[EL] ELB News and Commentary 11/17/15
Rick Hasen
rhasen at law.uci.edu
Tue Nov 17 07:42:04 PST 2015
"What are the benefits of campaign finance reform?”
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77609>
Posted onNovember 17, 2015 7:39 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77609>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Sam
Power<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2015/11/17/what-are-the-benefits-of-campaign-finance-reform/>at
The Monkey Cage.
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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>
“11 amicus briefs filed in support of Bob McDonnell”
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77607>
Posted onNovember 17, 2015 7:39 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77607>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Richmond Times-Dispatch
<http://www.richmond.com/news/virginia/government-politics/article_107a414b-88a5-5979-9b61-7209bc770d9f.html>:
Former lawyers for Democratic presidents Barack Obama and Bill
Clinton are among the signers of 11 amicus briefs backing former
Gov. Bob McDonnell’s appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The high court could decide before the new year whether to take up
the former governor’s appeal of his corruption convictions.
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Posted inbribery <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=54>,chicanery
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>
“Will President Obama Leave a Failed Legacy on Secret Money in
Politics?” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77605>
Posted onNovember 17, 2015 7:27 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77605>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Zephyr Teachout and David Segal blog
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/zephyr-teachout/will-president-obama-leav_b_8576524.html>.
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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,campaigns
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>
“Seattle’s new political vouchers are an experiment. How will we
know if they’re working?” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77603>
Posted onNovember 17, 2015 7:24 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77603>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Mark Schmitt
<http://www.vox.com/polyarchy/2015/11/16/9743144/seattle-political-vouchers> writes
for Vox.
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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>
“Barney Frank Says It’s ‘Stupid’ to Think Bank Donations Affect
Clinton” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77601>
Posted onNovember 17, 2015 7:22 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77601>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Bloomberg reports
<http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/trackers/2015-11-16/it-s-stupid-to-think-bank-donations-affect-clinton-frank?cmpid=BBD111715_POL>.
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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,campaigns
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>
“Comments to FEC Back Rules for Super PACs”
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77599>
Posted onNovember 17, 2015 7:20 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77599>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Bloomberg BNA
<http://news.bna.com/mpdm/MPDMWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=79239982&vname=mpebulallissues&jd=a0h5m8h9h9&split=0>:
The Federal Election Commission has received nearly 12,000
publiccomments <http://sers.fec.gov/fosers/> overwhelmingly
supporting the latest FEC proposals to write rules to control super
political action committees and other campaign spending groups.
Despite the number registering support, it was unlikely the comments
would change attitudes at the FEC, where the commissioners have been
deeply divided for years over whether new rules are needed.
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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,federal
election commission <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=24>
“Ex-N.J. Govs. Tom Kean and Christie Whitman: Big money poisoning
politics” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77597>
Posted onNovember 17, 2015 7:19 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77597>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Jonathan Salant reports
<http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/11/nj_govs_kean_and_whitman_join_effort_to_limit_money_in_politics.html>for
NJ.com.
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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>
“Pro-Tillis dark money group funded entirely by Crossroads GPS”
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77593>
Posted onNovember 17, 2015 7:16 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77593>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Open Secrets
<http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2015/11/pro-tillis-dark-money-group-funded-entirely-by-crossroads-gps/>on
how one non-disclosing group funds another:
One of the largest and most prolific politically active nonprofits
in the country was virtually the sole backer of Carolina Rising, the
group that spent $4.7 million on ads supporting now-Sen. Thom
Tillis’ successful run to unseat incumbent Democrat Kay Hagan in
2014. That was nearly 100 percent of Carolina Rising’s spending, as
OpenSecrets Blog wrote last month.
Crossroads GPS not only provided 98.7 percent of Carolina Rising’s
funds, but it also spent tens of millions of its own money in North
Carolina and elsewhere in the midterms, according to tax documents
obtained by the Center for Responsive Politics.
