[EL] ELB News and Commentary 12/12/18

Wed Dec 12 07:26:44 PST 2018

“Florida Republican Not Even Sworn In, Facing Campaign Finance Questions”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102776>
Posted on December 12, 2018 7:23 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102776> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Roll Call:<https://www.rollcall.com/news/politics/florida-republican-not-even-sworn-facing-campaign-finance-questions>

The campaign finance issues looming around Rep.-elect Ross Spano<https://www.rollcall.com/members?119524&utm_source=memberLink?utm_source=memberLink>, R-Fla., have grown more troublesome in recent days with new questions about the role of a longtime friend in funding his campaigns and hiring his new Congressional staff.

Spano has not been sworn into Congress yet, but already faces bipartisan calls for inquiries by the Federal Election Commission and the House Ethics Committee into how he funded his campaign to replace in Rep. Dennis A. Ross<https://www.rollcall.com/members?32358&utm_source=memberLink?utm_source=memberLink> in the 15th District.

Spano acknowledged in a letter<https://cloudup.com/iMCUpAlxZkv> to federal regulators in November he may have violated campaign finance rules against straw donations by taking out $180,000 in loans from two benefactors and directing approximately the same amount to his campaign.
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Posted in campaign finance<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>

“North Carolina Fraud Scandal Casts Shadow Over the Primary, Too”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102774>
Posted on December 12, 2018 7:22 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102774> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

NYT reports.<https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/12/us/politics/north-carolina-republican-primary-fraud.html>
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Posted in campaigns<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, chicanery<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>

“In N.C. election fraud case, witness says operative held onto 800 absentee ballots”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102772>
Posted on December 12, 2018 7:15 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102772> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

NBC News<https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/n-c-election-fraud-case-witness-says-operative-held-800-n946831>:
McCrae Dowless, the man whose “get-out-the-vote” activities are the center of the election fraud investigation in North Carolina, told a local political campaign volunteer that he was holding onto 800 absentee ballots, according to a new affidavit obtained by NBC News.
The new affidavit is the latest development in an investigation into election fraud involving absentee ballots that has postponed the certification of the election of the ninth congressional district race and at least two local races in the Tar Heel State.
In the signed statement, Kenneth Simmons said that he met Dowless at a local Republican Party meeting in the small town of Dublin. Dublin is located in Bladen County, the epicenter of the election fraud investigation involving absentee ballots.
During that interaction, Simmons wrote, he and his wife saw Dowless with a large number of absentee ballots “in his possession.”
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Posted in campaigns<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, chicanery<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>

“Democracy by the People: Reforming Campaign Finance in America”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102768>
Posted on December 12, 2018 7:13 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102768> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

This new book<https://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/law/us-law/democracy-people-reforming-campaign-finance-america?format=HB> edited by Gene Mazo and Tim Kuhner looks like it will be terrific. Enter the code MAZO2018 at the checkout on Cambridge’s website for a 20 percent discount.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Democracy by the Wealthy: Campaign

Finance Reform as the Issue of Our Time

Eugene D. Mazo & Timothy K. Kuhner

Part I:         Defining the Problem

Chapter 1:       The Third Coming of American Plutocracy: What

Campaign Finance Reformers Are Up Against

Timothy K. Kuhner

Chapter 2:       Liberty, Equality, Bribery, and Self-Government:

Reframing the Campaign Finance Debate

Deborah Hellman

Chapter 3:       Aligning Campaign Finance Law

Nicholas Stephanopoulos

Part II:       Proposed Solutions

Chapter 4:       Reforming Campaign Finance Reform:

The Future of Public Funding

Richard Briffault

Chapter 5:       Raising All of Our Voices for Democracy:

