[EL] ELB News and Commentary 2/17/13

Sun Feb 17 11:36:12 PST 2013

Regarding the NYT piece on Menendez, which Rick highlights fairly as a must read, the most peculiar thing about the article is why it was written at all.  For years now, Democratic Party aligned groups, including CREW and several others, have spent millions investigating Republicans and cranking out, in assembly line fashion, complaints to the FEC, to DOJ, and to the House and Senate Ethics Committees.  These efforts have rarely been featured (in the Times, perhaps never) as being themselves the story. The only thing that is new about the story behind the Menendez story is that apparently this time the agitprop started with a Republican group.

Rob

Sent from my iPad

Robert K. Kelner
Covington & Burling LLP
1201 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20004
(202) 662-5503
rkelner at cov.com<mailto:rkelner at cov.com>

On Feb 17, 2013, at 2:17 PM, "Rick Hasen" <rhasen at law.uci.edu<mailto:rhasen at law.uci.edu>> wrote:

Question of the Day<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47399>
Posted on February 17, 2013 11:13 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47399> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

How do those who hate super PACs but love gun control feel about how influential Mike Bloomberg has been in a contested congressional race in Illinois? Political Wire says<http://politicalwire.com/archives/2013/02/17/hutchinson_drops_out_after_withering_attacks_from_bloomberg.html> some one reason a candidate is dropping out is the huge Bloomberg money. And the money could further influence the outcome of the race.

My view is that this spending <http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/09/opinion/hasen-super-pacs/index.html> is dangerous whether it comes from the left or the right.

<share_save_171_16.png><http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D47399&title=Question%20of%20the%20Day&description=>
Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10> | Comments Off
More SCOTUSBlog on Shelby County<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47397>
Posted on February 17, 2013 11:09 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47397> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Zachary Price<http://www.scotusblog.com/2013/02/shelby-county-v-holder-the-voting-rights-act-doesnt-need-to-treat-states-equally/>

Hans von Spakovsky<http://www.scotusblog.com/2013/02/shelby-county-v-holder-the-shelby-county-section-5-showdown/>

<share_save_171_16.png><http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D47397&title=More%20SCOTUSBlog%20on%20Shelby%20County&description=>
Posted in Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>, Voting Rights Act<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15> | Comments Off
“Virginia looks to toughen voter laws as Maryland does the opposite”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47394>
Posted on February 17, 2013 11:03 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47394> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

The Washington Examiner reports<http://washingtonexaminer.com/virginia-looks-to-toughen-voter-laws-as-maryland-does-the-opposite/article/2521743>.

<share_save_171_16.png><http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D47394&title=%E2%80%9CVirginia%20looks%20to%20toughen%20voter%20laws%20as%20Maryland%20does%20the%20opposite%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18> | Comments Off
Democracy Now! Talks Bauer-Ginsberg Commission with NAACP’s Ben Jealous<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47391>
Posted on February 17, 2013 11:00 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47391> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Watch<http://t.co/Z9GmsUqz>.

<share_save_171_16.png><http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D47391&title=Democracy%20Now%21%20Talks%20Bauer-Ginsberg%20Commission%20with%20NAACP%E2%80%99s%20Ben%20Jealous&description=>
Posted in election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60> | Comments Off
“Texas redistricting appeal likely on hold at Supreme Court”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47388>
Posted on February 16, 2013 8:56 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47388> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

The San Antonio Express-News reports.<http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Texas-redistricting-appeal-likely-on-hold-at-4284883.php>

<share_save_171_16.png><http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D47388&title=%E2%80%9CTexas%20redistricting%20appeal%20likely%20on%20hold%20at%20Supreme%20Court%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in redistricting<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>, Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>, Voting Rights Act<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15> | Comments Off
A Peek at the Race Which Will Determine Partisan Balance of Wisconsin Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47385>
Posted on February 16, 2013 6:58 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47385> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel<http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/supreme-court-fracas-in-2011-figures-in-race-gh8q1jv-191549361.html> on round 1 of a two-round race:

[The incumbent Justice] Roggensack has had the fundraising advantage<http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/campaign-reports-show-supreme-court-candidate-raised-no-money-se8nvcn-190722751.html> in the race, raising more than $235,000 through early February. Fallone has raised about $80,000. Megna – who once said he planned to donate $100,000 of his own money to his campaign – has put in just $10,000 and decided at the beginning of the year not to ask others for money, saying he would ramp up his campaign if he makes it through the primary.

