/activists_mount_anniversary_push_to_undo_citizens_united-211537-1.html?pos=hln> for Roll Call.
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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29> | Comments Off
"Either/Or: Professors Zephyr Rain Teachout and Akhil Reed Amar - Contradictions and Reconciliation"<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=28125>
Posted on January 17, 2012 1:11 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=28125> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Seth Barrett Tillman has posted this draft<http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1970909> on SSRN.  Here is the abstract:

The Foreign Emoluments Clauseis a constitutional backwater. So much so, that there is no substantial discussion of this clause in any federal adjudication (although the Office of Legal Counsel has regularly opined on it). Backwaters, however, have an unappreciated and significant virtue. They allow us to discuss our precommitments, assumptions, and methodological positions free from the distractions of the great political issues of the day - issues which naturally tend to divide us in ways which may be unconnected to the merits. Simply put, backwaters allow us to freely debate the merits of contestable worldviews. That is what I propose to do here.

Both Professors Zephyr Rain Teachout and Akhil Reed Amar have discussed the Foreign Emoluments Clause in their recent publications. Amar is an originalist, perhaps the most influential American originalist of the late twentieth century; Teachout, although, perhaps, not an originalist per se, regularly writes in an originalist mode - parsing drafting history, text, structure, precedent, and history - in search of a public (or, perhaps, an intended) meaning contemporaneous with ratification. Both Teachout and Amar might be fairly characterized as left-of-center, but both are also clearly in the academic mainstream. Both Teachout and Amar's publications are actively cited, if not widely acclaimed, and my own view is that citations and public acclaim vastly underestimate the influence of these two scholars. (However, as do all mere humans, both Teachout and Amar stray into some truly puzzling errors from time to time.) Indeed, there are now several publications that cite both Teachout and Amar.

Interestingly, each takes a position in regard to the Foreign Emoluments Clause which is in clear conflict with the position taken by the other. The stakes here involve more than the contours, scope, purpose, and original public meaning of the Foreign Emoluments Clause (which, in itself, is not an entirely minor thing).

If Amar is correct, then Teachout must be wrong, and it follows that Teachout's views in regard to congressional power to limit election-related speech and spending are (if not flatly wrong) something that must be carefully reconsidered in light of Amar's contrary position.

On the other hand, if Teachout is correct, then Amar must be wrong, and it follows that Amar's views in regard to constitutional structure, intratextualism, and the meaning of coordinate language in other constitutional clauses are (if not plainly wrong) something that must be closely reexamined in light of Teachout's contrary teachings. This paper will explore that conflict, and, then, I will attempt to reconcile the two positions.
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Posted in legislation and legislatures<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=27>, statutory interpretation<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=21> | 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<mailto:rhasen at law.uci.edu>
http://law.uci.edu/faculty/page1_r_hasen.html
http://electionlawblog.org
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