[EL] Money from Corporations
Smith, Brad
BSmith at law.capital.edu
Wed Mar 26 09:14:12 PDT 2014
I think he could be too, and I considered going on to address that. But here's the thing - when you explain to people where and how a corporate PAC gets money, virtually no one I have ever spoken to doesn't think that that is a significant difference from "corporate money." They may not think it should matter legally or as a policy matter, but they still recognize that it is a difference.
But that reflects the problem - people can't make realistic assessments of what should or should not be allowed, nor can they even begin to understand the law, when these distinctions are simply blurred over. And is there really much doubt that Khanna would be very happy if many voters thought that his opponents were getting direct (unlimited?) corporate contributions?
Again, this type of low public understanding is hardly confined to campaign finance issues. But also again, I think there is some reason to believe that public understanding of campaign finance law actually declines among better informed voters, something of an upside down bell curve.
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: Byron Tau [btau at politico.com]
Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2014 12:08 PM
To: Smith, Brad
Cc: law-election at UCI.edu
Subject: Re: [EL] Money from Corporations
I think Khanna — the candidate in question — is talking about corporate PACs.
I wrote about a to-do where corporate PACs were backing his opponent and the same corporate CEOs were backing him. Meaning that corporation PACs were betting against their own CEOs.
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/11/silicon-valley-ro-khanna-99297.html
The Khanna campaign made a big to-do at the time about not taking corporate special interest PAC money. (As if taking cash from a wealthy CEO but not a corporate PAC makes a big difference... But that's another issue)
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Byron Tau
Lobbying and influence reporter || POLITICO
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On Mar 26, 2014, at 11:44 AM, "Smith, Brad" <BSmith at law.capital.edu<mailto:BSmith at law.capital.edu>> wrote:
CA Congressional Candidate Vows He Won’t Take Money from Corporations<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=59672>
Posted on March 26, 2014 6:48 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=59672> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Which he can’t do anyway! Watch.<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXdr4ViVUHI>
This is a pretty common misunderstanding these days. Indeed, I regularly find that people think that campaign finance laws are far less restrictive than they are. I recall some years ago speaking to one of the groups that brings high school kids to Washington in the summer, and in the evenings they would have debates. One of the debate proposals was over a campaign finance proposal the kids had drawn up to regulate money in politics - I had to point out to them that their proposal would actually be deregulation.
There is at least some reason to believe that voters who are better educated and read the papers are actually more likely to misunderstand campaign finance law, and to overstate the amounts actually spent, than less informed voters and voters who don't follow the news.
Of course, there are lots of issues on which voters are ill-informed. But it seems unusual where the best informed voters might be most likely to be the most misinformed voters.
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<mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu> [law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu<mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu>] on behalf of Rick Hasen [rhasen at law.uci.edu<mailto:rhasen at law.uci.edu>]
Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2014 10:23 AM
To: law-election at UCI.edu<mailto:law-election at UCI.edu>
Subject: [EL] ELB News and Commentary 3/26/14
New York Joins National Popular Vote Compact to Circumvent Electoral College<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=59678>
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Capital NY<http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/albany/2014/03/8542603/legislature-approves-national-popular-vote>: “With New York’s 29 electors, the interstate compact would have 160 electors, or the 60 percent of the 270 it needs to take effect.”
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Eric Wang commentary<http://dailycaller.com/2014/03/25/scott-brown-is-right-to-avoid-the-peoples-pledge-politicians-pact/#ixzz2x1l4Syr5> in the Daily Caller.
<share_save_171_16.png><http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D59674&title=%E2%80%9CScott%20Brown%20is%20right%20to%20avoid%20the%20%E2%80%98People%E2%80%99s%20Pledge%E2%80%99%20politicians%E2%80%99%20pact%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>
CA Congressional Candidate Vows He Won’t Take Money from Corporations<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=59672>
Posted on March 26, 2014 6:48 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=59672> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Which he can’t do anyway! Watch.<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXdr4ViVUHI>
<share_save_171_16.png><http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D59672&title=CA%20Congressional%20Candidate%20Vows%20He%20Won%E2%80%99t%20Take%20Money%20from%20Corporations&description=>
Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, campaigns<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>
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<share_save_171_16.png><http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D59669&title=%E2%80%9CJean-Pierre%20Kingsley%3A%20Election%20bill%20puts%20right%20to%20vote%20at%20risk%E2%80%9D&description=>
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Following up on this post<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=59644>, thanks to a few readers for passing along Chuck Reed v. FPPC.<http://electionlawblog.org/wp-content/uploads/Chuck-Reed-candidate-IE-decision.pdf>
I hope to have some analysis of this at some point.
<share_save_171_16.png><http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D59666&title=Read%20the%20CA%20Reed%20Decision%20on%20Candidate%20Controlled%20Committee%20Contributions%20to%20Super%20PACs&description=>
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AP<http://bigstory.ap.org/article/jury-acquits-ex-felon-iowa-voter-fraud-case>:
A former drug offender who believed her voting rights had been restored when she cast a ballot last year was acquitted of perjury Thursday, a public rebuke of Iowa’s two-year investigation into voter fraud.
The 12-member jury took less than 40 minutes to reject the prosecution’s argument that Kelli Jo Griffin intentionally lied on a voter registration form she filled out for a municipal election in the southeastern Iowa town of Montrose.
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<share_save_171_16.png><http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D59658&title=%E2%80%9CLaw%20and%20Politics%3A%20What%E2%80%99s%20the%20Matter%20with%20Kansas%20%28and%20Arizona%29%3F%E2%80%9D&description=>
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--
Rick Hasen
Chancellor's Professor of Law and Political Science
UC Irvine School of Law
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