[EL] ELB News and Commentary 4/28/13
Rick Hasen
rhasen at law.uci.edu
Sat Apr 27 21:28:56 PDT 2013
"'Super PACs' negate spending limits in L.A. mayor's race"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49647>
Posted on April 27, 2013 9:23 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49647>
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
LA Times
<http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-campaign-money-20130427,0,6636404.story>:
Strict limits on campaign contributions imposed by voters nearly
three decades ago are crumbling in the Los Angeles mayor's race,
with big donors using loosely regulated "super PACs" to help
candidates like never before in a citywide election, a Times
analysis <http://graphics.latimes.com/mayoral-contributions/> has found.
Of the $17.5 million collected so far to support mayoral hopefuls
Wendy Greuel
<http://www.latimes.com/topic/politics/government/wendy-greuel-PEPLT007594.topic>
and Eric Garcetti
<http://www.latimes.com/topic/politics/government/eric-garcetti-PEPLT007524.topic>,
roughly one-third --- a record $6.1 million --- has gone into
independent political action committees that can accept
contributions of any size.
The rise of the parallel campaign finance system, awash in five- and
six-figure donations that dwarf the limits approved by voters, has
watchdogs of political influence sounding alarms.
Share
<http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D49647&title=%E2%80%9C%E2%80%98Super%20PACs%E2%80%99%20negate%20spending%20limits%20in%20L.A.%20mayor%E2%80%99s%20race%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10> |
Comments Off
"Urgent Response Scenario" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49644>
Posted on April 27, 2013 9:13 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49644>
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Troy McCurry, teaching a campaign finance course at Catholic
University's Columbus School of Law, passes on the following announcement:
On Tuesday, April 30, from 6:30-7:30 in the Slowinski Courtroom of
The Columbus School of Law at CUA, three students from CUA Law
School's Campaign Finance Law class will take part in an "Urgent
Response Scenario." During this clinical program, the students will
play the role of attorneys for a political organization that needs
an answer to a novel campaign finance question in an extremely short
amount of time. The simulation will recreate a scenario faced by
political lawyers operating in the intensity of election season.
The students will be judged by two experienced members of the
election law bar, Eric Wang and Sam Brown, on how well they research
and analyze the relevant issues, and on how well they formulate an
appropriate course of action for their hypothetical client.
All are welcome to attend the program to witness this unique event.
A reception will follow.
Share
<http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D49644&title=%E2%80%9CUrgent%20Response%20Scenario%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,
pedagogy <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=23> | Comments Off
"Customer Service for Elections" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49641>
Posted on April 27, 2013 6:42 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49641>
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
That's the lead story in the April 2013 "The Canvass"
<http://www.ncsl.org/legislatures-elections/elections/the-canvass-april-2013.aspx?utm_source=Canvass&utm_campaign=0a54d9bce0-Canvass_April_20134_25_2013&utm_medium=email>
from NCSL.
Share
<http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D49641&title=%E2%80%9CCustomer%20Service%20for%20Elections%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18> |
Comments Off
"Is Mandatory Political Activities Disclosure Coming from the SEC?"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49639>
Posted on April 27, 2013 6:41 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49639>
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Christine Hurt blogs
<http://www.theconglomerate.org/2013/04/is-mandatory-political-activities-disclosure-coming-from-the-sec.html>.
Share
<http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D49639&title=%E2%80%9CIs%20Mandatory%20Political%20Activities%20Disclosure%20Coming%20from%20the%20SEC%3F%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10> |
Comments Off
"More Bailouts of Covered Jurisdictions Moving Forward as Supreme
Court Weighs Voting Rights Act" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49637>
Posted on April 27, 2013 6:41 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49637>
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
CLC
<http://www.campaignlegalcenter.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2106:april-26-2013-more-bailouts-of-covered-jurisdictions-moving-forward-as-supreme-court-weighs-voting-rights-act-&catid=63:legal-center-press-releases&Itemid=61>:
"This week more jurisdictions moved forward with bailouts from the
preclearance provisions of the Voting Rights Act as the Supreme Court
weighs a challenge to the constitutionality of those provisions.
