[EL] ELB News and Commentary 6/14/16

Tue Jun 14 07:35:53 PDT 2016

“Conservative Donor’s Group Presses Ballot Access for a Third-Party Candidate”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=83570>
Posted on June 14, 2016 7:31 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=83570> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

NYT:<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/15/us/politics/third-party-candidate.html?ref=politics&_r=0>

A conservative donor who has been scouring Republican ranks for a third-party candidate is pressing ahead with a group to get on the ballot in dozens of states. The candidate will come once the group sees that the ballot access is possible.

The donor, John Kingston, a bundler and ally of Mitt Romney, said he will bankroll a ballot-access project to create a path for someone to run as another option. The effort is being called Better for America.

The idea is “to do a proof of concept for everybody,” Mr. Kingston said. “It exists, there is a pathway, there is a road that you can be going down.”

The Massachusetts man was heavily involved in efforts led by the Weekly Standard editor William Kristol to find a challenger to both Hillary Clinton<http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/us/elections/hillary-clinton-on-the-issues.html?inline=nyt-per>and Donald J. Trump<http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/us/elections/donald-trump-on-the-issues.html?inline=nyt-per> for a third-party line. His approach is similar to one used by a group, Americans Elect, in 1992, when it tried creating a ballot line unattached to a major party.

Group’s website: BetterforAmerica.com<https://www.betterforamerica.com/>.
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Posted in ballot access<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=46>, campaigns<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, third parties<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=47>

“This would be a nice first step on campaign finance reform”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=83568>
Posted on June 14, 2016 7:27 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=83568> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

WaPo editorial:<https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/this-would-be-a-nice-first-step-on-campaign-finance-reform/2016/06/10/745de05a-2e69-11e6-b5db-e9bc84a2c8e4_story.html>

THEY SAY time is money, and the adage rings especially true for members of Congress: Many of them — according to Rep. David Jolly (R-Fla.) — spend almost as much of the workweek fundraising as they do debating laws or helping constituents. Mr. Jolly, with a Democratic colleague, Rep. Rick Nolan (Minn.), has introduced a bill to fix that<http://jolly.house.gov/u-s-rep-jolly-introduces-the-stop-act-to-ban-members-of-congress-from-asking-for-money/>. Their legislation does not purport to solve all of the country’s fundraising woes, but this is a case in which some change would be better than none.

Mr. Jolly estimates that Senate and House lawmakers spend an average of 30 hours a week at networking events and call centers instead of in the Capitol working for the people they were elected to represent. Under his bill, called the Stop Act<http://www.thestopact.com/>, these representatives could not personally solicit campaign contributions — whether or not Congress is in session.
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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, campaigns<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>

“Amid Long Voting Lines And Claims Of A ‘Rigged System,’ Does My Vote Matter?”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=83566>
Posted on June 14, 2016 7:14 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=83566> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Pam Fessler reports<http://www.npr.org/2016/06/14/481582413/amid-long-voting-lines-and-claims-of-a-rigged-system-does-my-vote-matter?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=politics&utm_medium=social&utm_term=nprnews> for NPR.
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Posted in election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

“Bring Back The Electoral College — For Real”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=83564>
Posted on June 14, 2016 7:06 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=83564> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Ed Zelinsky:<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/edward-zelinsky/bring-back-the-electoral-_b_10453096.html?1465907280>

The conventional wisdom is that an independent candidate must run to provide an alternative to the major parties’ candidates. I instead suggest another course: Bring back the Electoral College as the active chooser of the 45th president. We should assemble and mount in every state where it is feasible bi-partisan slates of uncommitted electors who will actively deliberate and choose the next chief executive.
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Posted in campaigns<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, electoral college<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=44>

“Former state Sen. Ron Calderon’s guilty plea in corruption case marks blow to political dynasty”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=83562>
Posted on June 14, 2016 7:04 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=83562> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

LAT:<http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-ron-calderon-corruption-plea-20160613-snap-story.html?wpmm=1&wpisrc=nl_daily202>

Monday brought a crushing blow to the family dynasty<http://graphics.latimes.com/calderon/> as Ron Calderon, a former state senator, pleaded guilty in the case to mail fraud, conceding he accepted tens of thousands of dollars in bribes from undercover FBI agents and a corrupt hospital executive.

The announcement of the plea agreement came on the heels of a guilty plea last week by Tom Calderon, a former state assemblyman, to a charge of money laundering that stemmed from allegations he helped conceal the bribes his brother solicited.

The plea deals mean the brothers will avoid a trial that had been scheduled to begin next month and was expected to feature a who’s who of state lawmakers, including Senate leader Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles), who testified before a grand jury in the case and who prosecutors planned to call as a witness.
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Posted in bribery<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=54>, chicanery<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>

“A Natural Right with Naturally Unequal Consequences”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=83560>
Posted on June 14, 2016 7:02 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=83560> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

John McGinnis<http://www.libertylawsite.org/liberty-forum/a-natural-right-with-naturally-unequal-consequences/>:

I am in strong agreement with the Derek Muller’s<http://www.libertylawsite.org/liberty-forum/the-case-for-more-money-in-politics/> opposition to Progressive ideas to reform laws relating to campaign speech. He is particularly eloquent on why the Framers believed that limiting government was the best route to eliminating political corruption—the opposite of the Progressive agenda, which seeks to expand the state.

We can build on his insight by suggesting new kinds of limitations. For instance, Congress should create rules that impede not only all appropriation earmarks but also other kinds of special interest legislation. That kind of reform would go much further toward dispelling the appearance of corruption in campaign contributions than ratcheting down the amount of these contributions. We should restrict the power of politicians before treading upon the speech rights of citizens.

