[EL] Butler and the EAC
Rick Hasen
rhasen at law.uci.edu
Thu Nov 20 09:56:23 PST 2014
I'm going to disagree strongly with you here Justin.
To begin with, there is already a tremendous amount of mistrust on the
Republican side about the EAC, with many claiming the agency should be
disbanded. (The House voted to do so already, and it is kind of shocking
Republicans might allow a vote on commissioners). Choosing someone who
has worked for Media Matters and who apparently has no election
administration experience to speak of is (deliberately?) provocative of
the Republican side. The overheated reaction of Michael Thielen at the
RNLA is entirely to be expected:
http://thereplawyer.blogspot.com/2014/11/victory-and-defeat-for-open-fair-and.html.
I expect many more level headed Republicans to have their doubts as well.
I am not saying that Mr. Butler could not be a fair commissioner who
could make decisions that he sees to be in the best interest of the
country and in a non-partisan way. But he will start out at an already
troubled agency without any goodwill and with lots of mistrust.
Compare that situation to the Democrats nominating someone (who is a
lifelong Democrat) who has extensive experience actually administering
elections, or at least being somewhat involved in the world of election
administration. That would be a way to try to build some good will,
bring competence and confidence to the agency, without sticking a finger
in someone's eye.
I don't know anything about the Republican-nominated commissioners, and
whether they are any better on this score than Butler. But, as indicated
in my blog post (and my book), I have written off the EAC as the site
for trans-partisan important work.
Rick
On 11/20/14, 9:37 AM, Justin Levitt wrote:
> I've never met or spoken with Mr. Butler (at least, not to my
> knowledge), and I have absolutely no idea from any other sources
> whether he'd be a partisan EAC commissioner or not. But to draw
> conclusions from the 159 characters in his Twitter bio about how he
> would act in a position of official responsibility strikes me as just
> as silly as concluding how he'd act in a position of official
> responsibility based on who he chose to vote for. And whether Rick
> means the suggestion that Butler could be quite partisan in a new
> position as praise or critique, it also strikes me as deeply unfair to
> Mr. Butler.
>
> The quoted Twitter bio tells me that Mr. Butler has consulted for
> political organizations and nonprofits. He currently runs an
> organization supporting independent filmmaking apparently for the
> benefit of communities affected by disaster, displacement and economic
> disparity <http://www.filmaid.org/what-we-do/>. He used to run an
> organization that is highly critical of some conservative news
> outlets, Fox included, and recognizes that Fox supporters aren't
> likely to agree with him.
>
> I don't see anything in there about political parties or government
> service, much less using government service for partisan political
> ends. Even if you think that these past jobs have been partisan,
> there's no reason to assume that people can't tell the difference
> between appropriate behavior in a private capacity and appropriate
> behavior in a government job representing the people. Some people,
> it's true, have only one gear. But as I've written
> <http://ssrn.com/abstract=2239491>, the vast majority of people
> understand role morality pretty well, and behave differently in
> different roles throughout their life.
>
> Branding people as partisan through-and-through based on a few words
> in a different context (much less words that don't actually show a
> predilection to political partisanship) has costs. Aside from any
> personal impact on Mr. Butler, or individuals who may be contemplating
> public service in the future, it decreases any effect of critique that
> actually may be merited by real inappropriate action.
> --
> Justin Levitt
> Professor of Law
> Loyola Law School | Los Angeles
> 919 Albany St.
> Los Angeles, CA 90015
> 213-736-7417
> justin.levitt at lls.edu
> ssrn.com/author=698321
> On 11/20/2014 7:32 AM, Rick Hasen wrote:
>>
>>
>> Myrna Perez Withdraws from EAC Consideration; President Nominates
>> Matthew Butler <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=68518>
>>
>> Posted onNovember 19, 2014 4:41 pm
>> <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=68518>byRick Hasen
>> <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
>>
>> The rumors turned out to be true. The Brennan Center's Myrna Perezhas
>> withdrawn
>> <http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/11/19/presidential-nominations-and-withdrawal-sent-senate>her
>> nomination and one of the Democratic-appointed EAC commissiners. In
>> her place, Matthew Butler.
>>
>> Butler's current twitter bio<https://twitter.com/matthewsbutler>makes
>> it sounds like he could be quite partisan in this position:
>> "Political & Non-Profit Management Consultant. Current interim ED
>> @FilmAid <https://twitter.com/FilmAid>. Fmr. CEO @MMFA
>> <https://twitter.com/MMFA>. Opinions my own and probably not popular
>> with many fans of Fox News."
>>
>> As I explain in /The Voting Wars/
>> <http://www.amazon.com/The-Voting-Wars-Election-Meltdown/dp/0300198248>,
>> there was a time when a few courageous EAC commissioners could have
>> made the Commission something to get above the partisan sniping. But
>> they were shut down and that moment regrettably has passed.
>>
>>
>> Posted inelection administration
>> <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>,Election Assistance Commission
>> <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=34>,The Voting Wars
>> <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>
>>
>>
>
>
>
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--
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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