[EL] Support for Limits on Spending

Tue Nov 24 10:19:19 PST 2015

As I’ve pointed out before, I’m sure if the reformers try hard enough, they can make limits on campaign spending just as popular an idea as requiring proof of citizenship before a person can vote.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/march_2014/78_favor_proof_of_citizenship_before_being_allowed_to_vote

They’ll have to try very hard to make that position as popular as the view that the government should impose significant restrictions on abortion or ban it altogether.

http://www.kofc.org/un/en/resources/communications/marist-poll-abortion-restrictions2014.pdf

The Framers placed individual rights beyond the power of the people and the government to control because they knew that rights would erode, if not be obliterated altogether, if left to the vagaries of popular opinion. So these surveys about constitutional rights are interesting, but ultimately meaningless, as I would expect that a number of constitutional rights—like the right to counsel, the right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures, etc.—probably wouldn’t poll very well. But that’s why we have a Constitution and a judiciary whose job—at least in theory—is to enforce it and not just two wolves and a sheep voting on what’s for dinner.

Bill

From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu [mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] On Behalf Of Rick Hasen
Sent: Tuesday, November 24, 2015 7:51 AM
To: law-election at uci.edu
Subject: [EL] ELB News and Commentary 11/24/15

“Bernie Sanders’s Rejection of ‘Super PACs’ Is Not Universal”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77784>
Posted on November 24, 2015 7:46 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77784> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

NYT reports.<http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2015/11/24/bernie-sanderss-rejection-of-super-pacs-is-not-universal/?ref=politics&_r=0>
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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, campaigns<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>
“How GOP campaigns are strategizing for Super Tuesday’s delegate bonanza”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77782>
Posted on November 24, 2015 7:44 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77782> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

WaPo reports.<https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-gop-campaigns-are-strategizing-for-super-tuesday-delegate-bonanza/2015/11/22/17bbfca4-8fa1-11e5-ae1f-af46b7df8483_story.html>
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Posted in campaigns<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, political parties<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=25>, primaries<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=32>
“State, Utah GOP appear headed to court over election law — again”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77780>
Posted on November 24, 2015 7:38 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77780> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

KSL:<https://www.ksl.com/index.php?sid=37484610&nid=757&title=state-utah-gop-appear-headed-to-court-over-election-law-mdash-again>

A federal judge Monday permanently barred the state from forcing political parties to hold open primary elections and dismissed all other claims in the Utah Republican Party’s lawsuit.

As U.S. District Judge David Nuffer closed the case, the Utah GOP and the state continued to wrangle over the meaning of part of the law, setting the stage for another court battle, possibly before the Utah Supreme Court.

Meantime, Gov. Gary Herbert told the Republican State Central Committee over the weekend that he wishes he would have vetoed the controversial new election law and let voters decide the issue as proposed by the Count My Vote initiative.
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Posted in political parties<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=25>
“The Reform Debate and the Parties”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77778>
Posted on November 24, 2015 7:31 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77778> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Bauer blogs.<http://www.moresoftmoneyhardlaw.com/2015/11/reform-debate-parties/>
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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, political parties<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=25>, political polarization<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=68>
“The Citizen United President?”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77776>
Posted on November 24, 2015 7:30 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77776> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Robert Weisman oped i<http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2015/11/24/citizens-united-president-campaign-finance-reform-column/76225654/>n USA Today:

Will Barack Obama be remembered for standing by helplessly as Citizens Unitederoded the very foundations of our electoral democracy?

That may be an unfortunate part of his legacy if he fails to take action soon to do something — anything — about the billions of dollars in corporate and super-rich money flooding over the electoral terrain.
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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>
“Bipartisan Support for Limits on Campaign Spending”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77774>
Posted on November 24, 2015 7:28 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77774> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

More from that Pew stud<http://www.people-press.org/2015/11/23/6-perceptions-of-elected-officials-and-the-role-of-money-in-politics/>y I linked to yesterday:

Opinions on campaign finance and its effects on the political system are widely shared; majorities across demographic and partisan groups say there should be limits on campaign spending, that money’s impact on politics has increased and that the high cost of campaigns is driving away good candidates.[Concern about money's influence on politics crosses                  partisan lines]<http://www.people-press.org/files/2015/11/Elected-officials-10.png>

Partisan differences on all three measures are modest. Republicans and Republican-leaning independents (72%) are less likely than Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents (84%) to say that there should be limits on campaign spending. However, support for spending limits is high even among conservative Republicans and leaners –roughly two-thirds (68%) think there should be limits on how much individuals and organizations can spend.

Democrats and leaners are somewhat more likely to say that the high cost of campaigns today discourages good candidates: 68% say this compared with 62% of Republicans and leaners.[Widespread belief that new laws would curb role of                money in politics]

While most Americans believe that new laws would be effective in reducing the role of money in politics, there are educational and partisan differences in how widely these views are held.

Fully three-quarters of those with post-graduate degrees say new laws would be effective in this regard, compared with 57% of those with no more than a high school education.

