[EL] ELB News and Commentary 2/9/13

Fri Feb 8 21:10:05 PST 2013

    "FEC Eyes Ending 30-Year-Old Exemption From Disclosure for Socialist
    Workers Party" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47099>

Posted on February 8, 2013 9:06 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47099> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Bloomberg BNA 
<http://news.bna.com/mpdm/MPDMWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=29655967&vname=mpebulallissues&jd=a0d6j3n3t7&split=0>: 
"The Socialist Workers Party's three-decade exemption from campaign 
finance disclosure rules would come to an end under a draft advisory 
opinion (AO 2012-38) set to be considered Feb. 14 by the Federal 
Election Commission. The draft, released late Feb. 7, said the recent 
history of the party and the hardball nature of modern campaigns means 
the party's special treatment under campaign finance laws is no longer 
justified. The draft was one of two alternative rulings that FEC 
staffers prepared for consideration by the agency's commissioners at the 
next FEC open meeting. It would take the votes of at least four of the 
five current commissioners to approve a final ruling."

The issue is important not only for minor parties but also for the 
broader debate about harassment and whether the threat of harassment 
justifies broader exemptions from campaign finance disclosure.

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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10> | 
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    "Yes I Voted Twice" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47096>

Posted on February 8, 2013 8:59 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47096> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Watch this video 
<http://www.wcpo.com/dpp/news/region_central_cincinnati/downtown/Poll-worker-accused-of-voter-fraud-in-Hamilton-County-speaks-out>.  
Despicable conduct to be sure and worthy of prosecution and punishment.  
What makes this case noteworthy, and worthy of further investigation, is 
the fact that the person in the video who admitted to double voting 
worked at the polls and may have altered official documents at the 
polling place.

But the investigation illustrates something I talk about in /The Voting 
Wars 
<http://www.amazon.com/Voting-Wars-Florida-Election-Meltdown/dp/0300182031/ref=sr_1_cc_2?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1329286945&sr=1-2-catcorr>: 
/lots of these fraudulent schemes are small scale and bone-headed, and 
the scale of the problems in Hamilton County similarly appears 
minuscule.  Certainly not enough to call election results into question. 
Easy to exaggerate into a major problem.

We could eliminate most of the real cases of election fraud in this 
country by making absentee ballots available only with a valid excuse 
<http://campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/05/a-dtente-before-the-election/>and 
through greater oversight of elected officials.

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Posted in chicanery <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>, The Voting 
Wars <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60> | Comments Off

    "The Waxman-Berman Machine Finally Shuts Down"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47092>

Posted on February 8, 2013 8:35 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47092> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Fascinating National Journal report. 
<http://www.nationaljournal.com/magazine/the-waxman-berman-machine-finally-shuts-down-20130124>

Snippet on Sherman-Berman:

    That new commission lumped Sherman and Berman into the same district
    in 2012. The clash was bitter. They disagreed little on policy ("Two
    Jews, One District" was the tag-line on a blog devoted to the race
    in the local Jewish Journal), but the attacks were fierce. The two
    nearly came to blows during a debate, until a police officer
    intervened. The contest was one of the nation's costliest and, in
    the end, it was a blowout. Sherman, the backbencher, trounced
    Berman, the congressional heavyweight, 60 percent to 40 percent.

    South said that Berman ultimately succumbed to that classic
    Washington syndrome: He lost touch back home as his profile swelled
    in D.C. and abroad. "It is very, very easy for a member of Congress
    to think you're hot shit in Washington because your chairman of some
    committee," he said. "It's 'Chairman This' and 'Chairman That.' You
    think that's filtered back to your district. Guess what: It's not."

    Or, as one elected Democrat in Los Angeles put it, "Howard was busy
    trying to make peace in Israel, and Brad was attending Ari's bar
    mitzvah in Encino."

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Posted in Uncategorized <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1> | Comments Off

    "For Democrats in G.O.P.-Led House, a New Congress Means Some New
    Muscle" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47089>

Posted on February 8, 2013 8:28 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47089> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

NYT 
<http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/09/opinion/mr-menendezs-ethics-problem.html?hp>: 
"After more than two trying years in the political wilderness, House 
Democrats who gathered here for their annual retreat are starting to 
appreciate a new political reality that few of them expected: They matter."

