[EL] ELB News and Commentary 1/17/14
Rick Hasen
rhasen at law.uci.edu
Thu Jan 16 21:11:01 PST 2014
"Why Representative Democracies Can't Write Off Transparency"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58042>
Posted on January 16, 2014 9:05 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58042>by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Alexander Furnas writes
<http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/01/why-representative-democracies-cant-write-off-transparency/283143/>
for /The Atlantic./
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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>
"Watchdogs to Sue FEC for Dismissal of Crossroads GPS Complaint"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58040>
Posted on January 16, 2014 8:58 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58040>by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Press release
<http://www.campaignlegalcenter.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2332:january-16-2014-watchdogs-to-sue-fec-for-dismissal-of-crossroads-gps-complaint&catid=63:legal-center-press-releases&Itemid=61>:
/Th/e Campaign Legal Center and Public Citizen today announced plans
to file suit against the Federal Election Commission (FEC) for its
dismissal of a complaint against Crossroads GPS. The complaint
stemmed from the group's failure to register as a political
committee and disclose its donors despite huge expenditures on
political advertising in the 2010 election cycle.
Public Citizen, ProtectOurDemocracy.org and others filed a complaint
with the FEC in October 2010 alleging that the group's campaign
expenditures and organizational objectives made it a political
committee that must disclose its donors under federal campaign
laws. Despite the strong case made by the FEC's General Counsel
that the 501(c)(4) group violated federal law, the Commission
deadlocked along party lines over whether to investigate further,
preventing any action. While the Democratic commissioners agreed
there was enough evidence to proceed, the three Republican
commissioners voted against looking into the case further.
The suit will argue that the FEC's dismissal of the case following
the 3-3 deadlock was arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion
and contrary to the law.
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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, tax law
and election law <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=22>
"Outside Influence" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58038>
Posted on January 16, 2014 8:44 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58038>by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Anthony Johnstone has posted this draft
<http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2379171>on SSRN
(forthcoming, /Election Law Journal/). Here is the abstract:
By what rights do outsiders influence state or local politics?
"Outsiders" include an array of persons other than the citizens of
the community, including non-resident individuals, corporations, and
various other organizations that channel the influence of those
outsiders into a state or local political process. "State or local
politics" include all politics, including elections held by states
for federal officials. The question recurs in voting, petitioning,
campaign finance regulation, and lobbying, as well as other areas
related to political activity such as corporate governance.
Relatively recent developments have accelerated the nationalization
of American politics. These nationalizing forces, including the
strengthening of non-party national political interest groups by
federal legislation and judicial decisions, and national efforts to
counter those groups' interests, pose the question more urgently now.
This article considers how much outside influence matters to the
constitutional analysis of state politics. It defends the principle
applied in Bluman v. FEC as an exception to the otherwise universal
speaker-neutrality rule of Citizens United, applicable at the state
as well as the national level, and to out-of-state as well as
foreign outside interests. It does so by drawing parallels between
legal efforts to police national and state boundaries in politics,
and assessing the competing rights claims of outsiders to cross
those boundaries and participate fully in domestic politics. The
article suggests that the structural constitutional principle of
political community supports certain state regulations, but not
prohibitions, of outside influence across a range of political
activities.
Looking forward to reading this!
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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>
"Congress, FEC meet about security breakdowns"
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58036>
Posted on January 16, 2014 8:39 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58036>by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
CPI reports.
<http://www.publicintegrity.org/2014/01/16/14132/congress-fec-meet-about-security-breakdowns>
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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, federal
election commission <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=24>
"Two groups that used secret political donations haven't paid
penalties" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58034>
Posted on January 16, 2014 8:32 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58034>by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
LA Times
<http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-secret-money-20140117,0,2843167.story#axzz2qcdgm2gU>:
"State authorities have yet to receive $15 million in penalties they
imposed on campaign groups after a headline-making investigation into
secret political donations."
