[EL] ELB News and Commentary 3/13/13
Rick Hasen
rhasen at law.uci.edu
Wed Mar 13 07:58:43 PDT 2013
"OFA is Not a Partisan Organization"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=48341>
Posted on March 13, 2013 7:34 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=48341>
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
John Carson of OFA has this response
<http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2013/03/12/jon-carson-organizing-for-action/1983287/>
to a /USA Today/ editorial,
<http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2013/03/12/organizing-for-action-president-obama/1983321/>"Pro-Obama
Group Follows GOP's Sleazy Path."
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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
"Study finds voter ID laws hurt young minorities"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=48337>
Posted on March 13, 2013 7:30 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=48337>
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Politico
<http://www.politico.com/story/2013/03/study-finds-voter-id-laws-hurt-young-minorities-88773.html?hp=r3>:
"As a handful of state legislatures around the country consider enacting
stricter voter ID laws, a new study finds that young people -- and
especially young minorities -- are disproportionately affected by those
laws when they go into effect. According to the study, previewed before
its release to POLITICO, significantly more minority youths age 18-29
were asked to show identification than white youth: 72.9 percent of
black youth were asked for ID, compared with 60.8 percent of Latino
youth and 50.8 percent of white youth."
See also Doug Chapin
<http://blog.lib.umn.edu/cspg/electionacademy/2013/03/new_pew_report_teens_and_techn.php>
on a new Pew report on "Teens and Technology."
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Posted in election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>,
The Voting Wars <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>, voter id
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=9> | Comments Off
"Judge's Order in Van Hollen Case Could Put Disclosure Litigation
Back on Track" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=48335>
Posted on March 13, 2013 7:28 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=48335>
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Bloomberg BNA
<http://news.bna.com/mpdm/MPDMWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=29986656&vname=mpebulallissues&jd=a0d6x2j5f6&split=0>:
"A federal district judge who last year ordered the Federal Election
Commission to increase disclosure requirements for political ads may get
a chance to rule on the issue again, according to a March 12 court order
(Van Hollen v. FEC, D.D.C., No. 11-766,3/12/13). The order by Judge Amy
Berman Jackson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
lifted a stay that had sidetracked a long-running disclosure case known
as Van Hollen v. FEC. The order followed a March 11 filing
<http://www.bloomberglaw.com/public/document/VAN_HOLLEN_v_FEDERAL_ELECTION_COMMISSION_Docket_No_111cv00766_DDC/1>
by the FEC acknowledging that the agency will not act on its own to
rewrite disclosure rules and recommending that the stay in the Van
Hollen litigation be lifted."
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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10> |
Comments Off
"Watchdog Groups Question Whether President Obama's Involvement in
Organizing for Action Complies with Ethics in Government Act"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=48332>
Posted on March 13, 2013 7:23 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=48332>
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Press release
<http://www.democracy21.org/money-in-politics/press-releases-money-in-politics/watchdog-groups-question-whether-president-obamas-involvement-in-organizing-for-action-complies-with-ethics-in-government-act/>:
"In a letter sent today to President Obama
<http://www.democracy21.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/OFA-LETTER-3-13-13.pdf>,
Democracy 21, joined by the Campaign Legal Center, wrote that 'your
involvement with Organizing for Action (OFA) raises serious questions
about whether you are complying with the Ethics in Government Act ban on
the solicitation of gifts by executive branch officials, including the
President.'"
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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,
conflict of interest laws <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=20>, tax law
and election law <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=22> | Comments Off
"Democratic Donors Skip Obama Dinner Seeking New Donations"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=48330>
Posted on March 13, 2013 7:22 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=48330>
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Bloomberg
<http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-13/democratic-donors-skip-obama-dinner-seeking-new-donations.html?alcmpid=politics>:
"President Barack Obama's dinner tonight with top donors resembles
dozens of his campaign events, with gourmet meals served on hotel china
and a high price of admission. Yet without the urgency of an election,
many reliable Democratic fundraisers are skipping the meal."
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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
Steve Peace Accuses Richard Winger of "Intentionally or Naively"
Supporting the Two-Party Duopoly <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=48328>
Posted on March 13, 2013 7:20 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=48328>
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Check out the comments toRichard's piece
<http://ivn.us/opinion/2013/03/12/making-proposition-14-fair-to-minor-parties-candidates/>
on California's top two primary.
