[EL] ELB News and Commentary 1/19/17

Wed Jan 18 21:41:04 PST 2017

“Aide to Md. lawmaker fabricated article on fraudulent votes for Clinton”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=90545>
Posted on January 18, 2017 9:36 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=90545> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
WaPo<https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/aide-to-md-lawmaker-fabricated-article-on-hillary-clinton-rigging-the-election/2017/01/18/5219bd0c-ddd7-11e6-acdf-14da832ae861_story.html?utm_term=.4fd24be7d825>:
A Republican legislative aide in Maryland who was behind a fake news site that accused Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton of election-rigging was fired Wednesday.
Del. David E. Vogt III (R-Frederick) said he terminated Cameron Harris “on the spot” after learning that he was the mastermind behind ChristianTimesNewspaper.com and its fabricated Sept. 30 article, which reported that there were tens of thousands of “fraudulent Clinton votes found” in an Ohio warehouse.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D90545&title=%E2%80%9CAide%20to%20Md.%20lawmaker%20fabricated%20article%20on%20fraudulent%20votes%20for%20Clinton%E2%80%9D>
Posted in chicanery<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>, fraudulent fraud squad<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=8>

“Obama calls voter fraud fears ‘fake news'”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=90543>
Posted on January 18, 2017 9:33 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=90543> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
CNN<http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/18/politics/obama-voter-fraud-fake-news/>:
President Barack Obama broke out the term “fake news” in reference to concerns about voter fraud on Wednesday, making the case that voting should be easier, not more difficult.
Obama was asked in his final news conference as President about race relations in the US, saying that “inequality” was what concerns him most….
He mentioned in particular access to voting as a key concern of his — nothing that the oft-cited explanation for restrictive voting laws of widespread fraud is inaccurate.
“This is something that has constantly been disproved,” Obama said. “This is fake news.”
Obama also said the premise that millions of Americans were trying to vote but ineligible was the opposite of reality.
“We have a whole country of people who are eligible to vote who don’t vote,” Obama said. “And so the whole idea that we put in place a bunch of barriers to people voting doesn’t make sense.”
He added that limits to voting rights “traces directly back to Jim Crow and the legacy of slavery.”
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D90543&title=%E2%80%9CObama%20calls%20voter%20fraud%20fears%20%E2%80%98fake%20news%27%E2%80%9D>
Posted in election administration<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, The Voting Wars<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>

Trump: Super PACs Need to be “Straightened Out”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=90541>
Posted on January 18, 2017 9:30 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=90541> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Maggie Haberman<https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/01/18/us/politics/donald-trump-mike-pence-dinner.html?_r=2&referer=https://t.co/mHnxq2XRGF> for the NYT:
President-elect Donald J. Trump<http://www.nytimes.com/topic/person/donald-trump?inline=nyt-per>, in a free-flowing speech Wednesday night at a dinner honoring his running mate, Mike Pence, jabbed at his new Republican allies and his critics alike, questioned the ethics of “super PACs<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/c/campaign_finance/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier>” and talked about creating a “merit-based” immigration system….
Mr. Trump also took aim at Mr. Cruz (a “smart guy, he was a little late to the plate, but that’s O.K.”); Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, a rival in the primary (“he can be nasty, that Scott Walker”); members of the “Never Trump” movement (“they’re really right now on a respirator; they’re pretty much gone”); and the casino magnate Sheldon Adelson<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/a/sheldon_g_adelson/index.html?inline=nyt-per> (he mocked him for being late to donate promised money to outside groups supporting his candidacy).
Such groups, like super PACs, need to be “straightened out,” Mr. Trump said. “People get very rich running PACs.”
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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, campaigns<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>

