[EL] Someone is violating election law listserv rules

[Thomas J. Cares]

(For what little it's worth, I think Professor Minnite's effort are too
tough to spin into anything bad and that this all actually amounts to good
courage. I see this as failed spin and fortuitous. -Tom Cares)

On Monday, May 15, 2017, Rick Hasen <rhasen at law.uci.edu> wrote:

> *No, “Liberal Professors” are Not “Trad[ing] Secret Emails” About Trump
> Voter Fraud Commission <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92518>*
>
> Posted on May 14, 2017 9:03 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92518> by *Rick
> Hasen* <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
>
> A breathless
> <http://freebeacon.com/issues/liberal-professors-trade-secret-emails-effort-undermine-trump-commission/>Free
> Beacon story (like stories on Breitbar
> <http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/05/11/rutgers-prof-launches-effort-to-oppose-trumps-election-integrity-commission/>t
> and the Daily Calle
> <http://dailycaller.com/2017/05/12/liberal-prof-calls-on-election-law-experts-to-boycott-trumps-voter-fraud-commission/>r)
> points to Professor Lorraine Minnite’s efforts via the Election Law
> listserv to enlist other election law academics and professionals to
> organize a counter effort to Trump’s “voter fraud” commission.
>
> The Free Beacon story is worse than the others because it tries to market
> Professor Minnite’s efforts as part of some secret conspiracy. The headline
> is: “Liberal Professors Trade Secret Emails in Effort to Undermine Trump
> Commission.”
>
> To begin with, the Election Law listserv, which I have managed with
> Professor Dan Lowenstein since 1994, has over 1000 members, and many of
> them are not “liberal professors.” Certainly Jim Bopp and Brad Smith, who
> are active participants on the list, are no one’s liberals. Nor is
> Lowenstein himself.
>
> Second, the email is not secret. It is publicly posted
> <http://department-lists.uci.edu/pipermail/law-election/2017-May/014345.html> in
> the listserv’s archives.
>
> Third, the idea of forming a counter commission to Trump’s faux “voter
> fraud” commission is neither new or private. On January 25, I wrote at
> Slate:
> <http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2017/01/trump_s_voting_fraud_investigation_is_a_great_idea.html?wpsrc=sh_all_dt_tw_top>
>
> *Baseless allegations of voter fraud hurt our democracy. You would think
> after the Department of Justice under President George W. Bush spent five
> years investigating voter fraud with nothing to show for it
> <https://mobile.nytimes.com/2007/04/12/washington/12fraud.html>, the voter
> fraud canard would have been put to bed years ago. This call for a major
> investigation, if done fairly, could finally put the issue to bed. Let’s
> not fool ourselves into believing President Trump would order a fair
> investigation. But if he doesn’t, we will need a shadow investigation to
> counter whatever a Trump commission might put out to support its boss’
> baseless conclusions.*
>
>  (My emphasis.)
>
> So why was Prof. Minnite so exercised about the question of who sent the
> emails to these far right publications? Because it violates the posted
> rules of the listserv
> <http://department-lists.uci.edu/mailman/listinfo/law-election>:
>
> *Members of the press may subscribe to the listserv and may describe in
> general terms the substance of discussion on the list, but should not quote
> posted comments or attribute ideas to specific individuals without the
> consent of the individuals.*
>
> The listserv has operated on the idea that it is a public list, and that
> archives are valuable for research and educational purposes, but that
> people will show courtesy to others before passing messages directly to the
> press. Someone was quite discourteous here. But that doesn’t translate, as
> Free Beacon makes it, into uncovering the work of a secret liberal cabal.
>
> [image: hare]
> <https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D92518&title=No%2C%20%E2%80%9CLiberal%20Professors%E2%80%9D%20are%20Not%20%E2%80%9CTrad%5Bing%5D%20Secret%20Emails%E2%80%9D%20About%20Trump%20Voter%20Fraud%20Commission>
>
> Posted in Uncategorized <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>
>
>
>
>
>
> --
>
> 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 <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','rhasen at law.uci.edu');>
>
> http://www.law.uci.edu/faculty/full-time/hasen/
>
> http://electionlawblog.org
>


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