[EL] ELB News and Commentary 7/15/15

Wed Jul 15 08:26:50 PDT 2015

    “What Campaign Filings Don’t Show: Super PACs’ Growing Sway”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74332>

Posted onJuly 15, 2015 8:25 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74332>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

NYT reports. 
<http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/16/us/politics/election-2016-fundraising-campaign-filings.html?ref=politics>

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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,campaigns 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>

    “The Past Goes On Trial in North Carolina”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74330>

Posted onJuly 15, 2015 8:24 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74330>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

David Graham 
<http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/07/nc-voting-case/398447/>for 
the Atlantic.

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Posted inUncategorized <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

    “Witnesses: Changes in N.C.’s election law caused voting hardships”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74328>

Posted onJuly 15, 2015 8:22 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74328>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Winston-Salem Journal report. 
<http://www.journalnow.com/news/elections/local/witnesses-changes-in-n-c-s-election-law-caused-voting/article_211553c0-2a9f-11e5-be10-17c46a0392df.html>

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Posted inelection administration 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>,The Voting Wars 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>,Voting Rights Act 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15>

    “Democrats Pick An Attack Against Scott Walker: Voter ID”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74326>

Posted onJuly 15, 2015 8:20 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74326>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

BuzzFeed reports. 
<http://www.buzzfeed.com/darrensands/democrats-pick-an-attack-against-scott-walker-voter-id#.hunRNLMjr>

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Posted inThe Voting Wars <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

    “FEC Draft Rejects Issue-Based Contribution”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74324>

Posted onJuly 15, 2015 8:15 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74324>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Bloomberg BNA 
<http://news.bna.com/mpdm/MPDMWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=72770690&vname=mpebulallissues&jd=a0g9v8j3c1&split=0>:

    The Federal Election Commission is set to deny a request from
    Democracy Rules Inc., a nonprofit organization that wants to collect
    online contributions from people favoring various issue positions
    and provide contributions to candidates favoring those positions.
    The FEC released a draft advisory opinion (AO 2015-03) on theagenda
    <http://www.fec.gov/agenda/2015/agenda20150716.shtml>for the FEC
    commissioners’ open meeting July 16, which would deny the bid from
    Democracy Rules.

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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,federal 
election commission <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=24>

    A New “Council of Review” to Stop Corruption and Ferret Out Rent
    Seeking? <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74322>

Posted onJuly 15, 2015 8:14 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74322>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Bruce Owen,Umping the Political Game. 
<http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2626309>

This is a variation on the new conservative calls to rehabilitate 
Lochner 
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/110-years-and-still-going-strong/2015/07/10/f30bfe10-2662-11e5-aae2-6c4f59b050aa_story.html>. 
  That is, use substantive due process to have the courts deregulate and 
shrink government.

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

    “McAuliffe plans Aug. 17 special session to redraw congressional
    map” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74320>

Posted onJuly 15, 2015 7:48 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74320>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

News from Va. 
<http://www.richmond.com/news/virginia/government-politics/article_407d1c18-16b2-5ca3-bed2-5f6c1df23361.html>

    Speaker of the House William J. Howell, R-Stafford, and Senate
    Majority Leader Thomas K. Norment Jr., R-James City, called the move
    premature and said the case should play out in court first.

    “As we have said before, the General Assembly fully intends to
    exercise its legal right to remedy any legal flaw ultimately found
    by the courts with respect to the current congressional districts,”
    Howell and Norment said in a statement.

    “However, we continue to believe it would be inappropriate to act
    before the defendants have fully litigated this case.”

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Posted inredistricting <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>

    “Revenge of Citizens United; Concerns are mounting that huge checks
    in the GOP primary will hurt the party’s chances of taking the White
    House” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74318>

Posted onJuly 15, 2015 7:46 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74318>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Politico 
<http://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/revenge-of-citizens-united-120115.html>:

    Concerns are mounting among top donors and party elites that an
    influx of huge checks into the GOP primary will hurt the party’s
    chances of retaking the White House. Long-shot candidates propped up
    by super PACs and other big-money groups will be able to linger for
    months throwing damaging barbs at establishment favorites who offer
    a better chance of victory, the thinking goes.

