[EL] ELB News and Commentary 8/5/13

Mon Aug 5 08:54:21 PDT 2013

*“Political Polarization as Massive
Resistance”*<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=53989>

Posted on August 5, 2013 8:46 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=53989> by Dan
Tokaji <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=5>

Bloomberg<http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-05/political-polarization-as-massive-resistance.html>,
on two Americas, “increasingly regionalized, polarized and
diverging” (contra Obama
2004<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A19751-2004Jul27.html>
).
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 Posted in political polarization <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=68>
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 Lobbying During Recess <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=53987>
Posted on August 5, 2013 8:41 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=53987> by Dan
Tokaji <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=5>

WaPo reports here<http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/august-recess-now-high-season-for-interests-lobbying-lawmakers/2013/08/04/38984716-f935-11e2-b018-5b8251f0c56e_story.html>that:
“Once a lull in the political calendar, August is now officially part
of the high season. An array of interest groups has methodically plotted
how to use the congressional recess to press causes.”
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Posted in lobbying <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=28> | Comments Off

Of contributions and expenditures and the land in
between<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=53982>
Posted on August 5, 2013 8:32 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=53982>
by Justin
Levitt <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=4>

Justin here (just so Dan doesn’t get the hate mail).

In the world of campaign finance, the constitutional distinction between
contributions and expenditures has been one of the primary, comparatively
stable, fault lines.  With relative consistency, the Court has reviewed
limits on most expenditures with greater scrutiny than limits on most
contributions.

In the Supreme Court’s next foray into the field, the *McCutcheon* *v.
FEC*case<http://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/mccutcheon-v-federal-election-commission/>to
be argued this fall, plaintiffs are arguing that the regulations in
question blur the categories.  Those regulations impose aggregate limits on
donations to federal candidates, parties, and PACs that give to
candidates.  I may give no more than $5,200 to any individual federal
candidate over a two-year campaign cycle.  In that same period, I may give
no more than $48,600 to federal candidates, total.  *McCutcheon *is about
the latter, total, limits.

The McCutcheon plaintiffs have
argued<http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/publications/supreme_court_preview/briefs-v2/12-536_pet_rnc.pdf>that
these aggregate limits are something of a hybrid, and ultimately more
like expenditures than contributions.  Bob Bauer,
here<http://www.moresoftmoneyhardlaw.com/2013/07/contribution-expenditure-distinction/>,
also finds the distinction blurry, noting that the rules restrict “the
total amount that a contributor *can* *spend* on contributions.”

I don’t get it.  There are certainly circumstances where the line between
contributions and expenditures is fuzzy (and circumstances where the line
has been confused even when it is
clear<http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/08-22.ZO.html>).
But *McCutcheon *presents such a scenario only if we forget entirely why
the constitutional distinction arose.

Continue reading → <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=53982#more-53982>
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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10> | Comments
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Police Stations Used as Voting Addresses?<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=53981>
Posted on August 5, 2013 8:31 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=53981> by Dan
Tokaji <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=5>

That’s the allegation that the Board of Elections of Hamilton County
(Cincinnati), Ohio will discuss today, according to this AP
report<http://www.abc22now.com/shared/news/top-stories/stories/wkef_vid_15118.shtml>,
which says that 30 officers were registered at the address of police
stations.
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Posted in chicanery <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12> | Comments Off

“Renewed ‘Scrub’ of Florida Voter List Has Elections Officials on
Edge”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=53978>
Posted on August 5, 2013 8:23 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=53978> by Dan
Tokaji <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=5>

The Tampa Bay Times has this
story<http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/renewed-scrub-of-florida-voter-list-has-elections-officials-on-edge/2134695>on
a new  ”purge” of noncitizens planned by Gov. Rick Scott.
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Posted in voter registration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=37> | Comments
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“Native American Vote-Suppression Scandal
Escalates”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=53975>
Posted on August 5, 2013 8:15 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=53975> by Dan
Tokaji <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=5>

So says Stephanie Woodard in this Huffpost
report<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stephanie-woodard/native-american-vote-supp_b_3702013.html>.
It discusses a request to the Election Assistance Commission on whether
HAVA funds may be used for early vote centers on three Indian
reservations<http://blog.lib.umn.edu/cspg/electionacademy/2013/08/south_dakota_debates_need_cost.php>.
That request will go unanswered, as the EAC is — and will be, for the
foreseeable future – without any commissioners.
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Posted in Election Assistance Commission<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=34>
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Is Public Financing Keeping Weiner in the Mayoral
Race?<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=53972>
Posted on August 5, 2013 7:56 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=53972> by Dan
Tokaji <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=5>

