[EL] ELB News and Commentary 7/22/14

Mon Jul 21 21:05:38 PDT 2014

    "IRS official: Lois Lerner email trail may not be cold"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=63592>

Posted on July 21, 2014 9:02 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=63592>by 
Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Politico 
<http://www.politico.com/story/2014/07/irs-lois-lerner-scandal-e-mails-backup-109182.html?hp=l1>: 
"A top IRS official is now uncertain about whether backup tapes of the 
lost Lois Lerner emails may exist, according to testimony released by 
Republicans --- a potentially significant plot twist in the controversy 
that has shaken the IRS in recent weeks."

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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, tax law 
and election law <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=22>

    "Democrats challenge petition seeking spot in gubernatorial primary"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=63590>

Posted on July 21, 2014 8:58 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=63590>by 
Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Buffalo News 
<http://www.buffalonews.com/city-region/albany-politics/democrats-challenge-petition-seeking-spot-in-gubernatorial-primary-20140721>:

    Democrats have turned to a lawyer who helped craft some of the
    state's complex election laws to try to keep a challenger to Gov.
    Andrew M. Cuomo from getting onto the September Democratic
    gubernatorial primary ballot.

    Martin Connor, a former State Senate minority leader from Brooklyn
    and one of the state's most respected election lawyers, is in charge
    of the legal team seeking to challenge the designating petition
    submitted last week by Zephyr Teachout, a Fordham University law
    professor who is seeking to run against Cuomo in a primary.

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Posted in ballot access <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=46>

    "Election law could keep away some voters in primary"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=63588>

Posted on July 21, 2014 8:54 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=63588>by 
Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

NBC2: 
<http://www.nbc-2.com/story/26073803/florida-loop-hole-closing-some-local-and-state-races-in-upcoming-primary-election#.U83gCqjPaSY>

    A Florida election law could keep some voters from deciding certain
    races in the upcoming primary election.

    Sixteen years ago Florida voters approved an amendment to the state
    constitution.  It states when there's a write-in candidate, it
    automatically closes the election to voters who are not registered
    to that specific party.

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Posted in ballot access <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=46>

    "FEC tells congressional candidate to go ahead with reality TV show,
    but he can't get paid" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=63586>

Posted on July 21, 2014 8:49 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=63586>by 
Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

WaPo reports. 
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/in-the-loop/wp/2014/07/21/fec-tells-congressional-candidate-to-go-ahead-with-reality-tv-show-but-he-cant-get-paid/>

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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, federal 
election commission <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=24>

    "Former Top Aide to Governor Arnold Schwarznegger Admits Top-Two
    Injures Independent Candidates" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=63584>

Posted on July 21, 2014 4:05 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=63584>by 
Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

This item 
<http://www.independentpoliticalreport.com/2014/07/former-top-aide-to-governor-arnold-schwarznegger-admits-top-two-injures-independent-candidates/>appears 
at the Independent Political Report (via BAN) 
<http://www.ballot-access.org/2014/07/former-top-aide-to-governor-arnold-schwarznegger-admits-top-two-injures-independent-candidates/>.

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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>

    "End Partisan Primaries, Save America"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=63582>

Posted on July 21, 2014 4:02 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=63582>by 
Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Sen. Schumer endorses Top-Two i 
<http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/22/opinion/charles-schumer-adopt-the-open-primary.html?smid=tw-share>n 
NYT oped. The political science does not (at least not yet) seem to 
support what Sen. Schumer thinks about the effects of top two, however.

