[EL] ELB News and Commentary 5/15/19

Tue May 14 20:11:04 PDT 2019

NRA Taking Money from Its Foundation Faces Possible Tax Problems in Using Money for Political Purposes<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105150>
Posted on May 14, 2019 8:09 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105150> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

NYT<https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/14/us/nra-finances-executives-board-members.html>:

The tantalizing leaks have spilled out in the weeks since the National Rifle Association’s annual convention in Indianapolis devolved into civil war.

Amid anxiety over falling revenue and mounting legal trouble has come news that the gun group’s longtime chief executive, Wayne LaPierre, billed $275,000<https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5997970-AM-LaPierre-Clothing.html> for purchases at the Zegna luxury men’s wear boutique in Beverly Hills. Its largely ceremonial president, Oliver L. North, had a contract worth millions of dollars a year. And a litany of payments benefited prominent officials, like the $60,000 for advertising on a TV show featuring the rock musician and N.R.A. board member Ted Nugent<https://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/27/arts/television/vegans-keep-out-its-hunting-season.html?module=inline>.

But behind the internecine squabbling lie deeper financial problems. A review of tax records by The New York Times shows that, to steady its finances, the powerful lobbying group has increasingly relied on cash infusions and other transactions involving its affiliated foundation — at least $206 million worth since 2010.

The role of the foundation is among the issues being examined in a new investigation into the N.R.A.’s tax-exempt status by the New York attorney general, Letitia James. The N.R.A. and the charity received separate letters last month from Ms. James’s office ordering them to preserve pertinent records, according to several people who had seen them.

At issue for investigators, tax experts say, would be whether that money was being used for charitable purposes, as required by law, and not to help finance the N.R.A.’s political activities.
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Posted in tax law and election law<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=22>

“Russians Hacked Voter Systems in 2 Florida Counties. But Which Ones?”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105148>
Posted on May 14, 2019 8:03 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105148> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

NYT<https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/14/us/florida-election-hacking-desantis.html>:

The mystery surrounding a Russian intrusion into Florida’s voter registration systems<https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/26/us/florida-russia-hacking-election.html?module=inline> during the 2016 election deepened on Tuesday when Gov. Ron DeSantis said that the F.B.I. had revealed to him which counties in the state had been targeted — then required the governor to keep the information secret.

At a news conference in Tallahassee, Mr. DeSantis, a Republican, said that officials from the F.B.I. and the Department of Homeland Security had asked him to sign a nondisclosure agreement pledging not to identify the two counties that fell victim to a “spearphishing” attempt by Russian hackers.

That the Russians breached security protocols in not one but two counties was previously unknown. Last month, the Mueller report<https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/04/18/us/politics/mueller-report-document.html?searchResultPosition=2&module=inline>confirmed that the F.B.I. believed that the Russian military intelligence unit known as the G.R.U. breached “at least one Florida county government.” Elections officials said that if the intrusion came through a spearphishing email, as it apparently did, it would put hackers in a position to potentially alter registration data, though not the tabulation of ballots….

That the governor was asked to sign a nondisclosure agreement to receive classified information is not unusual. The F.B.I. makes similar requests of police chiefs when discussing cases involving classified terrorism threats, for example. Typically, the F.B.I. does not release the names of hacking victims for privacy reasons.

Less clear is why information, the gist of which has already been made public in the Mueller report, would be deemed too sensitive for public disclosure. There was an immediate flood of questions on social media, with many wondering how the public could feel confident that the voter rolls had not been tampered with and that local elections supervisors had taken the necessary steps to prevent a similar hack in the future — without knowing which counties had been breached.

“This is not acceptable, to keep secret attacks on the most public of our political processes: our elections,” said Ion Sancho, a Democrat and the former elections supervisor of Leon County, which includes the state capital, Tallahassee.
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Posted in campaigns<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, chicanery<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>

“Why candidates should embrace public campaign finance system”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105146>
Posted on May 14, 2019 7:54 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105146> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Paul Smith oped<https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/443679-why-candidates-should-embrace-public-campaign-finance-system> in The Hill.
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Posted in campaign finance<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>

“Republican Dan Bishop wins NC District 9 GOP primary to face Democrat Dan McCready”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105144>
Posted on May 14, 2019 7:52 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105144> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

News & Observer<https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/election/article230335584.html> on #NC09 do-over.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

Michigan Legislature May Take Money Away from Independent Redistricting Commission<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105142>
Posted on May 14, 2019 3:13 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105142> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Detroit News:<https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2019/05/14/redistricting-money-would-transferred-legislature-under-bill/3668687002/>

A House appropriations bill would allow the state’s Republican-led Legislature to hold the purse strings for the Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission approved by voters in November.

The spending bill also would chip away at Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel’s budget with a recommended 15% “administrative reduction.”
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Posted in redistricting<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>

“A new poll tax will suppress Florida’s voting reform”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105140>
Posted on May 14, 2019 1:16 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105140> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Katrina vanden Heuvel WaPo column<https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/05/14/new-poll-tax-will-suppress-floridas-voting-reform/?utm_term=.445db38158c8>.
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Posted in felon voting<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=66>

--
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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