[EL] disclosure

[Sean Parnell]

Well, Rick, not sure if you're willing to take my word as "proof" (I tend to
have a pretty high standard for that specific term), but I do happen to
favor disclosure of "large contributions to candidate committees, political
parties, and PACs."

Now, where there may be some confusion is how one defines "large
contributions" and, potentially, PACs (I think candidate committee and
political party are clear enough, although I'm sure some enterprising
"reformer" will somehow manage to stretch those definitions one day to
include things I wouldn't think qualify). And I have certainly observed that
disclosure is often worse than useless, but that's not the same as saying it
is always worthless - there is some minimal value on occasion (watching the
nexus between campaign contributions to state AGs and the awarding of legal
work to trial lawyers does suggest something to many, after all), and
ultimately if we had a regime of unlimited contributions I'd probably think
it was marginally worth having some reasonable disclosure of gifts over a
certain level. 

But so long as "large contributions" isn't defined too low in my eyes, and
PAC doesn't encompass anybody who might ever voice a critical word on a
candidate (such as, for example, a c4 or c6 that primarily engages in other
activity but that also speaks out on candidates), then I'd support
disclosure. 

Best,


Sean Parnell
President
Impact Policy Management, LLC
6411 Caleb Court
Alexandria, VA  22315
571-289-1374 (c)
sean at impactpolicymanagement.com


-----Original Message-----
From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu
[mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] On Behalf Of Rick
Hasen
Sent: Wednesday, April 08, 2015 4:31 PM
To: Allen Dickerson; law-election at UCI.edu
Subject: Re: [EL] disclosure

I believe it is no strawman at all Allen. I doubt that Sean, Ben, Steve, Jim
Bopp and many others who have chimed in about disclosure would agree that
they support disclosure of large contributions to candidate committees,
political parties, and PACs.

I'd love to be proven wrong.


On 4/8/15 1:16 PM, Allen Dickerson wrote:
> "Opponents of disclosure" is, of course, a straw man. Many of us support
disclosure of large contributions to candidate committees, political
parties, and PACs. The question is whether other organizations, including
groups like CLC and the Pillar of Law Institute, should be subject to that
same standard.
>
> CLC is entitled to whatever voluntary disclosure policy it wishes. But, to
the extent it advocates the use of state power to impose similar
requirements on other nonprofit organizations, it should clarify the
standard.
>
> In that vein, it's worth noting that this discussion started with a
vaguely-written local news piece. Larry Noble is not directly quoted as
conflating the Institute with individuals seeking to influence elections.
Presumably he, and the other lawyers at CLC, would recognize the difference
between a public interest law firm and a PAC.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu
> [mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] On Behalf Of 
> Rick Hasen
> Sent: Wednesday, April 08, 2015 4:00 PM
> To: law-election at UCI.edu
> Subject: [EL] disclosure
>
> I find it fascinating how many opponents of disclosure seem to so keenly
interested in the Campaign Legal Center's disclosure policies.  It's
especially interesting given arguments from opponents that disclosure
provides no useful information and that privacy and anonymity are paramount.
> I get the point of trying to show CLC as hypocrites (and I don't see that
they are in this regard at all).  But the effort is still comical and
ironic.
>
> --
> 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
>
> _______________________________________________
> Law-election mailing list
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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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