[EL] Corporate contributions to super PACs from Fortune 500 companies

Sat Jan 11 14:55:14 PST 2014

Colleagues:

I also note that Public Citizen and others have a complaint pending against Chevron for its $2.5 million contribution to Boehner's super PAC, the Congressional Leadership Fund, for violating the federal law designed to protect the integrity of the governmental contracting process. 2 U.S.C. 441c prohibits federal contractors from making campaign contributions to candidates, parties and PACs, including super PACs. 

2U.S.C. 441c reads in part:

(a) Prohibition
It shall be unlawful for any person—
(1) who enters into any contract with theUnited States or any department or agency thereof either for the rendition ofpersonal services or furnishing any material, supplies, or equipment to theUnited States or any department or agency thereof or for selling any land orbuilding to the United States or any department or agency thereof, if paymentfor the performance of such contract or payment for such material, supplies, equipment,land, or building is to be made in whole or in part from funds appropriated bythe Congress, at any time between the commencement of negotiations for and the laterof
(A) the completion ofperformance under; or
(B) the termination ofnegotiations for, such contract or furnishing of material, supplies, equipment,land, or buildings, directly or indirectly to make any contribution of money orother things of value, or to promise expressly or impliedly to make any suchcontribution to any political party, committee, or candidate for public officeor to any person for any political purpose or use; or
(2) knowingly to solicit any suchcontribution from any such person for any such purpose during any such period.

This complaint is pending before the Federal Election Commission. I am most curious to see if the new FEC decides not to enforce federal law in this case as well.

Craig Holman, Ph.D.
Government Affairs Lobbyist
Public Citizen
215 Pennsylvania Avenue SE
Washington, D.C. 20003
T-(202) 454-5182
C-(202) 905-7413
F-(202) 547-7392
Holman at aol.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Beckel, Michael <mbeckel at publicintegrity.org>
To: Rick Hasen <rhasen at law.uci.edu>; law-election at UCI.edu <law-election at uci.edu>
Sent: Sat, Jan 11, 2014 1:02 pm
Subject: [EL] Corporate contributions to super PACs from Fortune 500 companies

Clearly, many people have been debating the role of corporate spending since Citizens United, but the assertion, made by Prof. Gora, that "not a single Fortune 500 company [has] spent a single dollar to support a super PAC" is demonstrably false.

For instance, in October of 2012, Chevron contributed $2.5 million to the Congressional Leadership Fund, which aimed to boost House Republicans. 

Similarly, in 2010, the American Financial Group contributed $400,000 to the pro-GOP American Crossroads super PAC, and MGM Resorts International contributed $300,000 to the pro-Democratic Patriot Majority PAC.

Some other high-profile corporate donors, some of which are Fortune 1,000 companies,include the Apollo Group, B/E Aerospace, QC Holdings, White Castle and 7-Eleven.

I'll be the first to note that individuals have beenlarger boosters of super PACs than corporations, but some well-known companies have been taking the leap into the super PAC waters.

Regards,

Michael Beckel
Reporter
Center for Public Integrity

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: Saturday, January 11, 2014 12:27 PM
To: law-election at UCI.edu
Subject: [EL] ELB News and Commentary 1/11/14

“Bozeman legislative candidate asks court to halt vote-reporting law”

Posted on January 11, 2014 9:25 amby Rick Hasen

The Missoulian: “A Bozeman legislative candidate has asked a federal court to temporarily block enforcement of a new state law that requires published campaign materials about a legislator’s record to include every vote taken by the lawmaker on that issue.”
Chances of this challenge’s success: sky high

Posted incampaigns 
“In Defense of ‘Super PACs’ and of the First Amendment”

Posted on January 11, 2014 9:23 amby Rick Hasen

Joel Gora has posed this draft on SSRN (Seton Hall Law Review).  Here is the abstract:

