[EL] ELB News and Commentary 1/28/15

Rick Hasen rhasen at law.uci.edu
Tue Jan 27 19:44:41 PST 2015 

    Hasen on Bauer on Hasen on President Obama on #SCOTUS on Foreign
    Campaign Spending <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69951>

Posted onJanuary 27, 2015 7:30 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69951>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Is the following statement by President Obama false?

      “But five years ago, a Supreme Court ruling [Citizens United]
    allowed big companies – including foreign corporations – to spend
    unlimited amounts of money to influence our elections.”

Iargued that it is <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69833> false:

    In fact, five years ago, in Citizens United the Court expressly
    refused to rule on whether a ban on foreign money in elections
    (individual, corporate, or otherwise) could be banned in elections.
    It left the foreign spending ban in place. So Citizens United did
    not allow “foreign corporations” to “spend unlimited amounts of
    money to influence our elections.”

Bob Bauer’s response 
<http://www.moresoftmoneyhardlaw.com/2015/01/evaluating-reform-argument-false-true-barely-either-something-else/> urges 
that we use the reform community’s playbook (stretch corruption to mean 
“undue influence,” look for “loopholes” and what is “really going on”) 
to reach the conclusion that the statement is not false.  Bob’s 
reasoning in brief: Before Citizens United /no /corporations could spend 
money on certain election related activities. After /Citizens United/, 
/domestic/corporations can, including U.S. subsidiaries of foreign 
corporations. Bob acknowledges that federal law bars foreign controllers 
from telling the U.S. subsidiaries if and how to participate in U.S. 
elections, but we all know what is, or could be, going on.

I’m sorry. I love Bob, but this reasoning will not fly. The president 
said that Citizens united “allowed . .. foreign corporations . . . to 
spend unlimited amounts of money to influence our elections.” The Court 
did no such thing.  If the court permitted a “loophole” to open in which 
foreign corporations could/illegally/direct their U.S. subsidies to do 
this activity, that is not the same as the Court allowing foreign 
corporations to spend unlimited sums in elections. The Court acted with 
the knowledge that this is illegal—and Bob’s resort to the reform 
community’s loose argument playbook is quite ironic (given where Bob 
usually is on these issues.)

Look, foreign money could well be coming into our elections, illegally, 
especially through 501(c) groups which do not disclose publicly their 
donors.  But that could have been happening before Citizens United too. 
The fix for this must come from Congress or the IRS or the FEC (though I 
have no hope that it will).

Let’s blame the Supreme Court for itshorrible jurisprudence 
<http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1620576>in /Citizens 
United/without falsely accusing the Court of doing something it did not do.

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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,Supreme 
Court <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>


    “Cap Set On Donations To San Diego County Candidates”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69949>

Posted onJanuary 27, 2015 7:12 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69949>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

KPBS 
<http://www.kpbs.org/news/2015/jan/27/cap-set-donations-san-diego-county-candidates/>:

    The San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 Tuesday to
    tentatively approve caps on the amount of money political parties
    can donate to candidates for county offices.

    Pending a second vote, the limits would be $25,000 for supervisors
    races by district and $50,000 for countywide offices.

    When a federal judge struck down San Diego’s $1,000 cap on political
    contributions some years ago for being too restrictive, the county
    did away with its own limit, which was the same amount.

    The city responded in 2013 by capping political contributions for
    district races at $10,000 and $20,000 for citywide campaigns.

    Supervisor Ron Robertsproposed similar individual election limits
    <http://www.kpbs.org/news/2015/jan/26/san-diego-county-may-soon-have-new-campaign-donati/>—
    $10,000 for supervisors candidates since they’re elected by
    district, and $20,000 for countywide races like sheriff, district
    attorney, treasurer-tax collector and assessor/recorder/clerk — but
    later upped the amounts to $25,000 for supervisor races by district
    and $50,000 for countywide offices….

    Roberts said city officials performed “a very thorough analysis” of
    the issues and reached an “appropriate balance” between free speech
    and preventing people from breaking the rules.

Thad Kousser and I provided testimony to the City Council in San Diego 
to help create the record to support the constitutionality of the City’s 
contribution limits.

