[EL] It's About [Harassment], [Silly]

[Smith, Brad]

Actually, the disclosure rules set by Congress are clear. FECA and the 527 disclosure act of 2000, and the rules for 501c 4 organizations actually provide clear rules. I suspect that when Rick says he wants "clear rules", he means "more disclosure." 

Bradley A. Smith

Josiah H. Blackmore II/Shirley M. Nault

   Professor of Law

Capital University Law School

303 E. Broad St.

Columbus, OH 43215

614.236.6317

http://law.capital.edu/faculty/bios/bsmith.aspx

________________________________________
From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu [law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] on behalf of Rick Hasen [rhasen at law.uci.edu]
Sent: Tuesday, May 14, 2013 7:02 PM
To: Steve Klein
Cc: law-election at uci.edu
Subject: Re: [EL] It's About [Harassment], [Silly]

To the contrary Steve.  I want to take the IRS out of the business of being a campaign finance regulator, and have Congress set clear rules for disclosure of contributions used to fund significant amounts of federal election advertising (with an exemption for those who face realistic threats of harassment).

On 5/14/13 3:20 PM, Steve Klein wrote:
Rick, like Nancy Pelosi<http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2013/05/13/pelosi_irs_scandal_an_opportunity_to_scrutinize_501c4s_and_overturn_citizens_united.html>, acknowledges that there's a problem with the IRS harassing groups based on their ideology.

The solution is to provide the IRS with the names of people who support ideological groups.

Forgive a sarcastic response, but, "Wait, what?"

Whether under fear of government incompetence or malfeasance, there are strong, principled reasons to oppose disclosure. This episode only reinforces my belief that disclosure serves, at best, an "obfuscational interest" in political discourse, letting the Willie Starks of the world find dirt on speakers (and "there's always something") rather than engage on important issues.

--------

“It’s About Disclosure, Stupid; The larger failing behind the terrible IRS treatment of tea party groups.”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=50351>

Posted on May 14, 2013 2:41 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=50351> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

I’ve written this commentary<http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2013/05/the_irs_tea_party_scandal_the_lesson_is_better_campaign_finance_disclosure.html> for Slate.



--

Steve Klein
Staff Attorney & Research Counsel*
Wyoming Liberty Group
www.wyliberty.org<http://www.wyliberty.org>
*Licensed to practice law in Illinois. Counsel to the Wyoming Liberty Group pursuant to Rule 5.5(d) of the Wyoming Rules of Professional Conduct.




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Rick Hasen
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UC Irvine School of Law
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