[EL] ELB News and Commentary 1/18/16

Rick Hasen rhasen at law.uci.edu
Mon Jan 18 11:16:20 PST 2016


    Sen. Sanders Ties Health Care Reform to Campaign Finance Reform
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79094>

Posted onJanuary 18, 2016 11:13 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79094>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

 From last night’s debate 
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/01/17/the-4th-democratic-debate-transcript-annotated-who-said-what-and-what-it-meant/>: 
(video 
<http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc-news/watch/sanders-campaign-finance-system-is-corrupt-603515971586>)

    SANDERS:…

    You know what it all comes down to?

    Do you know why we can’t do what every other country — major country
    on Earth is doing? It’s because we have a campaign finance system
    that is corrupt, we have super PACs, we have the pharmaceutical
    industry pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into campaign
    contributions and lobbying, and the private insurance companies as well.

    What this is really about is not the rational way to go forward —
    it’s Medicare for all — it is whether we have the guts to stand up
    to the private insurance companies and all of their money, and the
    pharmaceutical industry. That’s what this debate should be about.

    (APPLAUSE)

    CLINTON: Well, as someone who — as someone who has a little bit of
    experience standing up to the health insurance industry, that spent,
    you know…

    (APPLAUSE)

    … many, many millions of dollars attacking me, and probably will so
    again, because of what I believe we can do building on the
    Affordable Care Act, I think it’s important to point out that there
    are a lot of reasons we have the health care system we have today.

    I know how much money influences the political decision-making.
    That’s why I’m for huge campaign finance reform. However, we started
    a system that had private health insurance.

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


    “Can Republicans Embrace Campaign-Finance Reform?”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79092>

Posted onJanuary 18, 2016 11:01 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79092>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

TAP sits down 
<http://prospect.org/article/can-republicans-embrace-campaign-finance-reform>with 
Nick Penniman of Republican reform group Issue One.

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


    “Case Could Widen Free-Speech Gap Between Unions and Corporations”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79090>

Posted onJanuary 18, 2016 10:57 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79090>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Adam Liptak 
<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/19/us/politics/supreme-court-public-unions-corporations.html?_r=0>NYT 
Sidebar column:

    The Citizens United decision
    <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/us/politics/22scotus.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0>,
    which amplified the role of money in American politics, also
    promised something like a level playing field. Both corporations and
    unions, it said, could spend what they liked to support their
    favored candidates.

    Butlast week’s arguments
    <http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/12/us/politics/at-supreme-court-public-unions-face-possible-major-setback.html>in
    a major challenge to public unions illuminated a gap in theSupreme
    Court
    <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/s/supreme_court/index.html?inline=nyt-org>’s
    treatment of capital and labor. The court has long allowed workers
    to refuse to finance unions’ political activities. But shareholders
    have no comparable right to refuse to pay for corporate political
    speech.

    At the arguments in the case, Friedrichs v. California Teachers
    Association, No. 14-915, the justices seemed poised to widen that
    gap by allowing government workers to refuse to support unions’
    collective bargaining activities, too.

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


    “Super PACs get free pass to hide donors”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79088>

Posted onJanuary 18, 2016 10:44 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79088>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

CPI 
<http://www.publicintegrity.org/2016/01/18/19151/super-pacs-get-free-pass-hide-donors>:

    On Tuesday, a pro-Hillary Clinton
    <https://www.publicintegrity.org/2015/04/12/17107/12-things-know-about-hillary-clinton>super
    PAC
    <https://www.publicintegrity.org/2014/03/18/14427/merriam-webster-makes-super-pac-official>sent
    campaign regulators aseemingly perfunctory letter,
    <http://docquery.fec.gov/dcdev/fectxt/1039113.txt>all of 30 words long.

    “This letter serves to officially notify the Federal Election
    Commission that Priorities USA Action will file its reports on a
    monthly basis to the Commission as of January 1, 2016,” it read.

    Sounds harmless enough. But that little note — and more just like it
    from other super PACs — allows top presidential bankrollers to
    remain hidden as the campaign grows white hot.

    That’s because, thanks to a quirk in federal law, such letters give
    those super PACs the power to withhold their January donors’ names
    until well after the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses and New
    Hampshire primaries are conducted next month.

