[EL] ELB News and Commentary 11/15/17

Tue Nov 14 21:00:53 PST 2017

“Koch brothers key to funding assault on campaign finance regulation”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=96003>
Posted on November 14, 2017 8:52 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=96003> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
 CPI:<https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/koch-brothers-key-funding-assault-campaign-finance-regulation-n820671>
The Center for Public Integrity<http://www.publicintegrity.org/politics> investigated an array of organizations that have participated in legal challenges dating back 40 years that have resulted in a system allowing unlimited sums to be pumped into modern elections. It’s a system that both Republicans and Democrats now fully rely upon ahead of 2018 midterm elections that could reaffirm — or torpedo — President Donald Trump’s congressional majority.
Throughout that history, Koch-backed groups have stood out as reliable, stalwart opponents of regulation of money in politics. While far from the only players in the legal battle, the Kochs are certainly among the most recognizable — and significant.
The Center for Public Integrity identified the sources of $293 million received by groups that lodged formal arguments in key campaign finance deregulation cases<https://www.publicintegrity.org/2017/11/15/21255/modern-history-campaign-finance-watergate-citizens-united>. It also identified $64 million in funding for groups<file:///C:/Users/206409307/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.Outlook/XCEH206O/•%09https:/www.publicintegrity.org/2017/11/15/21270/players-who-have-shaped-campaign-finance-over-decades> that defended campaign finance regulations, including significant cash from liberal billionaire and Koch foil George Soros.
Looks like only some of this story is available so far.
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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>

“Eric Holder’s Battle Against Gerrymandering”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=96001>
Posted on November 14, 2017 8:44 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=96001> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
New Yorker report<https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/eric-holders-battle-against-gerrymandering> by David Daley.
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Posted in redistricting<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>, Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>

Must read: “Russian Twitter Trolls Stoked Voter Fraud Fear Before Election”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95999>
Posted on November 14, 2017 8:02 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95999> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
NBC News:<https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/russian-twitter-trolls-stoked-voter-fraud-fear-election-n820771>
Russian trolls used Twitter to challenge the validity of the U.S. presidential election months before it took place, according to new NBC News analysis.
In apparent expectation of a Trump loss, the trolls began sowing seeds of doubt to make voters question a win by Hillary Clinton. But when Donald Trump’s victory began rolling in, they changed their tune and began tweeting about the Trump success.
Kremlin propaganda tweets using the “VoterFraud” hashtag first appeared in August 2016 and slowly ramped up to an Election Day blitz, according to the NBC News analysis of some 36,000 archived tweets from a single anonymous source with knowledge of social media data….
The hashtag was promoted by other high-impact impostor accounts, including the popular @Pamela_Moore13 — an account with over 70,000 followers, whose profile showed a nearly naked masked woman holding an American flag. “Moore” identified herself as a “Pro-God” conservative from Texas who was “Anti-Racism.”
The “Moore” account was retweeted at other points in the campaign by political figures in the Trump orbit, including Donald Trump Jr.; the son of Michael Flynn, Trump’s fired national security adviser; and Trump associate and political consultant Roger Stone.
The account was also retweeted by conservative media commentators like Fox News host Sean Hannity, Fox Business Network host Lou Dobbs, author Ann Coulter and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.
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Posted in campaigns<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, chicanery<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>

“Did Donald Trump Jr. Cross the Line With WikiLeaks?”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95997>
Posted on November 14, 2017 2:15 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95997> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Matt Ford <https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/11/donald-trump-jr-wikileaks/545894/?utm_source=twb> for The Atlantic.
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Posted in Uncategorized<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