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Posted in ballot access <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=46>, political
parties <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=25>, primaries
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=32>, third parties
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=47> | Comments Off
Initial Thoughts on the Inspector General Report on the Voting
Rights Section of DOJ <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=48325>
Posted on March 12, 2013 10:28 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=48325>
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
I have now had a chance to give an initial read to the mammoth report of
the IG <http://www.justice.gov/oig/reports/2013/s1303.pdf> on the voting
rights section and I have some thoughts which could change upon closer
scrutiny (news reports at NYT
<http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/13/us/politics/report-finds-political-tension-in-voting-agency.html?_r=0>,
LAT
<http://www.latimes.com/features/image/la-na-justice-ig-20130313,0,443797.story>).
Here are my takeaways from the report.
1. With all the controversies over politicized decisionmaking at the
Justice Department--from the Bush Administration DOJ's preclearance of
the Georgia voter id law and Texas mid-decade redistricting to the Obama
Administration DOJ's handling of the New Black Panthers Party
controversy---the IG finds no proof that either administration made
improper enforcement decisions or administered the law unfairly. The
controversial results in the cases were explainable by Democrats' and
Republicans' different ideological goals and emphases, as well as
discretionary enforcement and litigation choices, well within the
policy-making powers of different administrations. In this era of the
voting wars, it is unrealistic to expect that differing views over
voting issues wouldn't spill over into DOJ handling of such issues. The
most inflammatory charges made in recent years by conservatives about
the Obama DOJ's handling of voting rights matters---such as that the
department responded more quickly to liberals' FOIA requests to the
department and that Obama hiring for the section was ideologically
motivated---were found to be unsupported. (The DOJ did find that the
neutral criteria used for hiring, such as looking for candidates with
experience with voting rights cases, skewed hiring towards liberals. The
IG suggests changing the criteria to avoid an appearance of bias.) It is
worth emphasizing from this section that Abby Thernstom has been proven
right once again about the New Black Panthers Party case: really small
potatoes.
2. The sharp divisions on ideological grounds over the handling of these
claims led to a poisonous atmosphere at DOJ's voting section. From
Bradley Schlozman's statements to "gerrymander the libs" out of the
section, to email references to form DOJ Section Chief Chris Coates as a
"klansman," the last decade has seen ideological warfare in the voting
section. The report gives numerous examples of liberals criticizing
conservatives and conservatives criticizing liberals, of nastiness, of
comparisons to Nazis, to anonymous nasty postings by Dept. employees on
various blogs, and to a general culture of mistrust which developed
between the two sides within the agency. From my initial read, it seems
like conservatives in the department bore most of the personal attacks
from career voting rights attorneys who are mostly liberal. The report
concludes with remarks about the poisonous partisan atmosphere at the
DOJ, and says that the culture of the section needs to change.
3. It is tough to draw the line between political appointees of the
department improperly using ideology as a criterion for making hiring
and firing decisions and the appointees making sure that employees are
on board in furthering the goals and emphases of the administration. The
IG is critical of how Republican appointees treated Joe Rich and how
Democratic appointees treated Chris Coates. I'm not sure that the two
cases are equivalent--I'd recommend that readers look at the report for
themselves--but the IG report seems to be trying to make the case that
the two administrations were equally at fault on this score. So when
Coates, a conservative, is excluded from sensitive meetings by political
DOJ officials (I presume here over what to do if the Supreme Court
strikes section 5 of the Voting Rights Act), was that proper or
improper? Again, readers should read and judge for themselves
4. One of the sharpest divisions between liberals and conservatives was
over whether protections of the voting rights act should apply to white
voters---either as a matter of legal interpretation of the Act or
administration priorities. Consider these two passages from the report
giving views within the department:
Coates and other career attorneys told the OIG that they were aware
of comments by some Voting Section attorneys indicating that the
Noxubee case should have never been brought because White citizens
were not historical victims of discrimination or could fend for
themselves. *I*ndeed, two career Voting Section attorneys told us
that, even if the Department had infinite resources, they still
would not have supported the filing of the Noxubee case because it
was contrary to the purpose of the Voting Rights Act, which was to
ensure that minorities who had historically been the victims of
discrimination could exercise the right to vote....**
Many of those individuals told the OIG that they believed that the
reason the voting-rights laws were enacted was to protect historic
victims of discrimination and therefore the Section should
prioritize its resources accordingly. Additionally, some of these
individuals, including one current manager, admitted to us that,
while they believed that the text of the Voting Rights Act is
race-neutral and applied to all races, they did not believe the
Voting Section should pursue cases on behalf of White victims.
