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

Sun May 12 21:50:10 PDT 2013

    "Organizing for Action struggles to move the needle on Obama's
    agenda" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=50209>

Posted on May 12, 2013 9:38 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=50209> by 
Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

WaPo reports 
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/organizing-for-action-struggles-to-move-the-needle-on-obamas-agenda/2013/05/11/4e1557c8-b8bc-11e2-92f3-f291801936b8_story.html>.

Share 
<http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D50209&title=%E2%80%9COrganizing%20for%20Action%20struggles%20to%20move%20the%20needle%20on%20Obama%E2%80%99s%20agenda%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, 
lobbying <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=28> | Comments Off

    "IRS kept shifting targets in tax-exempt groups scrutiny: report"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=50206>

Posted on May 12, 2013 9:35 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=50206> by 
Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Reuters reports 
<http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/13/us-usa-tax-irs-criteria-idUSBRE94C03N20130513?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&dlvrit=992637>.

Share 
<http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D50206&title=%E2%80%9CIRS%20kept%20shifting%20targets%20in%20tax-exempt%20groups%20scrutiny%3A%20report%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, tax law 
and election law <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=22> | Comments Off

    Adelson's Sands Corporation Gave $4 Million to Senate Super PAC
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=50203>

Posted on May 12, 2013 9:31 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=50203> by 
Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

That tidbit was included in Super PAC Donor Adelson Targeting New Senate 
Race for 2014? 
<http://blogs.rollcall.com/moneyline/super-pac-donor-adelson-targeting-new-senate-race-for-2014/>

Share 
<http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D50203&title=Adelson%E2%80%99s%20Sands%20Corporation%20Gave%20%244%20Million%20to%20Senate%20Super%20PAC&description=>
Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10> | 
Comments Off

    "FEC Resolving Door Spins Ever So Slowly"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=50200>

Posted on May 12, 2013 9:17 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=50200> by 
Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Politico reports. 
<http://www.politico.com/story/2013/05/fec-revolving-door-spins-ever-so-slowly-91237.html#ixzz2T8hOxoQe>

Share 
<http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D50200&title=%E2%80%9CFEC%20Resolving%20Door%20Spins%20Ever%20So%20Slowly%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, federal 
election commission <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=24> | Comments Off

    "I.R.S. Focus on Conservatives Gives G.O.P. an Issue to Seize On"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=50197>

Posted on May 12, 2013 8:53 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=50197> by 
Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

NYT: 
<http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/13/us/politics/republicans-call-for-irs-inquiry-after-disclosure.html?hp>

    The head of the division on tax-exempt organizations, Lois Lerner,
    was briefed on the effort in June 2011, seemingly contradicting her
    assertion on Friday that she learned of the effort from news
    reports. But the audit shows that she seemed to work hard to rein in
    the focus on conservatives and change it to a look at any political
    advocacy group of any stripe.

Share 
<http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D50197&title=%E2%80%9CI.R.S.%20Focus%20on%20Conservatives%20Gives%20G.O.P.%20an%20Issue%20to%20Seize%20On%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, tax law 
and election law <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=22> | Comments Off

    "IRS targeted groups critical of government, documents from agency
    probe show" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=50195>

Posted on May 12, 2013 8:52 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=50195> by 
Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

WaPo 
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/irs-targeted-groups-critical-of-government-documents-from-agency-probe-show/2013/05/12/bb38e5bc-bb24-11e2-97d4-a479289a31f9_story.html> 
on the Cincinnati office and whether they were "low level" employees:

    At various points over the past two years, Internal Revenue Service
    <http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/irs-admits-targeting-conservatives-for-tax-scrutiny-in-2012-election/2013/05/10/3b6a0ada-b987-11e2-92f3-f291801936b8_story.html>
    officials singled out for scrutiny not only groups with "tea party"
    or "patriot" in their names but also nonprofit groups that
    criticized the government and sought to educate Americans about the
    U.S. Constitution
    <http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/05/12/irs-targeted-groups-that-criticized-the-government-ig-report-says/?hpid=z1>,
    according to documents in an audit
    <http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/report-top-irs-officials-knew-in-2011-that-conservative-groups-were-targeted/2013/05/11/2619face-ba7b-11e2-b94c-b684dda07add_story.html>
    conducted by the agency's inspector general.

    The documents, obtained by The Washington Post from a congressional
    aide with knowledge of the findings, show that the IRS field office
    in charge of evaluating applications for tax-exempt status decided
    to focus on groups making statements that "criticize how the country
    is being run" and those that were involved in educating Americans
    "on the Constitution and Bill of Rights."

    The staffers in the Cincinnati field office were making high-level
    decisions on how to evaluate the groups because a decade ago the IRS
    assigned all applications to that unit. The IRS also eliminated an
    automatic after-the-fact review process Washington used to conduct
    such determinations.

Share 
<http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D50195&title=%E2%80%9CIRS%20targeted%20groups%20critical%20of%20government%2C%20documents%20from%20agency%20probe%20show%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, tax law 
and election law <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=22> | Comments Off

    Joe Klein and Ross Douthat on IRS Mess
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=50192>

Posted on May 12, 2013 2:33 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=50192> by 
Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Klein <http://swampland.time.com/2013/05/11/irs-mess/>

Douthat 
<http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/12/opinion/sunday/douthat-the-taxman-vs-the-tea-party.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss>

Share 
<http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D50192&title=Joe%20Klein%20and%20Ross%20Douthat%20on%20IRS%20Mess&description=>
Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, tax law 
and election law <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=22> | Comments Off

    "IRS Scrutiny Was Deeper Than Thought"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=50190>

Posted on May 12, 2013 2:25 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=50190> by 
Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

WSJ 
<http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324715704578478851998004528.html?mod=wsj_share_tweet>: 
"Government investigators have found that the Internal Revenue Service 
scrutinized conservative groups for raising political concerns over 
government spending, debt and taxes or even for advocating making 
America a better place to live, according to new details likely to 
inflame a widening IRS controversy."

Share 
<http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D50190&title=%E2%80%9CIRS%20Scrutiny%20Was%20Deeper%20Than%20Thought%E2%80%9D&description=>
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

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://webshare.law.ucla.edu/Listservs/law-election/attachments/20130512/d86c72c8/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: share_save_171_16.png
Type: image/png
Size: 1504 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://webshare.law.ucla.edu/Listservs/law-election/attachments/20130512/d86c72c8/attachment.png>