A Hybrid Public Funding Proposal

Adam Lioz

Chapter 6:       Reorienting Disclosure Debates

in a Post-Citizens United World

Katherine Shaw

Chapter 7:       Beyond Repair: FEC Reform

and Deadlock Deference

Daniel P. Tokaji

Chapter 8:       The People’s Pledge: Campaign Finance

Reform without Legal Reform

Ganesh Sitaraman

Chapter 9:       Super PAC Insurance: A Private Sector

Solution to Reform Campaign Finance

Nick Warshaw

Chapter 10:     Constraining and Channeling Corporate

Political Power in Trump’s America

Kent Greenfield

Chapter 11:     Reforming Lobbying

Maggie McKinley

Chapter 12:     Regulating Campaign Finance

through Legislative Recusal Rules

Eugene D. Mazo

Chapter 13:     Contributions and Corruption: Restoring

Aggregate Limits in the States

Michael D. Gilbert

Chapter 14:     Developing Better Empirical Evidence

for Future Campaign Finance Cases

Brent Ferguson & Chisun Lee

Chapter 15:     Fixing the Supreme Court’s Mistake: The

Case for the Twenty-Eighth Amendment

Ronald A. Fein

Part III:      Inspiration from Abroad

Chapter 16:     The Repudiation of Buckley v. Valeo
1.      D. Ewing

Chapter 17:     Equal Participation and Campaign Finance

Yasmin Dawood

Chapter 18:     Political Finance and Political Equality:

Lessons from Europe

Óscar Sánchez Muñoz

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Posted in campaign finance<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>

“J.H. Snider: A jury should decide on Maryland’s next redistricting map”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102766>
Posted on December 11, 2018 6:02 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102766> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

 Column<https://www.capitalgazette.com/opinion/columns/ac-ce-column-snider-20181212-story.html> in the Capital Gazette.
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Posted in redistricting<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>

“Bladen counted early votes too soon in 2018. Witness alleges numbers were leaked.”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102764>
Posted on December 11, 2018 5:18 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102764> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Charlotte Observer:<https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/article222898975.html>

Bladen County election workers tallied the results of early voting before Election Day in violation of state rules and are accused of allowing outsiders to view them, a precinct worker wrote in an affidavit released by state Democrats.

The allegations raise new questions about missteps in an election fraud case in North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District race that has garnered national attention and held up certification of the U.S. House contest.

The report showing totals from Bladen County’s only early voting location was run on Saturday, Nov. 3, 2018 from 1:44 p.m. to 1:46 p.m., according to a copy released by the State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement<https://s3.amazonaws.com/dl.ncsbe.gov/State_Board_Meeting_Docs/Congressional_District_9_Portal/4.1.1%20Exhibit.pdf>, which is investigating voting irregularities among mail-in absentee ballots in Bladen and Robeson counties.<https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/election/article222739860.html>
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Posted in chicanery<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>, election administration<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>

“With Power Grabs in the Midwest, G.O.P. Risks a 2020 Backlash”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102762>
Posted on December 11, 2018 7:37 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102762> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

NYT:<https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/10/us/politics/michigan-wisconsin-republicans-midwest.html?module=inline>

The continuing legislative maneuvers in Michigan and Wisconsin are part of a broader war for power in the Midwest, a politically prized region for both parties — but especially for Republicans, who are trying to dilute Democratic control ahead of bigger battles. The G.O.P., which lost the House in November as well as four key governorships in the Midwest, depends on its gerrymandered districts in the region for a trove of seats in both Congress and state legislatures. Without these safe seats, they would be unlikely to attempt such last-minute tactics.

But now, with incoming Democratic governors set to have veto power over the next round of redistricting following the 2020 census, a handful of states are confronting either court challenges to the existing districts or new, more equitable rules for drawing the next decade of legislative boundaries. In Michigan, voters this year approved an independent redistricting commission, but Republican lawmakers are using the current lame duck session to try to curb the new Democratic secretary of state’s implementation of it.