In this brief essay, I would like to offer additional support in both political theory and our Constitution for Muller’s skepticism about Progressive campaign reform. Indeed, I can think of no issue more important in constitutional law today, because campaign reformers want to permit legislators to regulate electoral speech rather than curbing legislative corruption through the natural rights of speech expressly protected by our Constitution.

My response to Derek’s essay is here<http://www.libertylawsite.org/liberty-forum/campaign-finance-law-the-state-of-nature-and-the-nirvana-fallacy/>.
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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>

“Congress at Work: A Documentary Supplement for Courses in Legislation”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=83558>
Posted on June 14, 2016 6:57 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=83558> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

New from Peter Strauss<http://www.westacademic.com/Professors/ProductDetails.aspx?NSIID=90777>:
Casebooks on Legislation typically omit legislative materials, as such, giving students little if any chance to work directly with statutes and the processes that create them. Yet lawyers may become intimately involved in the legislative process, and must often advise clients about statutory meaning in matters of great consequence—long before judicial readings occur, and with only the statutes and any sense they may have about their origins to guide them. This supplement will permit you to expose your students to these primary materials of law, that they too rarely encounter in legal education. For two relatively compact statutes, enacted late in the 19th and 20th centuries, it will put before them the primary materials of the legislative process and set problems for interpretation, with only enough context-setting text (no judicial opinions) to frame the issues as clients might have asked contemporary lawyers for advice about them.

Teaching Tools:

·         Concise Teaching Tips [ocked]

·         Table of Contents

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Posted in legislation and legislatures<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=27>, pedagogy<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=23>, statutory interpretation<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=21>

“Voting rights restoration case to go before Virginia Supreme Court”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=83556>
Posted on June 13, 2016 8:30 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=83556> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Hearing<http://www.roanoke.com/news/politics/voting-rights-restoration-case-to-go-before-virginia-supreme-court/article_d4acccd9-1051-50ef-a7a3-09914c347020.html> on July 19.
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Posted in felon voting<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=66>

“When Should a Voter’s ‘Clerical Error’ Invalidate a Ballot? Not When the State Already Has Enough Information to Verify the Ballot’s Validity”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=83554>
Posted on June 13, 2016 5:04 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=83554> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Important Ned Foley<http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/election-law/article/?article=13257> on the latest NEOCH opinion from Ohio.
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Posted in election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

“Common Cause Names Karen Hobert Flynn President”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=83552>
Posted on June 13, 2016 3:18 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=83552> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Release<http://www.commoncause.org/press/press-releases/common-cause-names-karen-hobert-flynn-president.html>.
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Posted in election law biz<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=51>

Too Little, Too Late Dept<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=83549>
Posted on June 13, 2016 3:15 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=83549> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Wisconsin State Journal<http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/legislature-s-budget-committee-approves-for-voter-id-education/article_45de9619-d69e-528b-84ed-3590a5c1b338.html>:

The Legislature’s budget committee Monday approved spending $250,000 for a public education campaign on the controversial voter ID law.

The campaign, details of which must still be settled by the new Elections Commission, would inform the public about the need to bring a valid photo ID to vote in the upcoming fall primary and general election using radio and television public service announcements, website display ads and online videos and possibly ads at movie theaters, on buses and on social media….

About 1.4 million registered voters have not yet voted in an election where voter ID was required, according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau.
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Posted in election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>, voter id<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=9>

“Reform Groups Urge Representatives to Oppose Bill That Would Open Loophole for Foreign Money”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=83547>
Posted on June 13, 2016 3:13 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=83547> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Release<http://www.democracy21.org/legislative-action/press-releases-legislative-action/reform-groups-urge-representatives-to-oppose-bill-that-would-open-loophole-for-foreign-money/>.
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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, tax law and election law<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=22>

“Too much or too little democracy? Some reflection on Democracy for Realists”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=83545>
Posted on June 13, 2016 9:47 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=83545> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Brookings<http://www.brookings.edu/research/papers/2016/06/13-democracy-for-realists-mann>:

Recent political movements within the United States have raised concerns about the health of American democracy. With hyper-partisanship dividing the country and Donald Trump—the most unlikely, unsuitable, and unpopular presidential nominee of a major party in American history—securing the Republican nomination, the question emerges of whether democracy in America has gone awry.  And if so, is it too much or too little democracy that’s to blame?

To help address those questions, in this paper<http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/papers/2016/06/13-democracy-realists-mann/democracy-for-realists.pdf>, Thomas E. Mann summarizes and discusses the findings of Christopher Achen and Larry Bartels’ ambitious treatise on American democracy: “Democracy for Realists.” Achen and Bartels contend that the traditional conception of voters as rational, attentive decision-makers does not hold against empirical evidence. Instead, voters are best understood as members of partisan groups, which influence their perception of candidates, issues, and even simple facts. According to Achen and Bartels, perceived social identities drive voting decisions, rather than rationality.

Mann notes that most scholars would agree that voters do not follow the expectations of idealistic models, but draws attention to competing theories that are far less damning to voters’ rationality. In particular, the research of Paul Sniderman and Arthur Lupia suggests that voters are far more capable than Achen and Bartels would assert. In their view, voters have enough rationality and information to ensure a well-functioning democracy.
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Posted in voting<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=31>

--
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<mailto:rhasen at law.uci.edu>
http://www.law.uci.edu/faculty/full-time/hasen/
http://electionlawblog.org<http://electionlawblog.org/>
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