[EL] ELB News and Commentary 4/30/13

Mon Apr 29 20:34:16 PDT 2013

    "IRS Testing New Form 990 Indicators To Detect Illegal Campaign
    Activity" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49707>

Posted on April 29, 2013 8:18 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49707> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Bloomberg BNA 
<http://news.bna.com/mpdm/MPDMWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=30724798&vname=mpebulallissues&jd=a0d7z2j1y2&split=0>: 
"The Internal Revenue Service is testing in fiscal year 2013 new 
indicators on Form 990, Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax, 
to check if charities are engaging in impermissible campaign activity, 
the agency's top exempt organizations enforcement official said April 26."

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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

    "Judge Tosses Denver Clerk's Inactive Voter Suit Against Scott
    Gessler" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49704>

Posted on April 29, 2013 8:12 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49704> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

The /Denver Post /reports. 
<http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_23134396/judge-tosses-denver-clerks-inactive-voter-suit-against>

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Posted in election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, 
The Voting Wars <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>, voter registration 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=37> | Comments Off

    "Obama's campaign finance reform plans have faded"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49701>

Posted on April 29, 2013 8:09 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49701> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

WaPo 
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obamas-campaign-finance-reform-plans-have-faded/2013/04/29/8342977e-ae7d-11e2-a986-eec837b1888b_story.html>:

    President Obama's once-broad ambitions to clamp down on the
    influence of special interests
    <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/22/AR2007062201019.html>
    have been largely abandoned since his reelection, dismaying longtime
    allies in the campaign-finance reform
    <http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/as-obama-begins-fundraising-swing-campaign-finance-watchdogs-growl/2013/04/02/a4af5020-9bbb-11e2-9a79-eb5280c81c63_story.html>
    movement....

    Reformers of both parties describe the president's campaign finance
    record in unsparing terms.

    "It's disgraceful, absolutely disgraceful," said Sen. John McCain
    (R-Ariz.), who ran against Obama in 2008 and has spent years trying
    to limit the amount of money that pours into federal political
    campaigns.

    In ajoint letter
    <http://www.washingtonpost.com/r/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2013/04/29/National-Politics/Graphics/LETTER-FROM-REFORM-GROUPS-TO-PRESIDENT-OBAMA-4-29-13.pdf>to
    Obama on Monday, seven reform groups expressed their "deep concern
    about the nation's corrupt campaign finance system and about your
    failure, to date, as president to provide meaningful leadership or
    take effective action to solve this fundamental problem facing our
    democracy."

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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, 
lobbying <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=28> | Comments Off

    What Do You Get When Two Candidates from the Same Party Who are
    Virtually Indistinguishable Run in Round Two of a Nonpartisan
    Primary? <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49698>

Posted on April 29, 2013 4:06 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49698> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Exactly what you'd expect 
<http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-mayor-daily-20130427,0,3008844.story>---trumped 
up and exaggerated ethics charges.

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Posted in campaigns <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, primaries 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=32> | Comments Off

    Andy Rosenthal on Justice O'Connor Regretting Bush v. Gore
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49695>

Posted on April 29, 2013 2:00 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49695> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Here. 
<http://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/29/oconnor-regrets-bush-v-gore/>

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Posted in Bush v. Gore reflections <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=5> | 
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    "KNIGHT: An electoral-reform tsunami; Pending lawsuits could force a
    cleanup of voter fraud" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49693>

Posted on April 29, 2013 1:59 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49693> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Washington Times 
<http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/apr/29/an-electoral-reform-tsunami/print/>: 
"On Friday, three former U.S. Justice Department attorneys filed 
lawsuits in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of 
Mississippi seeking an order to compel election officials in Jefferson 
Davis County, as well as in nearby Walthall County, to clean up their 
voter rolls."

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Posted in election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, 
NVRA (motor voter) <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=33>, The Voting Wars 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>, voter registration 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=37> | Comments Off

    "U.S. District Court Rules Against Anonymous Blogging About
    Candidates" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49690>

Posted on April 29, 2013 1:55 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49690> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Ballot Access News: 
<http://www.ballot-access.org/2013/04/29/u-s-district-court-rules-against-anonymous-blogging/>

    On September 9, 2012, a U.S. District Court ruled that Maine does
    not violate the U.S. Constitution when it bans anonymous blogs that
    make commentary about a candidate for public office. The court
    refused to stop the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics from
    fining Dennis Bailey for refusing to identify himself on his own
    blog, "The Cutler Files."