Indeed, our review of Voting Section e-mails revealed widespread and
vehement opposition among career employees to the prosecution of the
Noxubee matter precisely because the defendants were Black.
5. Whether or not the Supreme Court strikes section 5 of the VRA this
summer, there needs to be some rethinking of the mission of the voting
section, and whether and how such an agency can function in the era of
the voting wars with liberal and conservative career attorneys overseen
by political staffs which change policy and enforcement priorities with
each new administration.
6. Finally, on Tom Perez: I don't see anything in here which would
seriously interfere with his nomination to be Secretary of Labor. The
worst that's said about him is that he gave testimony about the
involvement of political appointees in the New Black Panthers case which
turned out to be incorrect. There was no evidence he made any willfully
misleading statements.
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Posted in direct democracy <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=62>,
election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, The Voting
Wars <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>, Voting Rights Act
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15> | Comments Off
Breaking: DOJ OIG Releases Report on Voting Section Controversies
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=48323>
Posted on March 12, 2013 11:29 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=48323>
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
You can now readA Review of the Operations of the Voting Section of the
Civil Rights Divisio
<http://www.justice.gov/oig/reports/2013/s1303.pdf>n put out by the DOJ
Office of the Inspector General. I will provide more comments when I've
had a chance to read the report. Depending on the report's conclusions,
icould complicate Tom Perez's potential nomination to be the new Labor
Secretary.
Here is the report's conclusion:....
C
Kevin Ring Seeks En Banc DC Circuit Court Review of Lobbying-Related
Conviction <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=48319>
Posted on March 12, 2013 10:50 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=48319>
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
See here
<http://www.mainjustice.com/2013/03/12/ex-abramoff-associate-kevin-ring-asks-full-d-c-circuit-to-review-conviction/>.
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Posted in bribery <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=54>, campaign finance
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, chicanery
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>, lobbying
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=28> | Comments Off
"Hannah Giles Paid $50,000 to Fired San Diego ACORN Worker in
Settlement Last July" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=48316>
Posted on March 12, 2013 8:13 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=48316>
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
This item <http://www.bradblog.com/?p=9916> appears at the Brad Blog.
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Posted in chicanery <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>, The Voting
Wars <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60> | Comments Off
"The NYT's Selective History on Judicial Filibusters"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=48312>
Posted on March 12, 2013 7:59 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=48312>
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Jonathan Adler blogs
<http://www.volokh.com/2013/03/12/the-nyts-selective-history-on-judicial-filibusters/>.
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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
Pew Data Dispatch on Provisional Ballots in DC
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=48309>
Posted on March 12, 2013 7:48 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=48309>
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Here.
<http://www.pewstates.org/research/analysis/special-ballots-in-the-district-of-columbia-85899458827>
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Posted in election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>,
provisional ballots <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=67> | Comments Off
"Nun Resigns After Voter Fraud Accusation"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=48307>
Posted on March 12, 2013 7:47 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=48307>
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
The Cincinnati Enquirer reports
<http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/201303111658/NEWS0107/303110080>.
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Posted in absentee ballots <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=53>,
chicanery <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>, The Voting Wars
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60> | Comments Off
"Prohibiting politics as public service"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=48305>
Posted on March 12, 2013 7:46 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=48305>
by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Eric Wang
<http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/politics/287419-prohibiting-politics-as-public-service>:
"Last month, just as financial institutions finished sending out the
alphanumeric soup of IRS forms to Americans to file their tax returns, a
group known as Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington
(CREW) sued the taxman. Ordinarily, this type of action would be a cause
to rejoice. But in this case, CREW was not acting on behalf of the
taxpayers, but rather to grind a failed politician's axe with the IRS'
regulation of 501(c)(4) organizations. On this issue, the IRS is like
the broken clock that's right twice a day. CREW, on the other hand,
seems always to be futilely occupying the other 86,398 seconds."
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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
--
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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