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Posted in ballot access <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=46>, political 
parties <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=25>, political polarization 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=68>, primaries 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=32>

    "Why Frank McKay Should Worry About Tim Wu"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=63580>

Posted on July 21, 2014 9:42 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=63580>by 
Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Jerry Goldfeder column. 
<http://colreaction.stroock.com/reaction/RSProcess.asp?RSID=8C8408E4C0ED1E83CF231B45B07F766&RSTYPE=OPENATTACH>

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Posted in ballot access <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=46>, third 
parties <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=47>

    "Adelson lieutenant: "We are not spending $100 million on Senate
    races" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=63578>

Posted on July 21, 2014 9:40 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=63578>by 
Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Ralston reports. 
<http://www.ralstonreports.com/blog/adelson-lieutenant-we-are-not-spending-100-million-senate-races#.U81CKqjPaSY>

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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>

    Perkins Coie Makes Life Difficult for the Center for Responsive
    Politics <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=63576>

Posted on July 21, 2014 9:05 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=63576>by 
Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Here's 
<http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2014/07/this-2143-page-irs-document-could-be-yours-for-just-428-60-plus-shipping/> 
a taste:

    On April 15, 2014, we sent a letter to Rodell Mollineau, then the
    president of American Bridge and a former staffer of Senate Majority
    Leader Harry Reid, requesting the group's application materials,
    preferably in electronic form. On April 24, a Perkins Coie attorney
    we'll refer to as Ezra R. --- no, E. Reese --- who represents the
    group, responded to our request, saying in an email that, yes, the
    group had received an exemption from the IRS, but "as a matter of
    policy, American Bridge 21st Century Foundation only issues paper
    copies of its 1024 application."

    We asked some of the nation's top nonprofit lawyers whether there's
    any legitimate reason for a well-funded nonprofit like American
    Bridge to have a "policy" of printing a document from an electronic
    file, then mailing it to a requester --- other than to make it as
    difficult as possible for that requester to obtain and process the
    document. The consensus was that American Bridge probably knew it
    was going to be hard for us to scan thousands of double-sided pages.

    American Bridge is not the only organization with a hard-copy
    policy, nor is it the only one that charges for paper copies of
    documents we'd prefer to receive in PDF form. It's just the only one
    to charge us this much money for this much paper with this much drama.

    First, the money: The Perkins Coie counsel informed us that the hard
    copies of the documents would cost CRP $428.60, plus an estimated
    $20 for postage. Collecting our jaws from the floor, we politely
    asked if there was a decimal error in the price cited. IRS
    regulations permit groups to charge a "reasonable fee for any
    reproduction and mailing costs
    <http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-07-45.pdf>." But we've never been
    hit with a fee of more than about $20....

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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>

    "New report finds broad opposition to IRS regulations on political
    speech" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=63574>

Posted on July 21, 2014 8:38 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=63574>by 
Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Press release 
<http://www.campaignfreedom.org/2014/07/21/new-report-finds-broad-opposition-to-irs-regulations-on-political-speech/>: 
"87 percent of concerned individuals sampled and 97 percent of 
organizations, nonprofit experts, and public officials oppose to varying 
degrees IRS regulations limiting the speech rights of societally 
important social welfare organizations, according to a new report from 
the Center for Competitive Politics 
<http://www.campaignfreedom.org/2014/07/21/overwhelmingly-opposed-an-analysis-of-public-and-955-organization-expert-and-public-official-comments-on-the-irss-501c4-rulemaking/> 
(CCP)."

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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, tax law 
and election law <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=22>

    Bob Bauer Responds to Larry Noble [corrected]
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=63569>

Posted on July 21, 2014 8:29 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=63569>by 
Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Here. 
<http://www.moresoftmoneyhardlaw.com/2014/07/taking-issue-reform-establishment-progressive-politics-coordinated-issue-advertising-reply-larry-noble/>

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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>

    "Six questions about the IRS's missing emails, from IT experts"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=63567>

Posted on July 21, 2014 5:52 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=63567>by 
Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

WaPo reports 
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/wp/2014/07/21/six-questions-from-it-experts-about-the-missing-irs-emails/>.

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Posted in tax law and election law <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=22>

    "Want to reduce polarization? Give parties more money."
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=63565>

Posted on July 21, 2014 5:50 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=63565>by 
Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Ray LaRaja and Brian Schaffner responds 
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2014/07/21/want-to-reduce-polarization-give-parties-more-money/> 
to Mann and Corrado. *[corrected authors]*

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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>

-- 
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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