[EL] ELB News and Commentary 10/31/15
Rick Hasen
rhasen at law.uci.edu
Fri Oct 30 20:07:42 PDT 2015
“Justice Kennedy Heed Justice Kennedy: Money Buys Influence”
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77167>
Posted onOctober 30, 2015 3:00 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77167>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
I have writtenthis oped <https://t.co/U5gjWqIMfa>for the National Law
Journal. it begins:
Many people know of Justice Anthony Kennedy’s controversial 2010
Supreme Court opinion in_*/Citizens United v. Federal Election
Commission
<http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/08-205.ZS.html>/*_, in which
he assured the American people that independent spending in
elections cannot corrupt or create the appearance of corruption, and
that “ingratiation and access” aren’t corruption.
Few people know of Kennedy’s opinion a year earlier in/_*Caperton v.
Massey <http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/08-22.ZO.html>*_/, in
which the Court held that $3 million in independent spending
supporting a candidate for the West Virginia Supreme Court by a
litigant with a $50 million case before that Court created enough of
a problem with ingratiation and access to require the judge to
recuse himself from hearing that case.
New revelations from that litigant and one of the justice involved
demonstrate that Kennedy was right in/Caperton/to be concerned about
the troubling role of big money in securing ingratiation and access
with elected officials, a lesson which he should have carried over
to/Citizens United/.
It concludes:
One conversation to come out at trial, however, caught the ear of
Hofstra law professor James Sample, an expert in judicial elections,
who passed it along to me. In the recorded telephone conversation,
Blankenship is talking to a woman (whom prosecutors identified as a
girlfriend), lamenting the fact that a picture of Blankenship and
Maynard was “all over WSAZ,” a West Virginia television station. Oh
well, Blankenship laments, “I won…saved Massey $70 million.”
That’s right, the ingratiation and access that Blankenship pursued
of Supreme Court justices through independent spending in West
Virginia paid off handsomely for his company.
Money doesn’t matter? Come on. Even Benjamin, speaking at a
conference at the University of Virginia last week,*_admitted as
much <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=76987>_*: “I was tone deaf in
not recusing myself in/Caperton/.”
You might think that the world we have lived in since/Citizens
United/would have given Kennedy second thoughts. But in*a recent
interview
<http://www.nationallawjournal.com/id=1202740827841?keywords=minow&publication=National+Law+Journal>*with
Harvard law dean Martha Minow, Kennedy*defended his decision
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77126>*in/Citizens United,/and said
disclosure is an answer to the problem of money in politics.
Disclosure is not enough to stop people like Blankenship from buying
influence. All of his contributions and spending were disclosed, but
it did not stop what Kennedy in/Caperton/called Blankenship’s
“disporoportionate” influence.
Kennedy in/Caperton/was right. Big money, even nominally independent
big money, can ingratiate, provide access, and give disproportionate
influence. If only Kennedy in/Citizens United/would have listened.
Share
<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D77167&title=%26%238220%3BJustice%20Kennedy%20Heed%20Justice%20Kennedy%3A%20Money%20Buys%20Influence%26%238221%3B&description=>
Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,judicial
elections <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=19>,Supreme Court
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>
“FEC Deadlock Signaled by Rival Drafts on Super PACs”
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77165>
Posted onOctober 30, 2015 2:27 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77165>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Ken Doyle<http://www.bna.com/fec-deadlock-signaled-n57982062945/>for
Bloomberg BNA:
The Federal Election Commission appeared to be moving toward a
deadlocked vote in a ruling over the legality of activities by
single-candidate super PACs in the 2016 campaign.
Commissioners postponed a final vote following a discussion at a
commission meeting Oct. 29 of a key advisory opinion (AO 2015-09).
The vote on the ruling, requested by prominent Democratic election
lawyer Marc Elias, was delayed until the next scheduled FEC meeting
Nov. 10.
But, discussion at the FEC meeting indicated that the commissioners
were unlikely to reach consensus on some, if not all, the questions
raised in the Elias request.
Share
<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D77165&title=%26%238220%3BFEC%20Deadlock%20Signaled%20by%20Rival%20Drafts%20on%20Super%20PACs%26%238221%3B&description=>
Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,federal
election commission <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=24>
“‘The American people are fed up’: Forum addresses influence of
money in politics” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77163>
Posted onOctober 30, 2015 1:38 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77163>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Billings Gazette
<http://billingsgazette.com/news/local/government-and-politics/the-american-people-are-fed-up-forum-addresses-influence-of/article_298f7292-7ad8-58d9-b0f4-12f9a58735ec.html>:
Former U.S. Sen. Alan Simpson, whose biography is called “Shooting
from the Lip,” gave a crowd of about 150 people gathered at the
Billings Public Library on Thursday a good dose of just how the book
got that name.