Yesterday, a three-judge court in Washington, DC approved a final
consent decree exempting the City of Wheatland, California from the
Act's preclearance provisions. On the same day, the Justice Department
announced that it had reached agreement on a bailout with the city of
Falls Church, Virginia (along with the Falls Church City Public School
District) and submitted a proposed consent decree for approval to a
three-judge court in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia."
Share
<http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D49637&title=%E2%80%9CMore%20Bailouts%20of%20Covered%20Jurisdictions%20Moving%20Forward%20as%20Supreme%20Court%20Weighs%20Voting%20Rights%20Act%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in Supreme Court <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>, Voting
Rights Act <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15> | Comments Off
CCP Analysis of Wyden-Murkowski <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49635>
Posted on April 27, 2013 6:39 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49635>
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Here.
<http://www.campaignfreedom.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/2013-04-25-Wyden-Murkowski-Final1.pdf>
Share
<http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D49635&title=CCP%20Analysis%20of%20Wyden-Murkowski&description=>
Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10> |
Comments Off
"Norman Ornstein and Thomas Mann Explain Why Congress is Failing Us"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49633>
Posted on April 27, 2013 6:39 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49633>
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Bill Moyers
<http://billmoyers.com/segment/norman-ornstein-and-thomas-mann-explain-why-congress-is-failing-us/>.
Share
<http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D49633&title=%E2%80%9CNorman%20Ornstein%20and%20Thomas%20Mann%20Explain%20Why%20Congress%20is%20Failing%20Us%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in political parties <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=25>,
political polarization <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=68> | Comments Off
"Redistricting Likely to Hamper Democratic Efforts in 2014, Study
Finds" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49630>
Posted on April 27, 2013 6:37 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49630>
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
NYT's The Caucus
<http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/26/redistricting-likely-to-hamper-democratic-efforts-in-2014-study-finds/>:
Thanks largely to the way Congressional districts were drawn in the
latest round of redistricting, even a dramatic wave election like
the one in 2008 that swept President Obama into power and added to
Democratic majorities in Congress would do little to alter the
composition of the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, a
new, nonpartisan study
<http://www.fairvote.org/fairvote-releases-projections-for-the-2014-congressional-elections>
found.
FairVote, an organization that examines voting patterns and laws,
predicts that Republicans will maintain control of the House in 2014
unless Democrats meet the unlikely threshold of winning 56 percent
of the vote nationwide.
Share
<http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D49630&title=%E2%80%9CRedistricting%20Likely%20to%20Hamper%20Democratic%20Efforts%20in%202014%2C%20Study%20Finds%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in alternative voting systems
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=63>, redistricting
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6> | Comments Off
"Scalia's limited understanding of the Voting Rights Act"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49628>
Posted on April 27, 2013 6:35 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49628>
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Gary May has written this WaPo oped
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/scalias-understanding-of-the-voting-rights-act-is-shortsighted/2013/04/26/2b63179e-ad07-11e2-b6fd-ba6f5f26d70e_story.html>.
It begins: "In the debate over the future of the Voting Rights Act
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/supreme-court-majority-skeptical-of-voting-law-provision/2013/02/27/e89b038e-80fd-11e2-b99e-6baf4ebe42df_story.html>
, it sometimes becomes apparent that certain members of the Supreme
Court are either oblivious to our nation's recent history or willfully
ignore it. Justice Antonin Scalia made this abundantly clear in his
comments during the Feb. 27 oral argument in /Shelby County v. Holder/ ,
statements that he repeated in a speech on April 15."