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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,campaigns
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>,tax law and election law
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=22>
Floyd Abrams on Campaign Finance, Inequality, Shelby County, and
More <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77590>
Posted onNovember 16, 2015 9:27 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77590>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Tonight Floyd Abrams gave the Raymond Pryke First Amendment Lecture at
UCI Law, and you can watch a video of ithere
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2Y-N_HKPsI>:
Most of the lecture consisted of Floyd defending the Supreme Court’s
approach to campaign finance cases particularly in/Buckley v.
Valeo/and/Citizens United v. FEC/. Having just writtena book
<http://www.amazon.com/Plutocrats-United-Campaign-Distortion-Elections/dp/0300212453/ref=la_B0089NJCR2_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1430416698&sr=1-7>which
examines some of Floyd’s arguments in detail, I found many of Floyd’s
arguments familiar (well said, and interesting to the audience, but
familiar to me). And in the Q&A I ask Floyd about the treatment of
foreign money in elections.
But there was one part of the talk that was new to me and significant,
and when I asked Floyd about it, he confirmed it was new. It comes near
the end of the talk, when Floyd (around the 35 minute mark) says:
“Now in praising Buckley I don’t mean to denigrate the need for much
greater attention to be played to the issue of equality with respect to
elections as well as other topics. It’s not only a current political
issue, but a moral one. But it is not to be solved, I would argue, or
even addressed, by limiting speech. There are lots of non-First
Amendment-threatening ways to seek to address the issue of equality
generally or even ith respect to elections generally and other topics.
The decision of the Supreme Court, holding unconstitutional a central
part of the Voting Rights Act, for example, seems to me indefensible.
The gerrymandering that has made elections to Congress in most districts
so non-competitive that many find it irrelevant to vote is not only
morally odious but raises legal issues that I hope someday the Supreme
Court will sseriously address. Significantly increased voter
identification requirements, limitations on times and places of voting,
are at odds with what I think of as democratic norms. And I think we
should have more public funding of elections and more disclosure of who
spends what in elections. But limiting speech about elections is
something else entirely.”
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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,Supreme
Court <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>
FEC Commissioners Ravel and Weintraub with New Proposal to Limit
Super PAC Coordination <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77588>
Posted onNovember 16, 2015 5:49 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77588>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Here it is
<http://www.fec.gov/agenda/2015/documents/mtgdoc_15-54-d.pdf>, on the
agenda.
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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,federal
election commission <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=24>
See, It’s Not Just Republicans That Seek to Undermine Campaign
Finance Laws <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77586>
Posted onNovember 16, 2015 4:10 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77586>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
News from Connecticut:
<http://www.ctnewsjunkie.com/archives/entry/dems_would_scrap_clean_election_program_to_balance_budget/>
The legislature’s Democratic majority released aproposal
<http://www.ctnewsjunkie.com/upload/2015/11/DemLeader-151116-BudgetDetails.pdf>Monday
to close a $350 million budget shortfall by, among other things,
suspending Connecticut’s landmark campaign finance system for the
2016 election cycle.
The suspension of the program would only help close $11.7 million of
the $350 million to $370 million budget gap.
But Michael Brandi, the head of the State Elections Enforcement
Commission, said the one cycle suspension would start the “death
spiral” for the program.
“The CEF has been a huge success and this move would put it on life
support if not kill it entirely,” Brandi said in a statement. “It
will not leave the fund enough money to fund the 2018 elections — so
this is not a one-time suspension, it’s a permanent weakening, that
will likely result in a death spiral — and it will return all of our
elected officials to the culture of soliciting special interest
money to fund their campaigns. This is not what the citizens of
Connecticut signed up for when the Citizens’ Election Fund was created.”
