[EL] Butler and the EAC
Rick Hasen
rhasen at law.uci.edu
Thu Nov 20 10:16:32 PST 2014
Fair enough. I will update my post to make this clear.
On 11/20/14, 10:12 AM, Justin Levitt wrote:
> 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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--
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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