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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>
Additional Coverage and Reactions to Voting Rights Act Amendment
(VRAA) Bill <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58031>
Posted on January 16, 2014 7:50 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58031>by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
McClatchy
<http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/01/16/3875659/bipartisan-group-in-congress-unveils.html>
NAACP
<http://www.naacp.org/press/entry/naacp-statement-on-proposed-voting-rights-act-update>
(with a lukewarm response)
Roll Call
<http://blogs.rollcall.com/218/lawmakers-to-introduce-bipartisan-voting-rights-act-fix/>
MSNBC <http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/fix-voting-rights-act-exempts-voter-id>
Gannett
<http://triblive.com/usworld/nation/5432867-74/voting-states-rights#axzz2qcgraQpW>
NPR
<http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2014/01/16/263113258/lawmakers-roll-out-voting-rights-act-fix>
National Journal
<http://www.nationaljournal.com/congress/new-voting-rights-act-rewrite-would-revive-federal-oversight-for-only-4-states-20140116>
TPM
<http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/congress-actually-gets-bipartisan-bill-to-fix-voting-rights-act>
LA Times
<http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/politicsnow/la-pn-bipartisan-group-voting-rights-act-20140116,0,6411642.story?track=rss#axzz2qchrJ6HO>
The Guardian
<http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/17/congress-makes-bipartisan-push-to-restore-parts-of-voting-rights-act>
AP
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/lawmakers-move-to-restore-voting-rights-act/2014/01/16/1e53d9c6-7eee-11e3-97d3-b9925ce2c57b_story.htm>
Sen. Leahy press release
<http://news.yahoo.com/leahy-sensenbrenner-conyers-lead-bipartisan-bicameral-introduction-bill-205600506.html>
Washington Times
<http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jan/16/rep-sensenbrenner-pushes-bill-to-update-voting-rig/>
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
<http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/sensenbrenner-joins-democrats-in-writing-new-version-of-voting-rights-act-b99185903z1-240623741.html>
TIME
<http://swampland.time.com/2014/01/16/bipartisan-group-introduces-new-voting-rights-bill/>
Think Progress
<http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/01/16/3174831/good-bad-ugly-bipartisan-restore-voting-rights-act/>
Roger Clegg
<http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/368625/congressional-dems-terrible-legislative-fix-voting-rights-act-roger-clegg>
CBS
<http://www.cbsnews.com/news/lawmakers-aim-to-restore-voting-rights-act/>
NBC
<http://nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com/_news/2014/01/16/22328058-almost-unreal-bipartisan-lawmakers-unveil-new-voting-rights-act-fix>
Brennan Center
<http://www.brennancenter.org/press-release/voting-rights-act-bill-critical-first-step-improve-elections>
CLC
<http://www.campaignlegalcenter.org/index.php?view=article&catid=63%3Alegal-center-press-releases&id=2331%3Ajanuary-16-2014-bipartisan-voting-rights-bill-an-important-first-step-in-undoing-damage-done-by-supreme-court-in-shelby-county-statement-of-j-gerald-hebert-campaign-legal-center-executive-director&format=pdf&option=com_content&Itemid=61>
AFJ
<http://www.afj.org/blog/a-good-day-for-the-first-branch-bipartisan-bicameral-group-introduces-bill-to-restore-the-voting-rights-act>
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Posted in Voting Rights Act <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15>, VRAA
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=81>
Overton HuffPo on Voting Rights Act bill
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58025>
Posted on January 16, 2014 2:41 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=58025>by Spencer Overton
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=17>
/I expand on my thoughts from earlier today in my new piece on the front
page of the Huffington Post, "A Bipartisan Voting Rights Act is Possible
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/spencer-overton/a-bipartisan-voting-right_b_4612657.html>."
Some excerpts . . . /
Conventional wisdom among some liberals, conservatives, and moderates is
that a "polarized Congress" will never update the Voting Rights Act. . .
While the new bill would require that fewer states preclear changes, the
new bill expands nationwide some of the functions served by preclearance.
For example, before the Court's decision, preclearance deterred
discrimination in covered states because bad actors knew their voting
changes would be reviewed. The new bill attempts to deter bad activity
by requiring that states and localities /nationwide/ provide public
notice of particular election changes (I discussed this in my Harvard
Law Review Forum essay "Voting Rights Disclosure
<http://www.harvardlawreview.org/issues/127/november13/forum_1016.php>"). .
. .
*Despite the naysayers, a bipartisan Voting Rights Act update is possible.*
Some dismiss Congress as too polarized to pass a Voting Rights Act. All
past renewals of the Voting Rights Act were signed into law by a
Republican president, however, including the 2006 renewal.
Others believe that instead of preventing discrimination, an updated
Voting Rights Act should explicitly prohibit restrictive state photo ID
requirements and other rules that many Republicans favor. This move,
however, would only fuel partisan divisions.
No doubt, anti-civil rights ideologues will try to fuel polarization and
undermine the Voting Rights Act by framing it as a partisan Democratic
effort (which it is not). Despite the fact that Republican opposition to
the bill would stimulate minority voter turnout and backlash in the 2014
midterm elections, a few conservative extremists may try to scare
Republicans away from supporting the bill by threatening them with
labels (e.g., "RINO").
Some liberals may use similar rhetoric from the other side (e.g.,
"sellout") because the new preclearance coverage formula does not
include states like Alabama and treats ID differently than other
election changes in certain limited circumstances. These concessions,
however, may be necessary to satisfy the states' rights concerns of the
Roberts Supreme Court and the political concerns of Republican members
of Congress.
I recognize that today was just the first step, and that passage is not
guaranteed. I also recognize that the bill is far from perfect.
The bill, however, is an important first step, and it includes measures
that are real building blocks for an approach that protects voters.
Further, introduction of the bill rebuts the rhetoric of pundits who
claimed, without any evidence, that the update was "stalled." It is far
from naive or foolhardy to recognize that this Congress could update the
Voting Rights Act.
/The full piece is here
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/spencer-overton/a-bipartisan-voting-right_b_4612657.html>./
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Posted in Voting Rights Act <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15>
--
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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