[EL] ELB News and Commentary 1/20/16

Wed Jan 20 10:34:47 PST 2016

    “New Wrinkle in Wis. Campaign Finance Probe”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79164>

Posted onJanuary 20, 2016 10:33 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79164>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Courthouse News Service: 
<http://www.courthousenews.com/2016/01/20/new-wrinkle-in-wis-campaign-finance-probe.htm>

    MADISON, Wis. (CN) – Two targets of a secret campaign-finance probe
    hamstrung by the Wisconsin Supreme Court say the recently ousted
    investigator made misrepresentations about his searches and subpoenas.

          Named pseudonymously in the filing, Unnamed Movants 6 and 7
    say former special prosecutor Francis Schmitz failed to comply with
    a court order to return property and disclose all search activity.

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

    “A Landmark Decision Turns 40: A Conversation on Buckley v. Valeo”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79162>

Posted onJanuary 20, 2016 10:27 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79162>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Wow <https://www.brooklaw.edu/newsandevents/events/2016/01-26-2016>this 
looks like a great event at Brooklyn Law Jan. 26, featuring Judge Buckley!

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

    “Common Cause Backs Student Suit to Force Election Day Registration”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79160>

Posted onJanuary 20, 2016 10:26 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79160>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

See this press release 
<http://www.commoncause.org/press/press-releases/common-cause-backs-student-voter-suit.html>.

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Posted inelection administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>

    “Citizens United Consequences: Super Rich Empowered, Ordinary
    Americans Undermined, Democracy Subverted”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79158>

Posted onJanuary 20, 2016 10:04 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79158>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Fred Wertheimer 
blog<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/fred-wertheimer/citizens-united-consequen_b_9029038.html>on 
Citizens United.

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

    “What is political ‘dark money’ — and is it bad?”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79156>

Posted onJanuary 20, 2016 10:01 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79156>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

CPI primer. 
<http://www.publicintegrity.org/2016/01/20/19156/what-political-dark-money-and-it-bad>

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

    “A New Threat to the Viability of Contribution Limits”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79154>

Posted onJanuary 20, 2016 9:54 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79154>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Brent Ferguson has postedthis 
draft<http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2718975>on SSRN 
(forthcoming, /Emory Law Journal Online/).  Here is the abstract:

    In July, the Wisconsin Supreme Court held that it violates the First
    Amendment to prevent political candidates from coordinating with
    outside spending groups like super PACs if the groups’ ads do not
    expressly advocate the election or defeat of a candidate. The
    decision is erroneous under federal precedent and fundamentally
    misunderstands the Supreme Court’s holdings distinguishing between
    independent spending and spending coordinated with a candidate.
    Wisconsin’s regulatory scheme will be largely inoperable for the
    time being: Contribution limits will be fairly meaningless, at least
    for sophisticated actors who seek to circumvent them. And the logic
    of the decision leads to the conclusion that candidates have the
    constitutional right to set up campaign accounts that may accept
    unlimited contributions, so long as that money is not used for
    express advocacy.

    Because the Court’s reasoning lacked a coherent basis or a
    foundation in federal case law, it may not be overly optimistic to
    think that other state or federal courts will reject its reasoning.
    Yet there are indications that at least some regulators and courts
    may share the Wisconsin Court’s view, and there is little doubt that
    the issue will arise in other states. This article will review the
    law of coordination, as well as recent Supreme Court case law relied
    upon by the Wisconsin Court, to demonstrate the Court’s error. It
    will also address some of the effects the decision will have in
    Wisconsin and elsewhere if other courts similarly depart from
    longstanding precedent.

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

    “Illinois election board to decide fate of three St. Clair County
    judges” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79152>

Posted onJanuary 20, 2016 9:49 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79152>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Interesting 
<http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/illinois-election-board-to-decide-fate-of-three-st-clair/article_23969e59-b665-534d-bff6-e0435433f84d.html>:

    Is a judge acting unethically if he maneuvers to keep his job by
    choosing to run in a partisan election, thus avoiding the higher
    vote threshold required for retention in a nonpartisan vote?

    A small band of sign-waving protesters who marched outside the St.
    Clair County Building here Tuesday morning made that complaint.