Share
<http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D49628&title=%E2%80%9CScalia%E2%80%99s%20limited%20understanding%20of%20the%20Voting%20Rights%20Act%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in Supreme Court <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>, Voting
Rights Act <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15> | Comments Off
"FEC: DOMA Limits Political Donations By Gay Married Couples"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49625>
Posted on April 26, 2013 9:38 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49625>
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Peter Overby writes
<http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2013/04/26/179227026/fec-doma-limits-political-donations-by-gay-married-couples>
for NPR.
Share
<http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D49625&title=%E2%80%9CFEC%3A%20DOMA%20Limits%20Political%20Donations%20By%20Gay%20Married%20Couples%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, federal
election commission <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=24> | Comments Off
"Just How Many Newt Gingrich's Are There on K Street? Estimating the
True Size and Shape of Washington's Revolving Door"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49622>
Posted on April 26, 2013 9:12 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49622>
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Timothy LaPira and Herschel F. Thomas III have posted this draft
<http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2241671>on SSRN.
Here is the abstract:
Former Speaker Newt Gingrich's choice not to register under the
Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA) for his "historical advice" to Freddie
Mac was a controversy in the 2012 Republican primary. The practice
of carefully crafting policy advocacy activities to avoid triggering
disclosure requirements is commonly referred to as the "Daschle
exception" after the former Senate Majority Leader became a leading
"strategic adviser" to one of Washington's biggest lobbying firms.
In this paper we ask: how many professionals are engaged in policy
advocacy, and how common is it for them to have worked in the
federal government? We assume that high-profile cases of Daschle and
Gingrich are not isolated, so we seek to account for lobbying and
policy advocacy in as large an empirical scope as possible. Using a
new data set of professional biographies of both registered
lobbyists and unregistered policy advocates, we estimate that there
are more professionals engaged in influencing public policy "under
the radar" than there are who are transparent about their clients
and activities, implying that lobbying disclosure reports provide
only a partial view of policy influence in Washington. We also find
that, unlike Gingrich and Daschle, unregistered policy advocates are
less likely to have gone through the revolving door and are more
likely to be general political process experts rather than
institutional specialists.
Share
<http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D49622&title=%E2%80%9CJust%20How%20Many%20Newt%20Gingrich%E2%80%99s%20Are%20There%20on%20K%20Street%3F%20Estimating%20the%20True%20Size%20and%20Shape%20of%20Washington%E2%80%99s%20Revolving%20Door%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in legislation and legislatures
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=27>, lobbying
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=28> | Comments Off
"Lifting the Veil on Corporate Political Spending"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49619>
Posted on April 26, 2013 7:43 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49619>
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Bloomberg TV reports.
<http://www.bloomberg.com/video/lifting-the-veil-on-corporate-political-spending-seLhwwLzQP6rJlxQoiohog.html>
Share
<http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D49619&title=%E2%80%9CLifting%20the%20Veil%20on%20Corporate%20Political%20Spending%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10> |
Comments Off
"FairVote Releases Projections for the 2014 Congressional Elections"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49617>
Posted on April 26, 2013 7:42 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49617>
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Press release
<http://www.fairvote.org/fairvote-releases-projections-for-the-2014-congressional-elections#.UXqSE4Luezs>:
"As part of its biennial /Monopoly Politics /series on the overriding
dominance of partisanship in controlling the outcomes of American
congressional elections, FairVote today released its initial projections
for its /Monopoly Politics 2014 /report. The report projects outcomes in
374 of 435 U.S. House elections in 2014 based on current incumbents
seeking re-election. Of those 374 races, FairVote projects 211 to be won
by Republicans and 163 to be won by Democrats."
Share
<http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D49617&title=%E2%80%9CFairVote%20Releases%20Projections%20for%20the%202014%20Congressional%20Elections%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in alternative voting systems
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=63>, redistricting
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6> | 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
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://webshare.law.ucla.edu/Listservs/law-election/attachments/20130427/10767104/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: share_save_171_16.png
Type: image/png
Size: 1504 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://webshare.law.ucla.edu/Listservs/law-election/attachments/20130427/10767104/attachment.png>
View list directory