    This is not new news, but because this outcome had not previously
    been reported either here, or in many other press outlets, it is
    being mentioned now even though it happened over six months ago. The
    decision is Bailey v State of Maine Commission on Governmental
    Ethics and Election Practices, 1:11-cv-179. The Maine law exempts
    periodicals from the disclosure requirement. The Court ruled that
    Bailey's webpage was not a true periodical, because it was set up to
    post damaging material about Eliot Cutler, an independent candidate
    for Governor of Maine, and that it was never intended to be a
    permanent blog. It said the blog was more like a "negative campaign
    flyer than a periodical publication.

Surprised we've not heard of this case before.  I expect we'll now hear 
a lot more about it.

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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10> | 
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    "Who Registers to Vote Online?" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49686>

Posted on April 29, 2013 1:50 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49686> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Michael McDonald 
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-p-mcdonald/who-registers-to-vote-onl_b_3179432.html>:

    Overall, these patterns suggest that the partisan implications of
    online voter registration are unclear. Registered Republicans appear
    to more often use Maryland's online system to initiate a new
    registration while Democrats use it to update an existing
    registration. We, of course, do not know how these people would have
    behaved if online voter registration was unavailable. However,
    another important lesson appears to be that online access has not
    matured to the point yet where an online system can substitute for
    good old paper.

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Posted in voter registration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=37>, 
voting technology <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=40> | Comments Off

    Bauer Blogging Back! <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49682>

Posted on April 29, 2013 10:42 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49682> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Bob Bauer, who for a number of years posted at his blog 
<http://www.moresoftmoneyhardlaw.com/>, but then stopped after becoming 
White House Counsel, has revived the blog 
<http://www.moresoftmoneyhardlaw.com/2013/04/a-note-on-this-site/>---and 
all in the campaign finance/election law world are all the better for 
it.  Here are three initial posts:

The Right to "Do Politics" and Not Just to Speak: Thinking about the 
Constitutional Protections for Political Action 
<http://www.moresoftmoneyhardlaw.com/2013/04/duke-law-speech/>

Campaign Contributions in the Criminal Law 
<http://www.moresoftmoneyhardlaw.com/2013/04/campaign-contributions-in-the-criminal-law/>

The McCutcheon Case and the Contribution/Expenditure Limit Problem 
<http://www.moresoftmoneyhardlaw.com/2013/04/contributions-and-expenditures-in-campaign-finance-jurisprudence/>

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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10> | 
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    "What an 'Originalist' Would Understand 'Corruption' to Mean: The
    2013 Jorde Lecture" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49678>

Posted on April 29, 2013 10:33 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49678> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Larry Lessig has posted this draft 
<http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2257948> on SSRN 
(forthcoming California Law Review).  Here is the abstract:

    How we understand the "corruption" of Congress goes a long way to
    showing why, and how that "corruption" can be remedied. In this
    paper, Professor Lessig describes the originalist roots to his
    conception of "dependence corruption," and shows why that conception
    is neither a version of "equality" nor inconsistent with modern
    First Amendment jurisprudence.

I am looking forward to reading this, as it continues a conversation on 
"dependence corruption" and political equality begun with my /Harvard 
Law Review/ book review 
<http://www.harvardlawreview.org/issues/126/december12/Book_Review_9410.php> 
of Larry's book, Republic, Lost 
<http://www.amazon.com/Republic-Lost-Money-Corrupts-Congress--/dp/0446576433/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1367256783&sr=8-1&keywords=republic%2C+lost>, 
followed by Larry's reply 
<http://www.harvardlawreview.org/issues/126/december12/forum_983.php> at 
the /Harvard Law Review //Forum/, and continued with my Response 
<http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2220851> to be 
published in the /Election Law Journal/.

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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, 
political equality <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=69>, Supreme Court 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29> | Comments Off

    "Responding to Objections to Shining Light on Corporate Political
    Spending (5): The Claim that Shareholder Proposals Requesting
    Disclosure Do Not Receive Majority Support"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49676>

Posted on April 29, 2013 10:27 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49676> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Bebchuk and Jackson. 
<http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/corpgov/2013/04/29/responding-to-objections-to-shining-light-on-corporate-political-spending-5-the-claim-that-shareholder-proposals-requesting-disclosure-do-not-receive-majority-support/>

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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10> | 
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    "Bloomberg calls for nonpartisan elections"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49674>

Posted on April 29, 2013 10:25 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=49674> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Newsday reports 
<http://newyork.newsday.com/news/new-york/bloomberg-calls-for-nonpartisan-elections-1.5153897>.

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Posted in campaigns <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, political 
parties <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=25>, primaries 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=32>, voting 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=31> | 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

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