This article is a defense of “Super PACs” and of the First Amendment principles that they embody, namely, that we need a robust, wide-open and uninhibited discussion of politics and government in order to make our democracy work. Like the famous Citizens United ruling in 2010, Super PACs have gotten a bad press and have been widely condemned as threats to democracy. But Super PACs are really nothing new. They trace their origins back to Buckley v. Valeo, the Supreme Court’s landmark 1976 free speech ruling which rejected any justification for limiting the independent expenditures for political speech. Thus, the day after Buckley, individuals and groups were free to spend whatever they wished to support or oppose political candidates. Whether they were allowed to join together for such purposes was less clear. But Citizens United removed any lingering doubt by holding that any speaker – individual, corporate, union, non-profit – was free to make independent expenditures without prohibition or limitation. Based on those principles, a federal appeals court easily and unanimously ruled that what one person or group could do individually, several people or groups could do cooperatively, namely, pool their resources to get out their common message. That is a Super PAC.
As a result, Super PACs played a noticeable role in the 2012 federal elections. But despite popular misconception, they did not dominate or control those elections, accounting for only 10 percent of the campaign spending, almost all contributions to them were fully and publically disclosed, and almost no corporations played any role in any such Super PAC spending. Indeed, so far as is known not a single Fortune 500 company spent a single dollar to support a Super PAC. Rather, Super PACs enabled more speech and debate in our political process, a result to be desired most significantly under the First Amendment. So, rather than being a threat to democracy, Super PACs have been a boon.

Posted incampaign finance 
“U.S. justices agree to hear challenge to Ohio speech law”

Posted on January 11, 2014 9:17 amby Rick Hasen

Reuters reports.

Posted incampaigns 
Republican FEC Commissioners Issue Statement on Why Crossroads GPS Need Not Register as Political Committee

Posted on January 10, 2014 9:23 pmby Rick Hasen

See here.

Posted incampaign finance, federal election commission 
Key figures in #Bridgegate–Baroni, Samson–also key figures in suit to block Lautenberg replacement of Torricelli

Posted on January 10, 2014 9:20 pmby Rick Hasen

Remember New Jersey Democratic Party v. Samson?
I have an extensive discussion of  the case in the Democracy Canon.
Baroni, Forrester’s lawyer, wrote his own article: William E. Baroni, Jr., Administrative Unfeasibility: The Torricelli Replacement Case and the Creation of a New Election Law Standard, 27 SETON HALL LEGIS. J. 53 (2002).

Posted inUncategorized 
“Supreme Court to mull right to lie in political ads”

Posted on January 10, 2014 9:07 pmby Rick Hasen

Politico reports.

Posted incampaigns 
Democratic FEC Commissioners Issue Statement on Why Crossroads GPS Should Register as Political Committee

Posted on January 10, 2014 4:19 pmby Rick Hasen

Here.

Posted incampaign finance, federal election commission 
“Bitcoin Takes Stage In Texas Senate Campaign”

Posted on January 10, 2014 4:05 pmby Rick Hasen

NPR reports.

Posted incampaign finance 
Breaking: Supreme Court Takes Case Involving False Campaign Speech

Posted on January 10, 2014 12:06 pmby Rick Hasen

Today the Court issued an order granting cert in Susan B. Anthony List v. Driehaus. 
The cert. petition raises two questions, the second of which is substantive on the question of false campaign speech laws:

Did the Sixth Circuit err by holding, in direct conflict with the Eighth Circuit, that state laws proscribing “false” political speech are not subject to pre-enforcement First Amendment review so long as the speaker maintains that its speech is true, even if others who enforce the law
manifestly disagree?

Marcia Coyle’s preview of this case is here. It is not clear to me that the Court in this case is going to reach the merits of the constitutionality of laws barring false campaign speech (the Court may instead simply say that courts have to decide such challenges). But if the Court reaches the merits, I believe the Court is likely to hold at least some state laws barring false campaign speech unconstitutional. I’ve addressed the issues of the constitutionality of limits on campaign lies afterUS v. Alvarez in A Constitutional Right to Lie in Campaigns and Elections?

Posted incampaigns 

-- 
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://www.law.uci.edu/faculty/full-time/hasen/
http://electionlawblog.org

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