[EL] ELB News and Commentary 7/30/14

[Rick Hasen]

    "Ex-First Couple's Defense in Virginia: State of Union"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=63808>

Posted on July 29, 2014 9:04 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=63808>by 
Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

NYT 
<http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/30/us/politics/ex-first-couple-bob-mcdonnell-and-maureen-mcdonnell-of-virginia-say-united-we-fall.html?ref=politics>:

    Former Gov. Bob McDonnell
    <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/robert_f_mcdonnell/index.html?inline=nyt-per>
    of Virginia and his wife, Maureen, on trial for conspiring to use
    his office for personal enrichment, outlined an unexpected defense
    on Tuesday: Their marriage was so broken that they did not
    communicate enough to conspire about anything....

    **Prosecutors do not portray Mr. Williams as an angel. Ms. Aber
    described him dismissively as "a vitamin salesman." But she alleged
    a quid pro quo between Mr. Williams's gifts to the McDonnells and
    the governor's actions on his behalf. She presented a text message
    from Mr. McDonnell to Mr. Williams in May 2012 reading, "Per voice
    mail, would like to see if you could extend another 20k loan for
    this year."

    Mr. Williams's response: "Done."

    Another time, after thanking Mr. Williams for funds to help cover
    expenses for some real estate investments, Mr. McDonnell sent an
    email to his policy director just six minutes later telling him to
    meet to discuss how to advance Mr. Williams's products.

    The aide's reply: "We need to be careful with this issue."

    Mr. McDonnell's defense argued such interventions were not improper;
    they are what all elected officials do to promote state businesses.
    "To criminalize this bedrock principle," John Brownlee, one of the
    former governor's lawyers, said, "would make felons of virtually
    every person who's held public office."

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Posted in bribery <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=54>, chicanery 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>


    "What's Next? Prospects for Campaign Finance Reform Following
    McCutcheon v. FEC" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=63806>

Posted on July 29, 2014 3:11 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=63806>by 
Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Listen <http://www.acslaw.org/node/923816673> to Liz Kennedy.

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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, Supreme 
Court <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>


    "Names and addresses of Texans who signed anti-gay petition leaked
    online" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=63804>

Posted on July 29, 2014 1:29 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=63804>by 
Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Gay Star News 
<http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/names-and-addresses-texans-who-signed-anti-gay-petition-leaked-online290714>:

    Texas LGBT group has published on the Internet the personal details
    of Texans who signed a petition against a recent LGBT
    anti-discrimination bill.

    A group under the website HeroPetition.com
    <http://heropetition.com/home>, named after the Houston Equal Rights
    Ordinance (HERO), published the 50,000 names and addresses of Texans
    who want to overturn an anti-discrimination ordinance via public
    vote in November elections.

    On their website, the group claims some voters have been conned into
    signing against the ordinance and encourages citizens to review all
    the signed pages of the petitions to watch for voter fraud.

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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, direct 
democracy <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=62>


    DC Circuit Unsurprisingly Rejects Origination Clause Challenge to
    Obamacare <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=63801>

Posted on July 29, 2014 8:45 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=63801>by 
Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

You can find the unanimous opinion in /Sissel v. HHS /here. 
<http://t.co/VdOdgPShZ0>

I discuss the Origination Clause and /Sissel/ (and explain why the 
origination clause would likely fail), on pages 12-13 of my new 
Legislation, Statutory Interpretation and Election Law: Examples and 
Explanations. 
<http://www.amazon.com/Examples-Explanations-Legislation-Statutory-Interpretation/dp/1454845414/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1401919780&sr=8-1&keywords=hasen+legislation>

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Posted in legislation and legislatures <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=27>


    Gerken Testifies on Nerds <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=63799>

Posted on July 29, 2014 8:39 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=63799>by 
Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

CCP's Moment of Zen. 
<http://www.campaignfreedom.org/2014/07/28/moment-of-zen-disclose-act-2014-edition/>

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Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, 
election law "humor" <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=52>

-- 
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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