[EL] Butler and the EAC
Justin Levitt
levittj at lls.edu
Thu Nov 20 10:12:22 PST 2014
In my mind, there's a very big difference between "the Democratic
leadership made a provocative choice" or "the Democratic leadership
should have chosen someone with more election administration experience"
or "the EAC would be better suited by/function more effectively with X
or Y" and "Butler's current twitter bio makes it sounds like he could be
quite partisan in this position." Only the latter is an unfounded
prediction about how a particular person will behave.
On 11/20/2014 9:56 AM, Rick Hasen wrote:
> 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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