Simpson, a Wyoming Republican, led the panel “Knowledge is Power,”
which explored the influence of money in politics. He was joined by
Anthony Johnstone, an associate professor at the University of
Montana School of Law, and Edwin Bender, who founded the National
Institute of Money in State Politics, in the first Royal Johnson
forum, sponsored by the library foundation.
“Nowadays, you can get money anonymously from political action
committees that you don’t even know about,” Simpson said. “It’s
appalling and disgusting, and the American people are fed up. They
think corruption is the act of the day.”
Share
<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D77163&title=%26%238220%3B%26%238216%3BThe%20American%20people%20are%20fed%20up%26%238217%3B%3A%20Forum%20addresses%20influence%20of%20money%20in%20politics%26%238221%3B&description=>
Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>
Bauer on the Public Financing Question
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77161>
Posted onOctober 30, 2015 1:32 pm
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77161>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Here
<http://www.moresoftmoneyhardlaw.com/2015/10/public-financing-question/>:
In the meantime, there are steps that could conceivably be taken
with bipartisan support. Current public financing proposals would
also restore the tax credit for smaller individual donations (maybe
even a voucher program for the same purpose). This is a
constructive measure, not complicated, and it does not require
agreement about what is “good policy” or “good government”, nor
confidence that it will induce public officials to behave better or
make more productive use of their time. There are Republicans who
might join Democrats in supporting it. Jan Baran pointed out to
Edsall that taxpayers who may resist payments to politicians “like
tax credits for themselves”.
This would seem a reasonable place to start, and taxpayers might
appreciate that the first step of the reform is straightforwardly
about and for/them/, aimed simply at broadening their opportunity to
participate in the political process. The discussion can go on from
there.
Share
<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D77161&title=Bauer%20on%20the%20Public%20Financing%20Question&description=>
Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>
“Watchdogs Press for New Rules Allowing Review and Audits of
Taxpayer–Funded Expenditures by Members of Congress”
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77159>
Posted onOctober 30, 2015 7:44 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77159>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Release
<http://www.campaignlegalcenter.org/news/press-releases/watchdogs-press-new-rules-allowing-review-and-audits-taxpayer-funded>:
Today, the Campaign Legal Center, joined by Common Cause, Democracy
21 and Public Citizenurged
<http://www.campaignlegalcenter.org/sites/default/files/MRA%20final.pdf>the
Committee on House Administration to adopt new rules making clear
that expenditures from Members’ Representation Allowances (MRAs) are
subject to review and approval by the Committee. Lax oversight of
Members’ expenses has led to a series of scandals, the most recent
leading to the resignation of Rep. Aaron Schock. The letter also
urged the Committee to allow MRA budgets to be periodically audited
for compliance with the/Members’ Congressional Handbook/and House
ethics rules.
Share
<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D77159&title=%26%238220%3BWatchdogs%20Press%20for%20New%20Rules%20Allowing%20Review%20and%20Audits%20of%20Taxpayer%E2%80%93Funded%20Expenditures%20by%20Members%20of%20Congress%26%238221%3B&description=>
Posted inconflict of interest laws
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=20>,ethics investigations
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=42>
Coming in Time for Spring Classes: My Glannon Guide to Torts (3d ed.
2016) <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77155>
Posted onOctober 30, 2015 7:36 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=77155>byRick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
I’m happy to announce the upcoming publication of the third edition of
my Glannon Guide to Torts. This is a student mini-treatise with practice
multiple choice questions and answers aimed at helping first year law
students with their Torts course.
Here’s what’s new for the Third Edition:
· New coverage of “lost chance causation”
· Update on market share and “risk contribution” theories of
liability, and related constitutional claims.
· Analysis of new Third Restatement of Torts sections on assault
and battery, and new rules on transferred intent
· Analysis of new tort proposed in Third Restatement: purposeful
infliction of bodily harm
· Updated with new Supreme Court cases on preemption, and the now
questionable presumption against preemption
· New section on products liability post-sale duties to warn and recall
If you are an instructor and want to order this book as a required or
optional book for your course, the ISBN is 978-1454846888. It is not
yet on the Wolters Kluwer page, but here is theAmazon pre-order page
<http://www.amazon.com/Glannon-Guide-Torts-Multiple-Choice-Questions/dp/1454846887/ref=sr_1_fkmr2_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1446215389&sr=8-2-fkmr2&keywords=glannon+guide+to+torts+3rd+edition>.
Share
<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D77155&title=Coming%20in%20Time%20for%20Spring%20Classes%3A%20My%20Glannon%20Guide%20to%20Torts%20%283d%20ed.%202016%29&description=>
Posted inTorts <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=35>
--
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
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://webshare.law.ucla.edu/Listservs/law-election/attachments/20151030/1b496f7a/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: share_save_171_16.png
Type: image/png
Size: 1504 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://webshare.law.ucla.edu/Listservs/law-election/attachments/20151030/1b496f7a/attachment.png>
View list directory