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Posted in legislation and legislatures 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=27>, political parties 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=25>, political polarization 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=68> | Comments Off

    "Mr. Menendez's Ethics Problem" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47086>

Posted on February 8, 2013 8:26 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47086> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

NYT editorial. 
<http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/09/opinion/mr-menendezs-ethics-problem.html?hp>

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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, 
conflict of interest laws <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=20>, ethics 
investigations <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=42> | Comments Off

    "More applicants, diversity needed for Austin redistricting panel"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47082>

Posted on February 8, 2013 1:14 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47082> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Austin-American Statesman 
<http://m.statesman.com/news/news/local-govt-politics/more-applicants-diversity-needed-for-austin-redist/nWJhH/>: 
"The city since late January has been urging residents to apply for the 
map-drawing commission. So far, it has received only 98 applications, 
all but a handful from white men. Only five applicants are Hispanic, two 
are black and one is Asian. And the application deadline ends in just 
two weeks."

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Posted in citizen commissions <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=7>, 
redistricting <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6> | Comments Off

    And Now the Electoral College Gambit in Pennsylvania Will Fail
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47079>

Posted on February 8, 2013 12:38 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47079> by Rick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

CBS Philly reports 
<http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2013/02/06/proposal-to-split-pennsylvanias-electoral-votes-causes-republican-party-rift/>. 
See also The GOP's Electoral Vote Gambit: Reasonably Popular but Doomed 
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2013/02/08/the-gops-electoral-vote-gambit-reasonably-popular-but-doomed/>, 
which notes that winner-take-all electoral college allocations now are 
polling more popularly with Democrats than with Republicans.

Surprised about the collapse of the GOP effort? You shouldn't be 
<http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2013/01/republican_plans_for_electoral_college_reform_democrats_shouldn_t_worry.html>.

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Posted in electoral college <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=44> | 
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    Jesse Jackson Jr. May Have Used Campaign Funds for $40K Rolex
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47076>

Posted on February 8, 2013 9:26 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47076> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

And a plea deal 
<http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2013/02/07/judge-would-decide-if-jackson-jr-goes-to-jail-under-blind-plea-deal/> 
may be coming.

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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, 
chicanery <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12> | Comments Off

    "Teachers Union Pushes Voting Rights, Disclosure Ahead Of SOTU"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47073>

Posted on February 8, 2013 9:14 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47073> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

TPM reports 
<http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/02/teachers-union-pushes-voting-rights-disclosure-ahead-of-sotu.php?ref=fpnewsfeed>.

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

    "Lines at the Polls: Problem or Not, They're Not New"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47070>

Posted on February 8, 2013 8:39 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47070> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

A ChapinBlog 
<http://blog.lib.umn.edu/cspg/electionacademy/2013/02/long_lines_problem_or_not_they.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+HHHElections+%28The+Election+Aacdemy%29>.

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Posted in election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18> | 
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    "New Obama group Organizing for Action says it's non-partisan"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47068>

Posted on February 8, 2013 8:38 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47068> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Important Politico report 
<http://www.politico.com/story/2013/02/new-obama-group-organizing-for-action-says-its-non-partisan-87345.html>: 
"President Barack Obama's new nonprofit Organizing for Action insists 
that promoting the White House's legislative agenda can't be counted as 
'partisan political activity.' The organization on Wednesday quietly 
posted new guidelines 
<http://www.barackobama.com/about/about-ofa?source=footer-nav> on its 
website formally declaring its intention to stay out of campaign politics."

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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

    "Karl Rove vs. tea party in big money fight for GOP's future"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47066>

Posted on February 8, 2013 8:36 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47066> 
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Politico reports. 
<http://www.politico.com/story/2013/02/rove-vs-tea-party-for-gops-future-87296.html>

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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, 
political parties <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=25>, political 
polarization <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=68> | 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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