Roggensack is the only candidate with an ad<http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/190080581.html> on television. Her campaign is also being boosted by a spot run by the conservative Wisconsin Club for Growth<http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/190293471.html>. The other candidates are not getting help from outside groups.

In an unusual move for a court race, Megna early in the campaign declared himself a Democrat<http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/supreme-court-candidate-declares-himself-a-democrat-opponent-of-voter-id-jt7uq72-182569621.html> and announced he supports gay rights and limits on guns. He said the other candidates should state their partisan leanings and spell out their stances on issues.

Megna’s positions didn’t do anything to win him support from high-profile Democrats or their allies. That backing instead went to Fallone, who has received the endorsements of the Wisconsin Education Association Council and other labor groups, former U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett.

Meanwhile, Roggensack, 72, of Madison, has gotten financial support from Republican Party campaign committees and the endorsement of the anti-abortion group Wisconsin Right to Life.

Despite their partisan support, Roggensack and Fallone have rejected Megna’s call to state their political views. They both say it is essential for justices to be viewed as impartial.

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Posted in campaigns<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, judicial elections<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=19> | Comments Off
The Backstory on Allegations Against Sen. Menendez<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47379>
Posted on February 16, 2013 3:35 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47379> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Must-read<http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/17/nyregion/partisan-push-led-to-troubling-revelations-about-senator-menendez.html?pagewanted=1&hp> NYT report.

<share_save_171_16.png><http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D47379&title=The%20Backstory%20on%20Allegations%20Against%20Sen.%20Menendez&description=>
Posted in chicanery<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>, ethics investigations<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=42> | Comments Off
“Congress’s committee chairman push to reassert their power”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47376>
Posted on February 16, 2013 3:12 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47376> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Important, extensive WaPo report: <http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/congresss-committee-chairman-push-to-reassert-their-power/2013/02/16/2acb7770-6a6a-11e2-af53-7b2b2a7510a8_story.html>

The overarching demand is for “regular order.” which is congressional speak for how things are supposed to work — at least how things used to work. Their hopes are straight out of the old Schoolhouse Rock “I’m Just a Bill” anthem<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyeJ55o3El0>, where bills start in subcommittees and move to full committees and competing versions are passed by each chamber, leading to a conference committee to iron out the differences. A final version gets approved and sent to the president for his signature.

That process, already withering away over the last decade, broke down completely in the 112th Congress. Senior aides could not point to a single significant bill introduced in the past two years that moved along those old procedural tracks. The Senate, intended as the more prudent, less fractious house, set a modern record for futility in 2011 and 2012 by holding just 486 votes <http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/vote_menu_112_1.htm> — about 175 fewer roll calls than a normal two-year session.

Instead of producing legislation the old-fashioned way, Republicans and President Obama jousted over a series of deadlines — expiring funding for federal agencies, exhausting Treasury’s borrowing authority, expiring tax cuts — that led to a recurring series of crises that left Congress deeply unpopular.

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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
“Data Mining is New Lobbying Gold”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47373>
Posted on February 16, 2013 1:37 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47373> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Byron Tau for Politico<http://www.politico.com/story/2013/02/data-mining-takes-lobbying-to-a-whole-new-place-87717.html>:

A congressman gets an earful from his neighbor after church about a tax bill. A senator suddenly finds old high school classmates calling her about an upcoming vote on a small business bill.

Those meetings may not be coincidences.

The same social data-mining ability and concept — that voters are more likely to consider new ideas from people they know and trust — that helped power President Barack Obama’s unprecedented field operation is coming to K Street.

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Posted in legislation and legislatures<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=27>, lobbying<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=28>, social media and social protests<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=58> | 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<mailto:rhasen at law.uci.edu>
http://law.uci.edu/faculty/page1_r_hasen.html
http://electionlawblog.org

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