More Democrats and leaners (71%) than Republicans and leaners (58%) say that new laws would be effective in limiting the influence of money in politics. Nonetheless, majorities across all educational and partisan categories say that new laws could be written that would effectively reduce the role of money in politics.
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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>
NBC Giving Equal Time to Presidential Candidates<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77766>
Posted on November 23, 2015 4:29 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77766> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

From Arizona’s Politics:

AZ’s Politics BREAKING: BLACK FRIDAY…and SATURDAY: NBC’s 60 Minutes of Equal Time For GOP Presidential Candidates Will Be Spread Out This Weekend<http://arizonaspolitics.blogspot.com/2015/11/azs-politics-breaking-black-fridayand.html>

BREAKING: NBC Grants At Least Four GOP Candidates Equal Time Following Donald Trump’s “Saturday Night Live Hosting” Gig, VP Tells Arizona’s Politics<http://arizonaspolitics.blogspot.com/2015/11/breaking-nbc-grants-at-least-four-gop.html>
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Posted in campaigns<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>
“Joe Mathews: Make government work for you with Rent-A-Pol”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77764>
Posted on November 23, 2015 1:56 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77764> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Joe Mathews<http://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/article46058840.html> with a modest proposal.
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Posted in Uncategorized<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>
ABA Journal Names Election Law Blog to Its Blawg 100 Hall of Fame<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77762>
Posted on November 23, 2015 1:54 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77762> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Here<http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/the_9th_annual_blawg_100> is the announcement and here is the full Blawg Hall of Fame<http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/2013_blawg_100_hall_of_fame>. The Journal writes:

Election Law Blog<http://www.abajournal.com/blawg/election-law/>

HALL OF FAME: Brief and exceedingly timely posts by law professor Rick Hasen of the University of California at Irvine provide exhaustive coverage of the election law issues of the day. This is a good one to bookmark as an election year approaches.

Thanks for the honor and recognition!
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Posted in Uncategorized<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>
“CREW Files Criminal Complaint Against Rubio Finance Chair, DC Power Players”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77760>
Posted on November 23, 2015 10:22 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77760> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Release:<http://www.citizensforethics.org/press/entry/crew-files-criminal-complaint-against-rubio-finance-chair-dc-power-players>

Key associates of the notorious dark money group the Commission on Hope, Growth and Opportunity (CHGO) may have violated federal law by making false statements to the government, obstructing an investigation and pocketing more than $1 million originally meant for broadcasting television ads, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) alleged today in a complaint to the United States Attorney’s Office.

During an FEC investigation sparked by CREW’s complaint that CHGO violated the law by failing to register as a political committee or report the millions of dollars it spent on television ads in 2010, the organization’s key players downplayed their involvement. A lawyer for Wayne Berman, now the national finance chairman for Sen. Marco Rubio’s presidential campaign, told the FEC’s investigators that Berman “only offered informal and infrequent fundraising advice strictly on a volunteer basis” and did no consulting work for CHGO. Former RNC executive director and current senior political strategist for the US Chamber of Commerce Scott Reed told the investigators “that he could not recall being involved in the formation of CHGO and could not recall having any contact with anyone involved with CHGO after its formation.”

CHGO’s General Counsel William Canfield, now General Counsel for the Carly for America super PAC, declared to the IRS under the penalty of perjury that CHGO spent no money related to fundraising that year, and told the FEC “that his role at CHGO was limited to legal compliance.”  However, others involved in CHGO, including Michael Mihalke, the principal at the vendor that produced CHGO’s ads, painted a very different picture of Reed, Canfield and Berman’s level of involvement in the enterprise.  Strikingly, Mihalke told investigators that under orders from Reed, $1.1 million dollars that had been paid to Mihalke’s group but that had not been spent was to be split between Berman, Reed and Mihalke and classified as a “fundraising commission.”

“There is no reasonable explanation for how people who claim to have such limited involvement with an organization that had no fundraising expenses could be paid more than $1 million for fundraising work,” CREW Executive Director Noah Bookbinder said. “It appears that these operatives deliberately misled the government about their role in CHGO to throw investigators off the trail of the organization’s violations of campaign finance law. If they were telling the truth about their roles to the FEC, how did they end up with all that money?”

Despite misleading testimony and missing documents, the FEC’s investigators nonetheless found that far more than half CHGO’s spending—as much as 85%—was on campaign activity and that it should have reported millions of dollars in political spending.  But the three Republican FEC commissioners still said nothing could be done because the statute of limitations had run out and CHGO had gone out of business during the FEC’s lengthy investigation, preventing anyone from being held accountable for CHGO’s legal violations. Today CREW also filed a lawsuit against the FEC to force them to reopen and reexamine the case.

“It is inexcusable that no one has been punished for what even the FEC’s investigators believe to be a clear violation of the law,” Bookbinder said. “Laws only work if they are enforced; we are asking the court to remind the FEC it must do its job.”

Read the criminal complaint here<http://crew.3cdn.net/b12e549ab3d07e812e_0jwm646nl.pdf>.

Read the full text of the lawsuit here<http://www.citizensforethics.org/page/-/Complaint.pdf>.
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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, chicanery<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>, federal election commission<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=24>

--

Rick Hasen

Chancellor's Professor of Law and Political Science

UC Irvine School of Law

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949.824.0495 - fax

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http://electionlawblog.org

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