[EL] ELB News and Commentary 4/16/15
Rick Hasen
rhasen at law.uci.edu
Wed Apr 15 19:43:26 PDT 2015
“A Snapshot of the Campaign Finance Landscape”
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=71761>
Posted onApril 15, 2015 7:41 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=71761>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
NYT’S “The Upshot.”
<http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/16/upshot/political-fund-raising-how-candidates-are-doing.html?ref=politics&abt=0002&abg=0>
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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,campaigns
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>
“Dean Skelos, New York Senate Leader, and His Son Are Said to Be
Focus of Federal Inquiry” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=71759>
Posted onApril 15, 2015 7:37 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=71759>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
NYT reports.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/16/nyregion/dean-skelos-new-york-senate-leader-and-his-son-are-said-to-be-focus-of-federal-inquiry.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news>
A draft paper
<http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2585260>of mine asks
why New York sees so many more corruption prosecutions and convictions
than Congress and most other states.
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Posted inbribery <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=54>,chicanery
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>
“Clinton Foundation to Keep Foreign Donors”
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=71757>
Posted onApril 15, 2015 7:35 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=71757>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
WSJ reports.
<http://www.wsj.com/articles/clinton-foundation-to-keep-foreign-donors-1429140593?mod=wsj_nview_latest>
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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,conflict
of interest laws <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=20>
“Voter ID Laws: A View from the Public”
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=71755>
Posted onApril 15, 2015 7:33 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=71755>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Gronke, Hicks, McKee, Stewart and Dunham have postedthis
draft<http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2594290>on
SSRN. Here is the abstract:
The proliferation of voter identification laws in the American
states has spawned a growing literature examining their effects on
participation and the factors conditioning their enactment. In this
study we move in a different direction, focusing on public opinion
toward these laws. Superficially, it appears that voter ID is a
valence issue. Public opinion shows broad support, primarily as a
way to safeguard the integrity of the ballot box. We explore this
supposed consensus on voter ID, probing the rationales and
explanations put forth for requiring strict photo ID. Specifically,
we draw upon a battery of questions in the 2014 Cooperative
Congressional Election Study (CCES) to determine the degree to which
respondents’ attitudes toward voter ID laws are influenced by
beliefs about the prevalence of voter fraud, knowledge of existing
voter ID laws, and opinions regarding the possible intentions and
purposes for photo voter ID laws. Our findings make it evident that
although large majorities favor strict photo ID laws, the factors
associated with support for these laws vary by partisanship. It is
not simply that Republicans strongly favor strict photo ID laws and
Democrats are split on the matter. Instead, Republican popular
support for strict photo ID laws cuts across virtually all
demographic groups, while Democratic support is much more likely to
vary as a function of factors such as ideology, education, attention
to politics, and racial resentment in the case of white respondents.
The partisan division in public opinion over voter ID laws strongly
suggests an elite-to-mass message transmission reminiscent of the
broader state of polarized party politics.
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Posted inelection administration
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>,The Voting Wars
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>,voter id
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=9>
“Reports Reveal Elaborate Spending Up Until Schock’s Resignation”
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=71753>
Posted onApril 15, 2015 7:31 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=71753>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
NBC Chicago
<http://www.nbcchicago.com/investigations/aaron-schock-299986121.html>:
An examination by NBC5 Investigates shows the former 18th District
congressman spent more than $42,000 on travel expenses, most of it
on airfare, with one notable $4,000 stay at the swank White Elephant
Hotel in Nantucket. The congressman dropped another $3,407 for gift
bowls at Tiffany’s, and more than $3,000 at Garrett’s Popcorn. The
federal records indicate that his American Express bills topped more
than $75,000.
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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,chicanery
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>
MT Disclosure Law Coming <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=71751>
Posted onApril 15, 2015 2:09 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=71751>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Press release via email:
Governor Bullock: Montana Elections Are About to Become the
Most Transparent in the Nation
HELENA – Governor Steve Bullock today released the following
statement on the passage of theMontana Disclose Act
<http://governor.mt.gov/Portals/16/docs/2015PressReleases/020515CampaignFinanceRelease.pdf>:
“Montana elections are about to become the most transparent in the
nation, requiring those trying to influence our elections to come
out of the dark money shadows. Our elections should be decided by
Montanans, not shadowy dark money groups.”
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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>
Ann Coulter Reaffirms Her Support for Literacy Tests
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=71749>
Posted onApril 15, 2015 12:26 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=71749>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Media Matters has the video
<http://mediamatters.org/video/2015/04/15/fox-news-asks-if-its-time-to-revisit-voter-lite/203289>.
In myupcoming book
<http://www.amazon.com/Plutocrats-United-Campaign-Distortion-Elections/dp/0300212453/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1429125895&sr=8-3&keywords=plutocrat>,
I was looking to find examples of modern politicians or pundits (of
either party) supporting (fairly applied) literacy tests. Coulter was
the only person I found, but the reference was a bit old. Well now I
have a 2015 reference to Coulter.
