[EL] ELB News and Commentary 11/21/14

Thu Nov 20 20:55:30 PST 2014

    "Senate Rules Panel Fails to Vote on EAC; Long-Pending Nominees
    Remain in Limbo" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=68542>

Posted onNovember 20, 2014 5:11 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=68542>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Bloomberg BNA 
<http://news.bna.com/mpdm/MPDMWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=59294071&vname=mpebulallissues&fn=59294071&jd=59294071>:

      The Senate Rules and Administration Committee called off Nov. 20 a
    vote on long-awaited nominees to the U.S. Election Assistance
    Commission, a small federal agency providing help to state and local
    voting officials that has had no commissioners serving since 2011.

    A committee meeting set to be held in an ornate room off the Senate
    floor was canceled after aides waited about 20 minutes for a quorum
    of at least 10 Rules Committee members to assemble....

    The Rules Committee already has approved two Democratic EAC
    nominees, Thomas Hicks and Myrna Perez. However, Perez's nomination
    was withdrawn Nov. 19 and a new Democratic nominee, Matthew Butler,
    was announced.
    That development could further complicate Senate confirmation of all
    the EAC nominees, as the Rules Committee has just begun to examine
    Butler's qualifications for the commission post, according to
    committee staffers.

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Posted inelection administration 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>,Election Assistance Commission 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=34>

    "GOP megadonor Sheldon Adelson faces conservative rebellion over
    online gambling" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=68540>

Posted onNovember 20, 2014 2:36 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=68540>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Fascinating WaPo report. 
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/gop-megadonor-sheldon-adelson-faces-conservative-rebellion-over-online-gambling/2014/11/20/b0b03318-6f44-11e4-ad12-3734c461eab6_story.html>

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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,campaigns 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>,legislation and legislatures 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=27>,lobbying 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=28>

    "Koch-linked organization uses 'dark money' to fight political
    disclosure" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=68538>

Posted onNovember 20, 2014 2:34 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=68538>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

CPI 
<http://www.publicintegrity.org/2014/11/20/16305/koch-linked-organization-uses-dark-money-fight-political-disclosure>:

    As the Internal Revenue Service contemplates new rules to illuminate
    "dark money" in politics, a little-known nonprofit group is fighting
    back using money traceable to billionaire brothers Charles and David
    Koch, drug makers and the cable television industry.

    The group, American Commitment, received 87 percent of its $13
    million in funding between 2011 and 2013 from three Koch-connected
    nonprofits: the Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce, the Center to
    Protect Patient Rights and Free Enterprise America, according to tax
    filings reviewed by the Center for Public Integrity
    <http://www.publicintegrity.org/>.

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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,tax law 
and election law <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=22>

    Chapin: Perez EAC Nomination Withdrawal in Works Earlier
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=68536>

Posted onNovember 20, 2014 1:12 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=68536>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

See here. 
<http://blog.lib.umn.edu/cspg/electionacademy/2014/11/meet_the_new_nominee_same_as_t.php>

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Posted inelection administration 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>,Election Assistance Commission 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=34>

    "Democrats Used Twitter, Too, To Coordinate With Outside Groups"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=68534>

Posted onNovember 20, 2014 1:09 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=68534>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Paul Blumenthal reports 
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/20/democrats-twitter-coordination_n_6188852.html?1416517288>for 
HuffPo.

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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>

    "'Vote shaming' grows in popularity for GOTV; Some turned off by
    what they see is invasion of privacy"
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=68532>

Posted onNovember 20, 2014 10:39 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=68532>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

That's the lead story in this week'sElectionline Weekly. 
<http://www.electionline.org/index.php/electionline-weekly>

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Posted inelection administration 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>,voting 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=31>

    More on Butler/EAC <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=68528>

Posted onNovember 20, 2014 10:19 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=68528>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

In an earlier post,I wrote <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=68518> of my 
concern that given Mr. Butler's background at Media Matters, etc. there 
is a risk he would be quite partisan in his position at the EAC.  Justin 
pushed me a bit on this point and he's right---I don't know how at all 
Mr. Butler will be in this position if he is confirmed.  So what's my 
real beef?

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.

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Posted inelection administration 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>,The Voting Wars 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

-- 
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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