The Republican efforts could hurt the party’s image with moderate voters in a region that President Trump considers crucial for his 2020 re-election effort, and where his standing has fallen in suburbs that he would need to carry again to win. Yet G.O.P. leaders are determined to push ahead, fearing that their decade-long dominance in the Midwest is coming to an end as newly elected Democrats and the prospect of more competitive districts threaten to shift the balance of power.
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Posted in redistricting<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>

“Trump says Cohen’s guilty plea is like the Obama campaign’s civil fine. There’s no comparison, experts say.”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102760>
Posted on December 11, 2018 7:32 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102760> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Fredreka Schouten<https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/10/politics/trump-and-obama-campaign-finance-cases/index.html> for CNN.
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Posted in campaign finance<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, campaigns<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>

“Potent Weapon or Poison Pill? Super PACs Pose Quandary for 2020 Democrats”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102758>
Posted on December 11, 2018 7:24 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102758> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Shane Goldmacher<https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/11/us/politics/democrats-2020-super-pac.html> for the NYT:

It is one of the most potent and feared weapons in the arsenal of modern American politics: the super PAC.

But as three dozen Democrats ponder presidential runs in 2020 and begin to design their campaign infrastructures, some leading names beyond Senator Bernie Sanders are expected to forgo or disavow super PACs — and with it the ability for allies to raise unlimited sums from wealthy backers — in hopes that grass-roots donors and progressive activists would reward them more handsomely in the primary for rejecting such funds.

If she runs, Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts is likely to reject the assistance of a super PAC, according to two people familiar with her thinking. And the former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. revealed in a little-noticed passage in his 2017 book that he would have gone without one if he had run in 2016, making it more difficult for him to backtrack now.

The super PAC question is a politically vexing one. The financial firepower would be alluring to those with a ready network of financiers, such as Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, who is seen as likely to have a super PAC, according to donors, strategists and people close to him. Some allies are already discussing possible super PACs for Senators Kamala Harris of California and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, the two most Democratic donor-rich states in the nation. But aides to both of them say they are not currently seeking a super PAC.
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Posted in campaign finance<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, campaigns<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>

“Republicans in Wisconsin and Michigan want to weaken incoming Democratic governors. Here’s what’s the usual partisan politics — and what isn’t.”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102756>
Posted on December 11, 2018 7:22 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102756> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Matt Glassman for The Monkey Cage.<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2018/12/11/wisconsins-and-michigans-legislatures-are-trying-to-weaken-incoming-governors-should-you-be-worried/?utm_term=.62f6d2c3ad62>
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“‘A Simple Private Transaction’: Trump Lays Out a Defense in a Campaign-Finance Case”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102754>
Posted on December 10, 2018 6:25 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=102754> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Charlie Savage<https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/10/us/politics/trump-campaign-finance-crimes-defense.html> in the NYT:

President Trump defended himself on Monday against prosecutors’ accusation that he directed illegal payments<https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/07/nyregion/michael-cohen-sentence.html?module=inline> ahead of the 2016 election to two women to stay silent about alleged extramarital affairs with him, insisting that the payments were “a simple private transaction” — not election-related spending subject to campaign-finance laws.

In a pair<https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1072095127894667265> of early-morning tweets<https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1072098604599394305>, Mr. Trump also maintained that even if the hush-money payments did count as campaign transactions, any failure to obey federal election regulations should be considered only a civil offense, not a criminal one. And he blamed his former lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, who has admitted to helping arrange the payments. “Lawyer’s liability if he made a mistake, not me,” Mr. Trump wrote.

Mr. Trump is effectively an unindicted co-conspirator in Mr. Cohen’s campaign-finance crimes, but his legal exposure and political liability turn on several factors, including whether a president can be charged with a crime — not while he is in office, the Justice Department has concluded<https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/22/us/politics/can-president-be-indicted-kenneth-starr-memo.html?module=inline> — and the political mood in Congress. Republican Senate leaders were nearly unanimous on Monday in dismissing any new peril facing the president.

But Mr. Trump’s plea of ignorance has flaws, said Richard L. Hasen<http://www.law.uci.edu/faculty/full-time/hasen/>, a professor of election law at the University of California, Irvine. While the Obama and McCain campaigns were fined for failing to swiftly report certain expenditures, he said, they had filed corrected reports about the mistakes to federal elections officials and then paid the fines, rather than trying to hide the payments for more than a year.

Mr. Trump “looks pretty guilty from what we see so far, but whether he would actually face any liability is a huge question,” Mr. Hasen said.
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Posted in campaign finance<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, campaigns<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, chicanery<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>

--
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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