[EL] ELB News and Commentary 5/16/19

Wed May 15 19:46:19 PDT 2019

“FEC lawyers find evidence of illegal campaign contributions by Boston’s Thornton law firm, but commissioners dismiss complaint anyway”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105162>
Posted on May 15, 2019 7:30 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105162> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Boston Globe:<https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2019/05/15/federal-election-commission-dismisses-charges-against-boston-thornton-law-firm-despite-evidence-election-law-violations/aRl9HS2kdipaQ8jP9VkvnO/story.html>

Lawyers at the Federal Election Commission found that Boston’s Thornton Law firm likely used a phony program to repay partners for political donations, but the case was dismissed after commissioners deadlocked on whether to pursue it.

FEC staff lawyers found extensive evidence that Thornton, a major supporter of the Democratic Party and its candidates, illegally reimbursed partners for more than a million dollars in donations, according to their 33-page report on the case.

But the commission itself voted two-to-two along party lines — a tie vote, which dismisses the complaint instead of opening a full-scale investigation. The decision was released last Friday.
[Share]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D105162&title=%E2%80%9CFEC%20lawyers%20find%20evidence%20of%20illegal%20campaign%20contributions%20by%20Boston%E2%80%99s%20Thornton%20law%20firm%2C%20but%20commissioners%20dismiss%20complaint%20anyway%E2%80%9D>
Posted in campaign finance<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, federal election commission<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=24>

“Texas used money from the Help America Vote Act to help pay for its botched voter citizenship review”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105160>
Posted on May 15, 2019 5:12 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105160> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Texas Tribune:<https://www.texastribune.org/2019/05/15/texas-used-funds-help-america-vote-act-pay-voter-roll-review/>

Texas’ botched search for noncitizens on the voter rolls, which ended in a legal settlement after state officials jeopardized the voting rights of thousands of legitimate voters, was paid for in part with dollars earmarked for bolstering election security amid concerns of interference in 2016.
The Secretary of State’s Office used roughly $121,000 in funds it received from the federal Help America Vote Act to run its search for supposed noncitizens. The dollar figure was provided to state lawmakers and confirmed Wednesday by a spokesman for the secretary of state who said it was a legitimate use of the money because it was meant to improve the state’s maintenance of its massive voter registration list.
Texas was granted $23.3 million as part of Congress’ 2018 reauthorization of the Help America Vote Act to help improve and secure elections. It allowed the state to put the money toward election security enhancements, including replacing voting equipment, upgrading election-related computer systems to address cybersecurity vulnerabilities and funding “other activities that will improve the security of elections for federal office.”
[Share]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D105160&title=%E2%80%9CTexas%20used%20money%20from%20the%20Help%20America%20Vote%20Act%20to%20help%20pay%20for%20its%20botched%20voter%20citizenship%20review%E2%80%9D>
Posted in election administration<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, fraudulent fraud squad<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=8>

“Grasswho? Members raised hundreds of thousands, almost none from small donors”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105158>
Posted on May 15, 2019 3:12 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105158> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Roll Call:<https://www.rollcall.com/news/campaigns/some-democrats-and-republicans-raised-hundreds-of-thousands-but-got-less-than-500-in-small-donations>

Democrats have long touted the importance of raising small amounts of money from a large number of donors as a sign of political strength on the campaign trail and in Congress.

But recent campaign finance disclosures show some lawmakers — from both parties — raised next to no money from so-called small donors in the first three months of 2019 for their campaign accounts. The names of contributors giving less than $200 in the aggregate do not have to be included in reports to the Federal Election Commission, but the total received from all those “unitemized” contributions is disclosed.
[Share]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D105158&title=%E2%80%9CGrasswho%3F%20Members%20raised%20hundreds%20of%20thousands%2C%20almost%20none%20from%20small%20donors%E2%80%9D>
Posted in campaign finance<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, campaigns<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>

“Mueller Report Elicited A Lot Of Conversation — But Little Election Legislation”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105156>
Posted on May 15, 2019 3:06 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105156> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Miles Park<https://www.npr.org/2019/05/15/722819255/mueller-report-elicited-a-lot-of-conversation-but-little-election-legislation> for NPR:

Sen. James Lankford is worried about election apathy.

Not that people will stop caring about politics, but as the weeks and months pass after the release of special counsel Robert Mueller’s redacted report<https://www.npr.org/2019/04/18/708850903/read-the-full-mueller-report-with-redactions> on Russian interference, the Oklahoma Republican said he worries there won’t be the same urgency to safeguard American democracy.

The 2018 midterms went by without a major cybersecurity breach, but the issue isn’t solved, Lankford warned.

“If it continues to go well, people become apathetic about it, and they say this is not a problem,” Lankford told NPR. “There will always be a problem. Every single NATO country has had election interference from the Russians. Every single one. If we ignore that, it’s to our peril.”

Mueller’s report, and the fallout from the investigation, has elicited enough fodder to fill years’ worth of cable news panel discussions, but what it hasn’t led to — so far — is legislation aimed at plugging the holes Russia exposed in democracy.
[Share]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D105156&title=%E2%80%9CMueller%20Report%20Elicited%20A%20Lot%20Of%20Conversation%20%E2%80%94%20But%20Little%20Election%20Legislation%E2%80%9D>
Posted in campaigns<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, chicanery<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>, election administration<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>

“Texas Attorney General again blocks U.S. House request for voter purge documents”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105153>
Posted on May 15, 2019 3:03 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105153> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

The Houston Chronicle reports.<https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/politics/texas/article/Texas-Attorney-General-again-blocks-U-S-House-13844375.php?t=c99d8bd330>
[Share]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D105153&title=%E2%80%9CTexas%20Attorney%20General%20again%20blocks%20U.S.%20House%20request%20for%20voter%20purge%20documents%E2%80%9D>
Posted in fraudulent fraud squad<https://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
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/>
[signature_368159189]

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://webshare.law.ucla.edu/Listservs/law-election/attachments/20190516/5abc8dfa/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 2021 bytes
Desc: image001.png
URL: <http://webshare.law.ucla.edu/Listservs/law-election/attachments/20190516/5abc8dfa/attachment.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image002.png
Type: image/png
Size: 92163 bytes
Desc: image002.png
URL: <http://webshare.law.ucla.edu/Listservs/law-election/attachments/20190516/5abc8dfa/attachment-0001.png>