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


    “Koch Brothers Put Price Tag On 2016: $889 Million”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69947>

Posted onJanuary 27, 2015 7:04 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69947>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Peter Overby reports for NPR. 
<http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2015/01/27/381954047/koch-brothers-put-price-tag-on-2016-889-million?utm_campaign=storyshare&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social>

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


    “Governor Cuomo Proposes Election Law Reforms in State of the State
    ‘Opportunity’ Speech” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69945>

Posted onJanuary 27, 2015 7:00 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69945>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Jeff Wice blogs. 
<https://nyelectionsnews.wordpress.com/2015/01/27/governor-cuomo-proposes-election-law-reforms-in-state-of-the-state-opportunity-speech/>

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


    “Case Against Former Governor Perry to Proceed”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69943>

Posted onJanuary 27, 2015 6:55 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69943>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Texas Tribune 
<http://www.texastribune.org/2015/01/27/case-against-former-gov-perry-proceed/>:

    A judge on Tuesday rejected former Gov.Rick Perry
    <http://www.texastribune.org/directory/rick-perry/>’s attempt to
    throw out a two-count indictment against him, saying it’s too early
    in the case to challenge the constitutionality of the charges.

    Perry’s attorneys immediately filed notice that they will appeal the
    21-page ruling, which was issued Tuesday afternoon by Bert
    Richardson, a Republican; the appeals process could take months. The
    appeal will be considered by the Texas Third Court of Appeals. All
    five justices elected to that court are Republican; a sixth justice,
    who has not yet run in a partisan race, was appointed by Perry
    before he left office.

Perry Appeal Of Motion To Quash

PDF (136.1 KB) 
<http://s3.amazonaws.com/static.texastribune.org/media/documents/Perry_Appeal_Of_Quash.PDF>download 
<http://s3.amazonaws.com/static.texastribune.org/media/documents/Perry_Appeal_Of_Quash.PDF>

Order Denying Defendant’s First Motion

PDF (2.1 MB) 
<http://s3.amazonaws.com/static.texastribune.org/media/documents/Order_Denying_Motion_TO_Quash.PDF>download 
<http://s3.amazonaws.com/static.texastribune.org/media/documents/Order_Denying_Motion_TO_Quash.PDF>

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Posted inchicanery <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>


    “The Kochs Will Spend $1 Billion on the 2016 Elections, but Deny it”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69941>

Posted onJanuary 27, 2015 9:49 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69941>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Brendan Fischer blogs. 
<http://www.prwatch.org/news/2015/01/12717/kochs-arent-spending-1-billion-2016-elections>

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


    “The Rise of Dark Money and the Koch Party; It’s time for
    21st-century campaign finance reform: No limits, instant
    disclosure.” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69939>

Posted onJanuary 27, 2015 9:09 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69939>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Ron Fornier. 
<http://www.nationaljournal.com/politics/the-rise-of-dark-money-and-the-koch-party-20150127>

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


    “Anti-Disclosure Backlash Carries Risks for GOP”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69937>

Posted onJanuary 27, 2015 8:01 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69937>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Eliza’s latest. 
<http://blogs.rollcall.com/beltway-insiders/anti-disclosure-backlash-carries-risks/>

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


    “Former Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alarcon’s house arrest
    ends” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69935>

Posted onJanuary 27, 2015 7:39 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69935>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

LA Daily News. 
<http://www.dailynews.com/government-and-politics/20150126/former-los-angeles-city-councilman-richard-alarcons-house-arrest-ends>

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Posted inchicanery <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>


    “K Street’s Glorious Restoration; It’s A Great Time to Be a
    Lobbyist, Again” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69933>

Posted onJanuary 27, 2015 7:39 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69933>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Jim Oliphant 
<http://www.nationaljournal.com/magazine/k-street-s-glorious-restoration-20150123>for 
the National Journal.

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Posted inlobbying <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=28>


    Video of CCP Event on Citizens United After 5 Years
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69931>

Posted onJanuary 27, 2015 7:37 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69931>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Watch. 
<http://www.campaignfreedom.org/event-citizens-united-v-fec-after-five-years/>

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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,Supreme 
Court <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>

-- 
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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