    Already, big-money groups have raised about $86 million to support a
    handful of second- and third-tier candidates — Govs. Chris Christie
    of New Jersey and John Kasich of Ohio, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, former
    CEO Carly Fiorina and former Govs. Rick Perry of Texas and Mike
    Huckabee of Arkansas. In some cases, the lion’s share came from a
    handful of ultra-wealthy partisans, including a pair of Dallas
    billionaires who combined to give$11 million to a pro-Perry super
    PAC
    <http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/10/politics/rick-perry-super-pac-fundraising-17-million/index.html>and
    a handful of donors who accounted for the majority of the$37 million
    reportedly raised
    <http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/03/politics/ted-cruz-super-pac-identities/>by
    a pro-Cruz super PAC.

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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,campaigns 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>

    “CCP: Increased Campaign Freedom Leads To More Choices In GOP
    Presidential Primary” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74316>

Posted onJuly 15, 2015 7:44 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74316>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Keating comments. 
<http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?ca=6cb4fced-f578-45c1-b171-cd57b7727d96&c=b7abd9b0-a0c2-11e4-96ef-d4ae529ce48a&ch=b86d7c00-a0c2-11e4-97ef-d4ae529ce48a>

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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,campaigns 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>

    “Wealthy donors seize steering wheel in 2016 races”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74314>

Posted onJuly 15, 2015 7:39 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74314>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Fredreka Schouten 
<http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2015/07/14/super-pacs-dominate-republican-field-ted-cruz-rick-perry-jeb-bush/30132183/> for 
USA Today:

    Money from wealthy political patrons is gushing into the 2016
    presidential contest, racing past the fundraising of Republican
    candidates themselves as donors seek new ways to influence who wins
    the party’s nomination.

    One example: Allies of two GOP contenders from Texas — Sen. Ted Cruz
    and former Texas governor Rick Perry — have created multiple super
    PACs, aimed at giving donors more say in how their money is spent.

    Cruz benefits from four closely connected outside groups that in a
    single week raised three times the amount the first-term senator
    collected over three months.

    Perry is supported by three super PACs, dubbed Opportunity and
    Freedom PAC, Opportunity and Freedom I and Opportunity and Freedom II.

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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,campaigns 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>

    “North Carolina’s Voting Law Goes on Trial”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74312>

Posted onJuly 15, 2015 7:38 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74312>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

NYT editorial: 
<http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/15/opinion/north-carolinas-voting-law-goes-on-trial.html?ref=opinion&_r=0>

    The trial over North Carolina’s law may be the biggest test yet of
    the remaining strength of the Voting Rights Act. Already, the court
    has heard from citizens who voted for years without difficulty, but
    whose votes were tossed out or could not be cast in 2014 because of
    the new law.

    The state’s lawyersargue that
    <http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/14/us/sides-dispute-basis-of-north-carolina-voting-laws-as-trial-contesting-them-opens.html?ref=us>North
    Carolina is behaving no worse than other states, New York included,
    that have no early voting, same-day registration or out-of-precinct
    voting. Those lapses are a discredit to those states, but they are
    not an excuse for North Carolina to turn back its own clock.

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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>,Voting Rights Act 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15>

    “Groups backed by secret donors take the lead in shaping 2016
    elections” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74310>

Posted onJuly 14, 2015 5:01 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74310>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Matea Gold 
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/groups-backed-by-secret-donors-take-the-lead-in-shaping-2016-elections/2015/07/14/e56a2572-2a3e-11e5-a5ea-cf74396e59ec_story.html?postshare=3981436918352825>for 
WaPo:

    These tax-exempt groups — which can keep their donors secret even as
    they sponsor hard-hitting ads — are being increasingly embraced by
    campaign operatives looking for new ways to influence the political
    environment.

    While such “social welfare” organizations are not supposed to be
    primarily focused on elections, they face little oversight from a
    deadlocked Federal Election Commission or the Internal Revenue
    Service, whose effort to issue new rules governing their political
    activity has stalled.

    In the absence of such scrutiny, political nonprofits are poised to
    take on their biggest role yet in the coming federal elections. The
    Republican opposition group America Rising announced Tuesday that it
    has launched a new nonprofit called AR2, which will focus on
    researching liberal groups and policies, along with a state-based
    affiliate in Missouri. Supporters of Senate Majority Whip John
    Cornyn (R-Tex.) announced a newSenate-focused nonprofit this week
    <http://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/nonprofit-to-give-cover-to-senate-republicans-120049.html>called
    Our Next America.

