[EL] ELB News and Commentary 12/12/19

[Rick Hasen]

“House asks Supreme Court not to delay access to Trump’s financial records, citing threat to 2020 elections”
Posted on December 11, 2019 6:50 pm by Rick Hasen

WaPo:

Lawyers for Congress urged the Supreme Court on Wednesday not to delay House committees’ access to President Trump’s financial records, saying the information could be crucial to investigating foreign involvement in American politics and legislative protections for next year’s elections.

“Nothing is more urgent than efforts to guard against foreign influence in our systems for electing officials, particularly given the upcoming 2020 elections,” House General Counsel Douglas N. Letter said in a filing to the court. “There is bipartisan agreement that such interference is an imminent threat.”

Trump has asked the high court to review a decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit in New York that upheld Congress’s broad investigative authority, and ordered Deutsche Bank and Capital One to comply with House subpoenas for the president’s financial information.

Posted in Uncategorized

 

 
“Giuliani Associate Parnas Got $1 Million From Russia, U.S. Says”
Posted on December 11, 2019 4:19 pm by Rick Hasen

Bloomberg:

Rudy Giuliani’s associate Lev Parnas got $1 million from Russia in September, a month before he was charged with conspiring to funnel foreign money into U.S. political campaigns, according to U.S. prosecutors who asked a judge to jail him for understating his income and assets.

The payment raises provocative new questions about the nature of the work Parnas and his associate Igor Fruman were doing and who they were doing it for. Much about the nature of their work remains unclear.

They were charged, in part, with working on behalf of one or more Ukrainian government officials to seek the removal of then-U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch. Bloomberg and other news organizations have also reported that Parnas was added to the legal team of Dmitry Firtash, a Ukrainian oligarch fighting extradition to the U.S.

“Parnas failed to disclose, in describing his income to the government and pretrial services, the fact that in September 2019, he received $1 million from a bank account in Russia into Account-1,” prosecutors said in a court filing Wednesday.

Posted in chicanery

 

 
“State GOP Suing Cuomo To Force NY-27 Special Election ASAP”
Posted on December 11, 2019 3:52 pm by Rick Hasen

NY State of Politics reports.

Posted in Uncategorized

 

 
A Guide to Election Year Activities of Section 501(c)(3) Organizations
Posted on December 11, 2019 3:28 pm by Rick Hasen

Steven Sholk:

I am pleased to announce that an updated version of my article, A Guide to Election Year Activities of Section 501(c)(3) Organizations, has been published by Practising Law Institute as part of its 2019 Course Handbook for the seminar, Tax Strategies For Corporate Acquisitions, Dispositions, Spin-Offs, Joint Ventures, Financings, Reorganizations & Restructurings.

You can find it here.

 

 

Posted in tax law and election law

 

 
PILF Sues Detroit Over Voter List Maintenance
Posted on December 11, 2019 3:26 pm by Rick Hasen

Detroit Free Press:

A public interest group has sued the city of Detroit in federal court, claiming it has thousands of dead people on its voter lists and even more duplicate names of registered voters — problems the group fears could lead to voter fraud in the upcoming presidential election.

The lawsuit, however, does not claim that someone living ever actually tried to vote as a deceased voter in Detroit.  Nor does it allege that any voter fraud has actually occurred in Detroit, a majority-black Democratic stronghold that played pivotal roles in the last two elections, one way or another, and are expected to do so again in 2020.

The lawsuit cites the 2016 election, but it raises no issues of actual fraud.  Rather, it claims that the city isn’t properly cleaning its voter registration records, as required by law, but instead allows the rolls to be replete with typos, dead people, duplicate registrations and mistakes about gender and birth: One Detroit voter is listed as being born in 1823 —14 years before Michigan was annexed into the Union.

Posted in fraudulent fraud squad, NVRA (motor voter)

 

 
Kentucky: “Beshear says he will sign order Thursday restoring voting rights of 100,000+ felons”
Posted on December 11, 2019 9:38 am by Rick Hasen

Lexington Herald-Leader:

In his inaugural address, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said he will file an executive order this week restoring the voting rights of many convicted felons who are currently disenfranchised under state law.

“My faith teaches me to treat others with dignity and respect,” the new Democratic governor told his audience outside the state Capitol. “My faith also teaches forgiveness.”

“That’s why on Thursday I will sign an executive order restoring voting rights to over a hundred thousand men and women who have done wrong in the past but are doing right now. They deserve to participate in our great democracy,” Beshear said.

The speech offered no details about Beshear’s forthcoming order, which felons would be covered or how the restoration process would work.

Posted in felon voting

 

 
“Georgia voting site in rural black community reopened after grassroots fight”
Posted on December 11, 2019 9:33 am by Rick Hasen

AP reports.

Posted in Uncategorized

 

 
“New Report Finds $39.7 Million Spent on Campaigns for State Supreme Court Judgeships in 2017-2018, $10.8 Million of it by Special Interest Groups”
Posted on December 11, 2019 9:26 am by Rick Hasen

Brennan Center release.

Posted in campaign finance, campaigns, judicial elections

 

 
“National Democratic groups litigate 2020 in the courts”
Posted on December 11, 2019 9:22 am by Rick Hasen

Roll Call:

More than in previous election cycles, national Democratic groups are making litigation over election and voting laws a key part of their 2020 strategy. 

A handful of Democratic groups are currently litigating about a dozen cases over what they see as unfair election laws and maps across the country. 

“This is a dramatic uptick in the amount of voting rights litigation relative to past cycles,” said Democratic election lawyer Marc Elias, the chairman of Perkins Coie’s political law group and the party’s warrior in this fight. 

[List of cases after the jump]

Continue reading →

Posted in The Voting Wars

 

 

Rick Hasen 

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