Maybe, according to this AP
report<http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/aug/05/tp-campaign-funds-and-future-run-keep-weiner-in/>,
which says:  ”Because of city campaign finance laws, Weiner is eligible for
$2.1 million in matching funds, money he would have lost if he did not run
this year. He would also lose access to the matching funds if he quit now
even if he decides to run again.”  NYC has a 6:1 match for contributions up
to $175<http://www.nyccfb.info/candidates/candidates/publicmatchingfunds.aspx>,
to “increase the value of small contributions” and “mak[e] candidates less
dependent on large contributions.”
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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10> | Comments
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I See Dead People, Again <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=53968>
Posted on August 5, 2013 7:45 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=53968> by Dan
Tokaji <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=5>

This time, they’re opening their political
wallets<http://www.dailyrecord.com/article/20130805/NJNEWS11/308050018/Dead-people-gave-nearly-600K-to-campaigns-since-2009>
 rather than <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=36105>
voting<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=53420>.
According to USA
Today<http://www.dailyrecord.com/article/20130805/NJNEWS11/308050018/Dead-people-gave-nearly-600K-to-campaigns-since-2009>‘s
analysis of FEC filings:  “Thirty-two people listed on federal campaign
records as ‘deceased’ have contributed more than $586,000 to congressional
and presidential candidates and political parties since Jan. 1, 2009.”
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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10> | Comments
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Litigation Anticipated on NC Voting
Changes<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=53963>
Posted on August 5, 2013 7:26 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=53963> by Dan
Tokaji <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=5>

The Charlotte Observer has this
report<http://www.wcnc.com/mobile-content/local-news/Lawsuits-expected-over-major-NC-voting-changes-218236091.html>on
lawsuits anticipated after North Carolina’s Republican Governor Pat
McCrory signs a sweeping election bill, as he’s expected to do later this
month.  Meanwhile, the Triangle Business Journal reports
here<http://m.bizjournals.com/triangle/morning_call/2013/07/cooper-voting-changes-could-cost.html?r=full>
on
Democratic Attorney General Roy Cooper’s opposition to the measure, which
would shorten the early voting period, and end same-day registration, among
other things.
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Posted in legislation and legislatures <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=27>,
voter id <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=9>, voter
registration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=37>
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Bauer: “The Big Guy and the Little Guy in Contribution/Expenditure
Jurisprudence” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=53960>
Posted on August 5, 2013 7:03 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=53960> by Dan
Tokaji <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=5>

Bob Bauer has this
post<http://www.moresoftmoneyhardlaw.com/2013/08/the-big-guy-and-the-little-guy-in-contributionexpenditure-jurisprudence/>on
More Soft Money Hard Law.  It begins:

Campaign finance jurisprudence is caught in the crosscurrents of formal
doctrine and less clearly articulated judgments about the interests it is
crafted to serve. One such judgment has to do with the “little guy”: the
pamphleteer or small-scale political enterprise that raises and spends
money to influence elections but whose activities have little or no corrupt
potential and should not come within the regulatory grasp of the state. The
Court has gone to considerable and inventive lengths to spare the little
guy the dead weight of the rulebook, See, e.g. *McIntyre v. Ohio Elections
Comm’n*, 514 U.S. 334 (1995) and *FEC v. Massachusetts Citizens for Life*,
479 U.S. 238 (1986) and it may have
occasion<http://www.moresoftmoneyhardlaw.com/2013/07/corsi/>in the
near future to do more of the same. Because the doctrine is only
roughly fitted to the purpose, the protection of the “little guy” has
served the “big guys” well; an approach cobbled
together<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47501>on the fly for the
smaller, more local enterprise has shielded the major
political spenders.
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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10> | Comments
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-- 
Daniel Tokaji
Robert M. Duncan/Jones Day Designated Professor of Law
The Ohio State University | Moritz College of Law
55 W. 12th Ave. | Columbus, OH 43210
614.292.6566 | tokaji.1 at osu.edu
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