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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>
“GOP campaigns tell RNC not to let Adelson stack the debate crowd”
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77583>
Posted onNovember 16, 2015 2:48 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77583>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Politico
<http://www.politico.com/story/2015/11/gop-rnc-sheldon-adelson-215938>:
Top campaign officials on Monday pressed the Republican National
Committee on whether Las Vegas casino mogul Sheldon Adelson would
receive an extra block of tickets for next month’s GOP debate at his
Venetian hotel – and potentially stack the crowd for his favored
candidate.
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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,campaigns
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>
New Jane Mayer Book on Koch Brothers/Undisclosed Money Coming
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77581>
Posted onNovember 16, 2015 2:43 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77581>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Should be
big<http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/11/16/a-new-book-looks-at-the-koch-brothers-role-in-politics/?smid=tw-share>and
controversial.
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Posted inUncategorized <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>
PresidentObamasLegacy.Org <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77579>
Posted onNovember 16, 2015 1:24 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77579>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Not to late for the president to do something about money in politics,a
coalition of 18 reform groups argues. <http://presidentobamaslegacy.org/>
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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>
GAB RIP <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77577>
Posted onNovember 16, 2015 11:48 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77577>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Patrick Marley
<http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/assembly-gop-set-to-send-campaign-finance-bills-to-walker-b99616812z1-350625331.html>:
Assembly Republicans on Monday sent Gov. Scott Walker a bill
rewriting campaign finance laws and were poised to approve one
replacing the state’s ethics and elections board with two new
commissions.
Themeasure
<http://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2015/proposals/ab388>eliminating
the Government Accountability Board was prompted by GOP ire over an
investigation of Walker’s campaign that was terminated this summer
by a state Supreme Court ruling. Anger over the probe also partly
inspired the campaign finance legislation, which codifies the
court’s finding that candidates and issue groups can work closely
together.
The campaign financebill
<http://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2015/proposals/ab387>would also
double the amount donors can give candidates; allow corporations and
unions to give money to political parties and campaign committees
controlled by legislative leaders; and end the requirement that
donors disclose their employers. Thatwould make it harder for the
public to find out
<http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/assembly-expected-to-pass-campaign-disclosure-bill-b99614966z1-350102581.html>which
industries are funneling money to candidates.
The measure passed 59-0, with all Republicans favoring it and all
Democrats refusing to vote. Democrats declined to vote because they
argued it was a conflict of interest for lawmakers to vote on
changes to campaign finance laws that would take effect before the
next election.
The legislation and the court’s ruling this summercould change the
way
<http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/bill-court-ruling-could-alter-wisconsin-campaigns-b99606618z1-339181301.html>candidates
run campaigns. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) said in
ameeting last week with editors and reporters
<http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/top-gop-lawmakers-might-rebrand-troubled-jobs-agency-b99613818z1-345219442.html>from
the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that he was open to partnering with
issue groups that do not have to disclose their donors. Such groups
run campaign-style ads that escape regulation.
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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,election
administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>,The Voting Wars
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>
FEC Commissioner Weintraub: Sky Not Falling on Super PAC AO
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77575>
Posted onNovember 16, 2015 9:46 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77575>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
In contrast to some of the press coverage,here’s Commissioner
Weintraub’s statement<http://saos.fec.gov/aodocs/1322762.pdf>on the
recent Majority PAC AO:
A funny thing happened at the end of the long and contentious
meeting where this Advisory Opinion was discussed. It turned but
that commissioners agreed more than they disagreed on the principles
underlying the requestors’ plans regarding testing the waters
activities and the relationships between candidates and the Super
PACs that support them. Commissioners agreed unanimously on five of
the twelve questions (questions 4,5,6,8, and 9), and four
commissioners agreed on the answers to questions 11 and 12 (Chair
Ravel and I dissented on those). But even on the questions where we
disagreed, our positions were not diametrically opposed. There was
some common ground. And that should give pause to anyone who is
making plans based on the assumption that the testing the waters
phase of a candidacy is a regulation-free zone.
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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,federal
election commission <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=24>
--
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
hhttp://www.law.uci.edu/faculty/full-time/hasen/
http://electionlawblog.org
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