“Playing Cards in a Hurricane: Party Reform in an Age of Polarization”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=90539>
Posted on January 18, 2017 9:10 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=90539> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Heather Gerken has posted this draft<https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2893745> on SSRN (forthcoming, Houston Law Review). Here is the abstract:
In his Frankel Lecture, “Outsourcing Politics: The Hostile Takeovers of Our Hollowed Out Parties,” Sam Issacharoff suggests that legal changes have systematically disabled the leadership of political parties from exercising sway over their candidates. As a result, party leaders cannot create the necessary incentives for moderation, and office holders are being swept away from the center by the gales of polarization.
This paper suggests that, at bottom, Issacharoff isn’t asking the right question. His paper asks how we can reduce the effects of polarization, when the real question may be whether we can. It’s possible that legal changes contributed to rising levels of polarization; but it’s also possible that the two phenomena occurred simultaneously or, at the very least, that the latter matters a good deal more than the former. Issacharoff offers a cheerful tale – give more power to the party leaders, and they’ll rein in the extremists. But there are at least two other possible endings to his story. The first is that even an empowered leadership structure simply can’t exercise enough control over its members to make a difference. The second is that it is possible for the leadership to exercise control over its member, but that shift will only ensure that the leadership is targeted by the same forces now pushing candidates to the extremes. If the DNC has more power, extremists will target the DNC, and the results will be little different.
Issacharoff, in short, wants to give the party leaders a better hand to play. But it doesn’t matter how many trump cards you hold if you are playing in a hurricane.
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Posted in political parties<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=25>, political polarization<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=68>

“The Great Exception; California vs. Trump. Part One.”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=90537>
Posted on January 18, 2017 9:05 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=90537> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Andy Kroll<https://story.californiasunday.com/thegreatexception> for the California Sunday Magazine.
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Posted in Uncategorized<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“Trump inauguration’s ‘Cabinet dinner’ offers access for cash; Donors who give $100,000 and $250,000 can dine with potential agency heads”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=90535>
Posted on January 18, 2017 7:48 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=90535> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Politico reports.<http://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/donald-trump-cabinet-dinner-233721>
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D90535&title=%E2%80%9CTrump%20inauguration%E2%80%99s%20%E2%80%98Cabinet%20dinner%E2%80%99%20offers%20access%20for%20cash%3B%20Donors%20who%20give%20%24100%2C000%20and%20%24250%2C000%20can%20dine%20with%20potent>
Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>

“The Trump lobbying purge that wasn’t”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=90533>
Posted on January 18, 2017 7:43 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=90533> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Politico:<http://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/trump-administration-lobbying-purge-233736>
Despite President-elect Donald Trump’s much-publicized efforts to keep lobbyists out of his administration, they have continued to offer policy advice, recommend job candidates and contribute money to his transition team, according to a POLITICO investigation.
And while they’re barred from donating to the $200 million in inaugural festivities this week, lobbyists have been collecting checks on Trump’s behalf, according to four lobbyists interviewed by POLITICO who are directly helping raise the funds.
The loopholes in Trump’s restrictions are so widespread that many lobbyists said they’ve concluded Trump’s ethics rules aren’t really meant to change how business is done in Washington.
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Posted in lobbying<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=28>

“Ten Investment Firms Settle SEC Pay-to-Play Charges”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=90531>
Posted on January 18, 2017 7:41 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=90531> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
WSJ reports.<http://www.wsj.com/articles/ten-investment-firms-settle-sec-pay-to-play-charges-1484695823?emailToken=JRrzcvt+aH6UgNcyZswg2Vttb68WBvSVQ17RMDXEO1LJrznOrP69w6hwnNa85HumVANm4JUc62cuADbRiXBlUdTUwuIvzQn1JikH9Q==>
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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, conflict of interest laws<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=20>

“The New Free Speech Anxieties”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=90529>
Posted on January 18, 2017 7:39 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=90529> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Provocative Bauer:<http://www.moresoftmoneyhardlaw.com/2017/01/new-free-speech-anxieties/>
The Independence Institute case<http://www.moresoftmoneyhardlaw.com/2016/12/next-question-reformers-genuine-issue-ads-just-sheeps-wool/>, a challenge to the regulation of issues speech, has attracted a sizeable roster of amici<http://www.campaignfreedom.org/litigation/current-litigation/independence-institute-v-fec/> in support of Supreme Court review. So far the line-up is largely conservative and libertarian, and yet, notably, the arguments are ones that in the Age of Polarization might also —and should– find an audience among progressives. The issue is the constitutional protection available for anonymous issues speech that a speaker, or an association of speakers, may engage in to limit the risk of reprisal or harassment.
For progressives as well as others, there are reasons to take this issue seriously: and some, pointing to Donald Trump, say he is the reason.
[hare]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D90529&title=%E2%80%9CThe%20New%20Free%20Speech%20Anxieties%E2%80%9D>
Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>

--
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
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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