Troubling and Maybe Unconstitutional: Alabama Governor Does Not Dismiss Idea of Rescheduling Senate Election, Which Is Already Underway<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95995>
Posted on November 14, 2017 11:49 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95995> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
NYT:<https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/14/us/roy-moore-senate-republicans.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0>
“I’m not aware of any time in the history of the state when the governor changed the date of an election when the election was already in mid-stride,” Mr. Merrill said. “We had a primary and a runoff, and now we have a general election in 29 days.”
Governor Ivey has already rescheduled the Senate election once after she became governor following the resignation of her predecessor<https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/10/us/robert-bentley-alabama-governor.html?_r=0>, Robert Bentley, amid a sex and corruption scandal. Before she would do so again, she wants support from President Trump, according to Republicans in touch with her camp.
It is very troubling, and could well be unconstitutional, <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95953> to cancel this election already underway simply for partisan advantage.
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Posted in Uncategorized<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“Investigation Reveals Widespread Violations of Federal Voting Rights Law in Arizona”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95993>
Posted on November 14, 2017 11:04 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95993> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Release:<https://www.aclu.org/news/investigation-reveals-widespread-violations-federal-voting-rights-laws-arizona>
An investigation by voting rights groups revealed Arizona agencies are persistently violating the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), which Congress enacted to increase opportunities to register to vote and simplify the registration process. The groups detailed their findings and demanded action in a formal notice letter<https://www.aclu.org/legal-document/letter-secretary-reagan-nvra-compliance> sent today to Arizona Secretary of State Michele Reagan.
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Posted in NVRA (motor voter)<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=33>

“Trump, Twitter, and the Russians: The Growing Obsolescence of Federal Campaign Finance Law”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95991>
Posted on November 14, 2017 8:13 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95991> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Tony Gaughan has posted this draft <https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3069018> on SSRN (forthcoming, Southern California Interdisciplinary Law Journal).  Here is the abstract:
Since the 1970s, federal campaign finance law has been built on four pillars. The first is contribution limits on donations to candidate campaigns and political party committees. The contribution limits are designed to reduce the role of money in politics by preventing large donors from corrupting elected officials. The second is the ban on foreign contributions to American political campaigns. The prohibition is intended to prevent foreign influence on American elections and to ensure that candidates rely exclusively on American sources of support for getting their campaign messages out to voters. The third is the mandatory public disclosure of the identities of campaign contributors. Disclosure laws are intended to enable voters to evaluate the sources of a candidate’s support and to guard against corruption. The fourth pillar is the Federal Election Commission, which is charged with enforcing the law in an effective and bipartisan manner.
The 2016 presidential campaign made it starkly apparent that all four pillars of federal campaign finance law have become woefully outdated in the age of the internet, social media, and non-stop fundraising. First, contribution limits have not only failed to reduce the role of money in politics but have instead severely distorted our political system. Second, the federal ban on foreign contributions failed to prevent a massive level of foreign intervention in the 2016 presidential election. Third, FECA’s requirement that all contributions to political committees be reported and publicly disclosed no longer keeps the public adequately informed. Fourth, FECA’s foundational presumption that the FEC would enforce the law in a bipartisan and vigorous fashion has collapsed amid finger-pointing, personal acrimony, and profound ideological divisions among the commissioners.
A vestige of the post-Watergate reforms of the 1970s, FECA no longer adequately regulates the campaign finance world of 21st century American politics. The time has come for a sweeping reform and restructuring of the law. This article proposes 4 major reforms to modernize federal campaign finance law: the elimination of FECA’s contribution limits, the closing of the dark and gray money loopholes, the clarification and expansion of federal regulation of foreign government influence on American elections, and the fundamental restructuring of the FEC. By adopting those reforms, FECA will finally be brought out of the 1970s and into the age of the internet, iPhones, Twitter, and Facebook.
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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, campaigns<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, federal election commission<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=24>, social media and social protests<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=58>

Celeste Katz Interviews Dunlap, von Spakovsky and Adams about Dunlap’s Lawsuit Against Pence-Kobach Fraud Commission<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95989>
Posted on November 14, 2017 8:11 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95989> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Here.<http://www.newsweek.com/matt-dunlap-voter-fraud-commission-kris-kobach-donald-trump-709962>
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Posted in fraudulent fraud squad<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=8>

--
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
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rhasen at law.uci.edu<mailto:rhasen at law.uci.edu>
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http://electionlawblog.org<http://electionlawblog.org/>
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