Can anyone point to anyone in Congress or on the national stage who
agrees (publicly) with Coulter?
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Posted inVoting Rights Act <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15>
“Magical Thinking About Reform” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=71747>
Posted onApril 15, 2015 12:23 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=71747>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Larry Noble
<http://www.campaignlegalcenter.org/news/blog/magical-thinking-about-reform>:
Like any good magic show, misdirection is at the heart of Robert
Bauer’s and Samuel Issacharoff’s op-ed,/Keep Shining the Light on
‘Dark Money’
<http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/04/keep-shining-the-light-on-dark-money-116901.html#ixzz3XD1kRDAT>/,
published in Politico on April 12^th . Directing the audience’s
attention to the need for greater transparency of “dark money,” they
talk about the need for “[r]eformed reporting requirements carefully
drawn to bring into public view this spending while also addressing
concerns about donor privacy and harassment.” Then, right before
our eyes, their reform resulting in greater transparency wondrously
becomes a proposal to transform the current $200 threshold for
reporting the identity of individuals who make political
contributions into a threshold of $2,700 and to require reporting
only during a narrow window sometime between 30 to 120 days before
an election. Since the maximum an individual can contribute to a
federal candidate is $2,700, this proposal would magically make
vanish the identity of every individual who contributes directly to
a federal candidate and turn those contributions into a heretofore
unseen animal: a large dark money contribution made directly to a
federal candidate. At the same time, contributions from party
committees, leadership PACs and corporate and union PACs would not
have to be disclosed unless the contributions exceeded $2,700 and
were made right before an election.
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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>
“Jeb Bush’s noncampaign campaign honesty problem”
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=71745>
Posted onApril 15, 2015 12:21 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=71745>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Adam Smith
<http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/the-buzz-florida-politics/jeb-bushs-non-campaign-campaign-honesty-problem/2225609>:
Put aside the legitimate questions about how Bush is skirting
campaign finance laws – or breaking them, as some experts allege.
How about that quaint notion that candidates for America’s highest
office ought to tell the truth?
Does anyone actually believe Jeb Bush has not decided he is running
for president? Perhaps that was the case in January, as he was just
beginning to meet with donors and voters and reporters and had not
yet seen how he would be received, how it would feel on the campaign
trail. That no longer holds water, and it hasn’t for a long time.
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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>
Man Lands Gyrocopter Near Capitol to Protest Citizens United
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=71743>
Posted onApril 15, 2015 12:07 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=71743>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
CNN
<http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/15/politics/aircraft-lands-on-capitol-grounds/>.
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Posted inUncategorized <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>
“Schock Donor Sues Ex-US Congressman Seeking Reimbursement”
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=71741>
Posted onApril 15, 2015 10:53 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=71741>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
AP
<http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/schock-donor-sues-us-congressman-seeking-reimbursement-30338956>:
“A Chicago lawyer filed a federal racketeering lawsuit against former
Illinois Rep.Aaron Schock
<http://abcnews.go.com/topics/news/us/rep.-aaron-schock.htm>on
Wednesday, saying he was tricked into believing the young congressman
was “a breath of fresh air” in a corruption-prone state but who instead
intended to collect campaign money for personal use.”
You can find the complainthere
<https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1875457-schock-donor-lawsuit.html>.
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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,chicanery
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>
“Language Accommodations and Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act:
Reporting Requirements as a Potential Solution to the Compliance
Gap” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=71738>
Posted onApril 15, 2015 6:35 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=71738>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Matthew Higgins has written thisexcellent student note
<http://www.stanfordlawreview.org/print/article/language-accommodations-and-section-203-of-the-voting-rights-act>for
the Stanford Law Review. Here is the abstract:
Certain voters with limited English proficiency (LEP) are afforded
affirmative accommodations under section 203 of the Voting Rights
Act (VRA). Section 203’s provisions, however, are often critically
misunderstood and only partially implemented. The law’s substantial
compliance gap stems largely from its complex and fact-specific
mandates as well as its requirement that election jurisdictions
themselves determine the extent of their own affirmative duties.
In an effort to partially close section 203’s compliance gap and
promote universal enforcement of federal election laws, this Note
adapts a recent proposal requiring the advance disclosure of federal
voting changes to the language assistance context. In response to
the Supreme Court’s decision in/Shelby County v. Holder/, academics
and members of Congress have proposed a requirement that all
election jurisdictions report to the local media and the government
certain changes to their election laws before those changes take
effect. This Note modifies and applies this general framework to
address the low compliance rates of the VRA’s language assistance
provisions.
This proposal requires all covered language jurisdictions to
publicly present a section 203 compliance plan six months before an
election. It represents a cost-effective way to inform election
officials of their particularized legal obligations and to more
efficiently leverage third-party resources to ensure that the
language assistance provisions are consistently and properly enforced.
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Posted inVoting Rights Act <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15>
--
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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