[EL] Vengeful politicians
Brian Landsberg
blandsberg at PACIFIC.EDU
Thu Jul 26 11:57:03 PDT 2012
I thought this was a list serve dedicated to information relating to election law issues, not an outlet for outrage, much less endless repetition.
Brian K. Landsberg
Distinguished Professor and Scholar
Pacific McGeorge School of Law
3200 Fifth Avenue, Sacramento CA 95817
916 739-7103
-----Original Message-----
From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu [mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] On Behalf Of Sean Parnell
Sent: Thursday, July 26, 2012 11:22 AM
To: 'Rick Hasen'
Cc: law-election at uci.edu
Subject: Re: [EL] Vengeful politicians
Mmm hmm. Fair enough that you don't feel the need to go "round and round with the same group of people whose views on disclosure seem to me to be extreme." But I'd have thought there might be some interest in re-evaluating the position that there's no real worry of retribution by politicians against those who hold the 'wrong' views, and the degree to which greater disclosure might enable such retribution and whether the benefits of greater disclosure outweigh the cost to free speech.
I understand silence doesn't mean assent, but it's kind of hard to believe that it means deep concern and outrage over what the Mayor is doing either.
Best,
Sean Parnell
President
Impact Policy Management, LLC
6411 Caleb Court
Alexandria, VA 22315
571-289-1374 (c)
sean at impactpolicymanagement.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Rick Hasen [mailto:rhasen at law.uci.edu]
Sent: Thursday, July 26, 2012 2:10 PM
To: Sean Parnell
Cc: law-election at uci.edu
Subject: Re: [EL] Vengeful politicians
On your crickets comment, remember Sean, don't interpret my silence as agreeing with you on anything you say related to disclosure/harassment.
I've just tired of going round and round with the same group of people whose views on disclosure seem to me to be extreme. And judging from the private emails I've been receiving, I would not interpret many others' silence as assent to your views either.
But I will provide links to the writings of a few people who, like me, may in some circumstances approve of private boycotts but disagree strongly with politicians who seeking to deny the right of a business to open in a
city:
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2012/07/chik-fil-a-homophobes-have-rights-to
o
http://www.salon.com/2012/07/26/rahm_emanuels_free_speech_attack/
http://www.volokh.com/2012/07/25/no-building-permits-for-opponent-of-same-se
x-marriage/
Rick
On 7/26/2012 8:16 AM, Sean Parnell wrote:
> Michael - you are badly misunderstanding my position, again.
>
> We are not talking here about boycotts. If this were a simple boycott
> because people didn't like what he said - well, fine. That doesn't
> mean his speech doesn't have First Amendment protection - it does, and
> I'm going to assume it's just sloppy writing on your part for the way
> you quite badly paraphrased what you believe I said.
>
> My earlier point, which appears to have eluded you, is that it's not
> the government's business to be requiring people to "out" themselves,
> or organizations to "out" their members, absent a compelling
> government interest. I do not regard the three rationales that have
> been given for requiring independent organizations to "out" their
> members/donors (voting cues, anti-corruption, and accountability) to
> be sufficiently compelling, and in fact I find the last of the three
> to be wholly illegitimate. I realize the 'reform' community seems to
> hold that if someone spends money supporting or opposing a candidate
> or issue that it's the government's prerogative to strip them of any
> privacy protections, but suffice it to say that is not my view.
>
> But this is old ground, and as Rick has pointed out, it has been
> hashed over at length before. What I (and Steve Hoersting as well)
> have brought for discussion today is the fact that an elected
> official, and no obscure one at that, seems to think it appropriate to
> use the government's authority to deny a businessman the opportunity
> to do business solely and explicitly because that businessman doesn't
> hold the same views on an important social/political issue.
>
> Judging by the crickets that Steve and I are hearing, should I assume
> that the pro-disclosure 'reform' community doesn't see anything wrong
> with the actions of Mayor Emanuel? Or since it doesn't involve
> contributions/donations there's no conceivable connection to the
> disclosure/enemies list issue? If it's the latter, I suggest you read
> this (featuring Mayor Emanuel again):
>
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/rahm-emanuel-not-retu
> rning- calls-from-ricketts-family/2012/05/17/gIQAb8WcWU_blog.html
>
>
> Sean Parnell
> President
> Impact Policy Management, LLC
> 6411 Caleb Court
> Alexandria, VA 22315
> 571-289-1374 (c)
> sean at impactpolicymanagement.com
>
>
> -----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: Thursday, July 26, 2012 10:18 AM
> To: 'law-election at UCI.EDU'
> Subject: Re: [EL] Vengeful politicians
>
> Sean,
>
> We had this discussion a couple of days ago. The type of speech that
> the CEO of Chick-fil-A engaged in is, according to you, not speech
> that should be protected. The boycotts and other protest activities
> are not triggered by a campaign donation. They are triggered by words
> that were said on tape. It is curious that the examples in opposition
> to disclosure involve money: not only in the giving of money, but now
> in protests involving money that are triggered by any speech. I
> suppose the new standard to be applied is that money equals speech,
> but
speech absent money does not equal speech.
>
> -Mike
>
> ============
> 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
> Sean Parnell
> Sent: Thursday, July 26, 2012 9:31 AM
> To: law-election at UCI.EDU
> Subject: [EL] Vengeful politicians
>
> I wonder if anybody who has claimed that an 'Enemies List' or
> retaliation against businesses for supporting the 'wrong'
> candidates/causes/views would care to comment on this?
>
> http://www.suntimes.com/news/13988905-418/emanuel-goes-after-chick-fil
> -a-for
> -boss-anti-gay-views.html
>
> The article starts:
>
> The anti-gay views openly espoused by the president of a fast food
> chain specializing in chicken sandwiches have run afoul of Mayor Rahm
> Emanuel and a local alderman, who are determined to block Chick-fil-A
> from expanding in Chicago.
>
> I'd welcome any feedback on what, if anything, this suggests about the
> concerns expressed by some of us here about disclosure of donations to
> independent organizations that speak out on political or social causes
> and the likelihood of politicians seeking retribution. Particularly
> given that one of the two politicians leading this charge happens to
> be a former White House Chief of Staff.
>
> Best,
>
> Sean Parnell
> President
> Impact Policy Management, LLC
> 6411 Caleb Court
> Alexandria, VA 22315
> 571-289-1374 (c)
> sean at impactpolicymanagement.com
>
>
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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
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