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Posted injudicial elections <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=19>

    Richard Painter with the Conservative Case for Campaign Finance
    Reform <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79150>

Posted onJanuary 20, 2016 9:47 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79150>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Can’t wait to read this.  Release:

    *Take Back Our Republic Publishes Book by former President George W.
    Bush White House Aide: *

    *“Taxation Only with Representation:  The Conservative Conscience
    and Campaign Finance Reform” by Richard W. Painter*

    Author Richard Painter was President George W. Bush’s chief White
    House ethics lawyer, and he is now a law professor at the University
    of Minnesota.  He wrote the book throughout 2014 and 2015 with the
    financial support of a full year residential fellowship from Harvard
    University’s Safra Center for Ethics.

    Painter’s book discusses in detail:

      * How the current system of campaign finance undermines the system
        of participatory democracy envisioned by the original Tea Party
        and the founding fathers of our Country.
      * The fact that conservative political thinkers from Edmund Burke
        to Barry Goldwater have warned against the corrupting influence
        of costly elections.
      * Campaign money is driving the growth of excessive government
        spending and regulation and encourages the growth of inefficient
        and corrupt government sponsored enterprises (GSEs).
      * Campaign money is silencing the voice of social conservatives
        and faith-based voters on virtually every issue, ranging from
        protection of human life and religious freedom to school choice,
        drugs, pornography and gambling.
      * Campaign money is increasingly likely to originate outside the
        United States, giving sovereign wealth funds, foreign
        governments and even terrorist organizations ample opportunity
        to influence our government and undermine our national security
        and independence.

    The principal solution Painter proposes is to allow ordinary voters
    to participate in funding political campaigns out of their tax
    dollars. His proposed “Taxation only with Representation” amendment
    or statute can be enacted at the national or state level and does
    not run afoul of any existing first amendment rights in the
    Constitution.  It provides:

    /Neither the government of the United States nor any state or
    subdivision thereof shall levy an income tax, sales tax, property
    tax, inheritance tax or any other tax upon any natural person over
    18 years of age who is a citizen of the United States or upon his or
    her estate unless the United States government or the state levying
    said taxes pays an amount totaling at least two hundred dollars
    within the same calendar year or within the immediately following
    calendar year to the campaign of one or more candidates for elected
    federal or state or local office chosen by such citizen for whom
    such citizen is also eligible to vote or running for office in the
    state in which the citizen resides.  A citizen’s right to designate
    taxpayer funded political contributions pursuant to this amendment
    is waived in any year in which the citizen fails to designate a
    recipient of such payment or dies before designating a recipient of
    such payment. Every five years after adoption of this amendment,
    Congress shall by statute or, in the event Congress shall not enact
    such a statute, the United States Treasury shall by regulation,
    adjust the taxpayer funded political contribution amount to be more
    or less than two hundred dollars to reflect changes in the
    purchasing power of the United States dollar within the preceding
    five years. /

    Painter proposes that the private sector develop innovative
    solutions to bring more small donors into the fray.  For example, a
    “Democracy Dollars” program in which retailers would, in place of
    making their own contributions to PACs, allow customers to give
    money to candidates of their choice based on customer loyalty
    points.  Painter urges that when the private sector tries to help
    citizens solve the campaign finance problem, government must not be
    allowed to stand in the way.

    Take Back Our Republic has printed 5,000 copies in the first
    printing, more than 1,000 of which will be distributed in New
    Hampshire and Iowa in late January and early February.

    The book can be found onAmazon.com
    <http://www.amazon.com/Taxation-Only-Representation-Richard-Painter/dp/1939324122/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1453239273&sr=8-1&keywords=taxation+only+with+representation>or
    at or by contacting Take Back Our Republic at334-329-7258
    <tel:334-329-7258>. A complimentary PDF version is attached as well.

    **

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

    “Political Self-Interest II: The Boundaries of “Ingratiation and
    Access”” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79148>

Posted onJanuary 20, 2016 9:43 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79148>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

More Bauer 
<http://www.moresoftmoneyhardlaw.com/2016/01/political-self-interest-ii-boundaries-ingratiation-access/>on 
McDonnell.