    Andeight Republican White House hopefuls
    <http://www.opensecrets.org/pres16/outsidegroups.php>already have
    aligned tax-exempt organizations, set up under section 501(c)(4) of
    the tax code.

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

    “Emails: NC board member involved in disputed voting plan”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74308>

Posted onJuly 14, 2015 4:46 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74308>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Big AP story 
<http://news.yahoo.com/emails-nc-board-member-involved-disputed-voting-plan-221924520.html>showing 
partisan intent by election officials in shutting down student voting in 
North Carolina:

    A Republican member of the North Carolina elections board worked
    closely with local officials in their effort to eliminate a heavily
    Democratic voting site, a plan a judge ruled was intended to
    suppress voter turnout, according to hundreds of emails reviewed by
    The Associated Press.

    The state Board of Elections is supposed to act as a neutral arbiter
    when policy disputes arise involving county elections boards. The
    emails show that Paul J. Foley worked closely behind the scenes with
    GOP officials in Watauga County as they crafted a plan to eliminate
    the early voting site at Appalachian State University….

    The lawsuit contended Foley’s “continual collaboration” with Stacy
    Eggers IV, the Watauga County government attorney and a former local
    elections board member, revealed a “partisan motive” behind the action.

    Their correspondence, reviewed by AP, frequently refers to “the
    opposition” and “the other side.”

    In early August, 2013, as a new county board with a Republican
    majority was about to be sworn in, Eggers asked Foley to examine
    proposals he expected would pass, including removing the early
    voting site from the university’s Plemmons Student Union.

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

    FactChecker Rejects NC GOP Claim that Unions Paid Moral Monday Voter
    ID Protesters <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74305>

Posted onJuly 14, 2015 11:45 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74305>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

WRAL investigates 
<http://www.wral.com/fact-check-nc-gop-makes-claims-about-unions-backing-for-moral-monday/14770898/>.

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Posted inThe Voting Wars <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

    “Brennan Center, Co-Plaintiffs File Lawsuit to Close NY’s ‘LLC
    Loophole'” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74303>

Posted onJuly 14, 2015 11:25 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74303>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Release 
<http://www.brennancenter.org/press-release/brennan-center-co-plaintiffs-file-lawsuit-close-nys-llc-loophole>:

    Today the Brennan Center and Emery Celli Brinckerhoff & Abady LLP
    <http://www.ecbalaw.com/>, on behalf of several former and current
    State legislators and other plaintiffs, filed suit
    <https://www.brennancenter.org/legal-work/brennan-center-justice-et-al-v-new-york-state-board-elections> against
    the New York State Board of Elections (BOE) to close the state’s
    infamous “LLC Loophole
    <http://www.brennancenter.org/closing-new-york-llc-loophole>.” Since
    the Loophole was created by the BOE in 1996, contributors donating
    through LLCs have circumvented contribution limits and disclosure
    requirements that the Legislature created to protect the integrity
    of New York’s democratic process — and injected millions of secret
    dollars into state elections. In April the Brennan Center and Emery
    Celli asked the BOE to close the Loophole, but the board, in a 2-2
    vote, refused to rescind its earlier decision and thereby defeated
    this attempt at reform. This lawsuit presents a promising
    opportunity to close the Loophole once and for all.

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

    “Why North Carolina Is the New Selma”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74301>

Posted onJuly 14, 2015 11:22 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74301>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Ari Berman 
dispatch<http://www.thenation.com/article/why-north-carolina-is-the-new-selma/>for 
/The Nation/on the North Carolina voting trial [corrected].

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Posted inThe Voting Wars <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>,Voting 
Rights Act <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15>

    WI Supreme Court to Rule on John Doe Case Thursday
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74299>

Posted onJuly 14, 2015 8:33 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=74299>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

AP reports. 
<http://www.channel3000.com/news/politics/wisconsin-court-to-rule-on-john-doe-probes-validity/34157114>

What to expect? This is a highly partisan issue on a highly partisan and 
bitterly divided court. Expect the court to kill the remaining John Doe 
investigation over the howls of the Court’s liberals.

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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,chicanery 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>

-- 
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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