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


    Tillman Relies on Democracy Canon to Support Interpretation that
    Sen. Cruz Eligible for President as Natural Born Citizen
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79086>

Posted onJanuary 18, 2016 10:38 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79086>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

I’d been thinking thesame thing. 
<http://originalismblog.typepad.com/the-originalism-blog/2016/01/a-different-take-on-natural-bornseth-barrett-tillman.html>

My work on the Democracy Canon in the /Stanford Law Review /ishere. 
<http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1344476>

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Posted incampaigns <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>


    “GOP 2016: Emails Show Carly Fiorina Super PAC Helps Out At Campaign
    Events, Despite Coordination Rules”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79084>

Posted onJanuary 17, 2016 3:25 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79084>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

The IBT reports. 
<http://www.ibtimes.com/political-capital/gop-2016-emails-show-carly-fiorina-super-pac-helps-out-campaign-events-despite>

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


    “Casting ballots twice is not a big problem, voting advocates say,
    but some want action” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79082>

Posted onJanuary 17, 2016 3:14 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79082>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

The Sun Sentinel reports. 
<http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/palm-beach/fl-tracking-voting-changes-20160115-story.html>

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


    “The Koch brothers’ impact on the American political system”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79080>

Posted onJanuary 17, 2016 3:07 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79080>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Tom Hamburger reviews 
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-koch-brothers-impact-on-the-american-political-system/2016/01/15/6a3694aa-b579-11e5-9388-466021d971de_story.html?hpid=hp_no-name_opinion-card-a%3Ahomepage%2Fstory>Jane 
Mayer’s Dark Money.

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


    “Trump open to campaign finance reform”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79078>

Posted onJanuary 17, 2016 3:05 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79078>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

The Hill 
<http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/266189-trump-open-to-campaign-finance-reform>:

    Pointing to the effects of “horrible” super-PACs, Republican
    presidential front-runner Donald Trump on Sunday said America needs
    to come up with a solution to keep big money out of politics.

    “Well, I think you need it, because I think PACs are a horrible
    thing,” Trump said on CNN’s “State of the Union” when asked if he
    would pursue campaign finance reform.

    The billionaire businessman, who said he is self-financing his
    campaign, said the wall separating super-PACs and candidates running
    for public office is illusory.
    “First of all, everyone’s dealing with their PAC. You know, it’s
    supposed to be like this secret thing. They’re all dealing with it,”
    he saiid

Thus sayeth the billionaire who still is relying more on donations from 
others than his own money.

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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,campaigns 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>,Plutocrats United 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=104>


    “Amount of lobbying done in the shadows is growing, California
    ethics officials agree” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79076>

Posted onJanuary 17, 2016 3:03 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79076>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

LAT 
<http://www.latimes.com/local/politics/la-me-pol-sac-shadow-lobbying-20160117-story.html>:

    The dire warning arrived in a mailer to thousands of state voters
    from a group called the California Drivers Alliance.

    “Gasoline restrictions … will hurt families in LA,” the
    geographically targeted mailer warned, alerting the recipient that
    legislation being debated in Sacramento would “take away our ability
    to drive to work in our own cars.”

    The group’s name sounded as if it was a grass-roots organization of
    motorists, but it was actually the creation of the Western States
    Petroleum Assn. as part of its successful lobbying effort last year
    to kill a proposal that would have reduced gas consumption by 50% in
    California by the year 2030.

    When the leading oil industry association in the state publicly
    filed a required disclosure of its lobbying effort, there was no
    mention of its funding of the mail campaign and a related YouTube video.

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Posted incampaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>,lobbying 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=28>


    Legal Theory Blog Recommends Plutocrats United
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79074>

Posted onJanuary 17, 2016 2:57 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79074>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Thanks Larry! 
<http://lsolum.typepad.com/legaltheory/2016/01/legal-theory-bookworm-plutocrats-united-by-hasen.html>

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Posted inPlutocrats United <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=104>


    “Prominent Jeb Bush Donor Questions Super PAC Strategist Over
    Negative Marco Rubio Ads” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79072>

Posted onJanuary 16, 2016 12:44 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79072>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

NYT 
<http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2016/01/16/prominent-jeb-bush-donor-questions-how-bush-aligned-super-pac-spends-its-money/?ref=politics&_r=0>:

    A prominent donor to Jeb Bush pressed the chief strategist of the
    “super PAC” supporting Mr. Bush over the group’s negative ads about
    Senator Marco Rubio during a closed-door meeting in Manhattan on
    Friday, according to three people familiar with the encounter.

    The exchange took place between Barry Volpert of the private equity
    firm Crestview Partners and the strategist Mike Murphy at a meeting
    of about 35 donors at the Palace Hotel in Midtown, according to one
    attendee.

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


-- 
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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