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Posted inbribery <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=54>,campaign finance 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>

    “The Nine Presidential Candidates Who Don’t Want Your Support”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79146>

Posted onJanuary 20, 2016 9:30 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79146>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

That is 
<http://youthrights.org/2016/01/19/the-nine-presidential-candidates-who-dont-want-your-support/>, 
if you are under 18.

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

    “President Obama May Require Federal Contractors to List Campaign
    Gifts” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79143>

Posted onJanuary 20, 2016 9:27 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79143>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

NYT 
<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/20/us/president-obama-may-require-federal-contractors-to-list-campaign-gifts.html?_r=0>:

    President Obama
    <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/o/barack_obama/index.html?inline=nyt-per>is
    seriously considering an executive order that would require
    companies doing business with the federal government to disclose
    their political contributions, White House officials said on
    Tuesday, a step long awaited by activists to reduce the influence of
    secretive corporate donations in elections.

    The directive, known as the “dark money” executive order, would
    mandate that government contractors publicly report their
    contributions to groups that spend money to influence campaigns.
    Advocates inside and outside the White House believe the executive
    order would prompt some companies to spend less, by exposing their
    donations to public scrutiny.

That last sentence is very telling. As I argue inPlutocrats United 
<http://www.amazon.com/Plutocrats-United-Campaign-Distortion-Elections/dp/0300212453/>, 
I believe many of those who push for greater shareholder transparency 
are less interested in protecting shareholders than in deterring 
corporate spending.

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

    “What Kind of Man Spends Millions to Elect Ted Cruz?”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79141>

Posted onJanuary 20, 2016 9:22 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79141>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Interesting Bloomberg report. 
<http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/features/2016-01-20/what-kind-of-man-spends-millions-to-elect-ted-cruz-?cmpid=BBD012016_POL>

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

    DC Plutocrats United Event POSTPONED Due to Expected Blizzard
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79136>

Posted onJanuary 20, 2016 8:58 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79136>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

With a blizzard 
watch<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2016/01/20/blizzard-watch-severe-snowstorm-likely-friday-through-sunday/>now 
posted for DC, and talk of a possible historic storm, I’m afraid the 
Plutocrats United event with Trevor Potter in DC, set for Friday, is 
being postponed.  I hope we will announce a new date soon.

The New York events with the Brennan Center 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=78230>for tomorrow are STILL ON.  Hope to 
see you there.

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

    “The Wait Is Over for Ex-Lawmakers Ready to Lobby”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79134>

Posted onJanuary 19, 2016 9:01 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79134>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Roll Call reports. 
<http://www.rollcall.com/news/The-Wait-Is-Over-for-Ex-Lawmakers-Ready-to-Lobby-245502-1.html>

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Posted inlegislation and legislatures 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=27>,lobbying 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=28>

    “Decoding the Maze Part 2: Wisconsin Overhauls Campaign Finance
    Laws” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79132>

Posted onJanuary 19, 2016 8:57 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79132>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Mike Wittenwyler and Jodi Jensen have writtenthis analysis 
<http://www.wisbar.org/NewsPublications/InsideTrack/Pages/Article.aspx?Volume=8&Issue=2&ArticleID=24570>for 
the Wisconsin Bar Journal.

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

    “Huckabee supports campaign finance reforms”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79130>

Posted onJanuary 19, 2016 8:51 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79130>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Unlimited contributions 
<http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/elections/presidential/caucus/2016/01/19/huckabee-campaign-finance-iowa-caucus/79001022/>to 
candidates with full disclosure.

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

    “Unlikely Advocates Push To Give 16-Year-Olds A Vote — And A Voice”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79128>

Posted onJanuary 19, 2016 8:47 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79128>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

NPR reports. 
<http://www.npr.org/2016/01/18/463489043/unlikely-advocates-push-to-give-16-year-olds-a-vote-and-a-voice>

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Posted invoting <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=31>

    “The GOP debates have become like Super Bowl parties for top donors”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79126>

Posted onJanuary 19, 2016 9:27 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79126>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Matea Gold 
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/the-gop-debates-have-become-like-super-bowl-parties-for-top-donors/2016/01/18/9f578660-b95e-11e5-b682-4bb4dd403c7d_story.html>at 
Wapo on what is literally plutocrats united.

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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>

-- 
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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