[EL] ELB News and Commentary 10/17/19
Rick Hasen
rhasen at law.uci.edu
Wed Oct 16 21:02:21 PDT 2019
“California billionaire Tom Steyer spent $47 million in 84 days on presidential bid”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107717>
Posted on October 16, 2019 8:57 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107717> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
LAT:<https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2019-10-16/california-billionaire-tom-steyer-calling-for-trumps-impeachment-spends-47-million-on-his-presidential-bid>
California billionaire Tom Steyer spent $47 million during the first three months of his presidential bid — a jaw-dropping sum that places him on track to join the biggest self-funding political candidates in American history.
So far, Steyer has remained mired in the low single digits in the polls in his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. The candidate who has topped most of these polls, former Vice President Joe Biden, finds himself in a precarious financial position— he spent more money than he raised in recent months, and has significantly less in the bank than his top rivals, according to campaign finance disclosure forms released late Tuesday….
Presidential candidates Ross Perot in 1992 and Steve Forbes in 2000 spent the equivalent of a little over $110 million in today’s dollars, modern-day records Steyer could easily break if he keeps spending at the same pace, said Douglas Weber, a senior researcher with the Center for Responsive Politics. Steyer has said, however, he would spend $100 million of his own money on his race.
Perot’s and Forbes’ bids were unsuccessful.
“Typically self-funding doesn’t lead to success, in part because candidates’ fundraising helps candidates become better at connecting with voters,” said Rick Hasen, a campaign-finance law professor at UC Irvine. He added that Steyer’s “$47 million hasn’t bought him very much. He could pay off the fines of all the ex-felons in Florida to make sure they are re-enfranchised for the next election and probably have a lot more influence on the next election.”
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>
Is Colorado Acting Strategically in Seeking Supreme Court Review of the Faithless Elector Case?<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107715>
Posted on October 16, 2019 8:47 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107715> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Colorado has filed this cert petition<https://coag.gov/app/uploads/2019/10/Colorado-Cert-Petition-Final.pdf> in the faithless elector case, making it the second case raising the issue to reach the Supreme Court within a month. (Here<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107609> is my coverage of the Washington state case, and my earlier Slate piece, The Coming Reckoning Over the Electoral College: A ploy to bring the issue to the Supreme Court could backfire.<https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/09/electoral-college-supreme-court-lessig-faithless-electors.html>)
Derek Muller sensibly asks<https://excessofdemocracy.com/blog/2019/10/does-colorado-want-to-win-the-states-faithless-elector-case> if Colorado really wants to win this case. If it did, Mueller suggests, it would first seek 10th Circuit en banc review and argue that there are good procedural reasons for rejecting the panel decision and thereby wiping out the panel decision as precedent. Derek says there may be strategic reasons why Colorado is acting this way, but he’s not sure what they might be.
Here’s one possibility I don’t think Derek covers: Colorado wants definitive Supreme Court precedent allowing states to block faithless electors. If Colorado went to the 10th circuit and won on procedural grounds, that would not resolve the merits of barring faithless electors in the 10th circuit, it would not resolve the issue nationally, and it would make it less likely the Supreme Court would take the Washington case, because there would no longer be a split among the courts.
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Posted in electoral college<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=44>
CA Supreme Court Will Hear Case About Requiring Presidential Candidates to Release Tax Returns on Nov. 6, With Opinion Likely by Thanksgiving<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107713>
Posted on October 16, 2019 4:48 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107713> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
At the Lectern reports.<http://www.atthelectern.com/presidential-tax-returns-case-to-be-argued-in-three-weeks/>
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Posted in campaigns<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>
“Wealth, philanthropy and politics — considering ‘wealth tax’ proposals”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107711>
Posted on October 16, 2019 4:45 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107711> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Ellen Aprill oped<https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/465842-wealth-philanthropy-and-politics-considering-wealth-tax-proposals>:
The impact of private wealth on public policy through tax-exempt organizations has garnered much attention of late, with recent scandals involving the Sacklers, Jeffrey Epstein, and a number of prestigious universities. Recent critiques, however, fail to emphasize sufficiently the role of wealth in campaign finance. Citizens United<https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/citizens-united-v-federal-election-commission/> and the rise, in its wake, of Super PACS able to solicit and spend unlimited amounts make such consideration crucial. Today more than ever, political power of the wealthy means that government spending, like charitable spending, is likely to reflect the interests of the wealthy.
Current proposals for a wealth tax also need to confront this issue.
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Posted in campaign finance<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, tax law and election law<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=22>
“Local Texas officials balk at animus toward cities, plans for sales tax cuts in legislators’ secretly recorded meeting”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107709>
Posted on October 16, 2019 10:41 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107709> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Texas Tribune:<https://www.texastribune.org/2019/10/15/texas-house-speaker-dennis-bonnen-animus-toward-cities-laid-bare-tape/>
The recording of a conversation between two top Republican state lawmakers and a conservative activist released Tuesday exposed legislators’ intentional political targeting of cities and counties — and their plans to make the 2021 legislative session even more painful for local governments.
“Any mayor, county judge that was dumb ass enough to come meet with me, I told them with great clarity, my goal is for this to be the worst session in the history of the legislature for cities and counties,” Texas House Speaker Dennis Bonnen, R-Angleton, said in the recording.
“I hope the next session is even worse,” Republican state Rep. Dustin Burrows<https://www.texastribune.org/directory/dustin-burrows/> of Lubbock replied.
Bonnen then said he was “all in for that.”…
About 84% of Texans live in urban areas. But as the state’s cities — and even some suburbs — have become more Democratic, officials within the Republican-controlled state government have often sparred with local leaders on everything from homelessness to immigration and ride-sharing regulation.
“Where do we have all our problems in America?” Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick<https://www.texastribune.org/directory/dan-patrick/> asked in a televised interview in 2017. “In our cities — that are mostly controlled by Democrat mayors and Democrat city councilmen and women. That’s where you see liberal policies. That’s where you see high taxes. That’s where you see street crime.”
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>
“Census confirms drivers’ records request tied to citizenship”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107707>
Posted on October 16, 2019 10:19 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107707> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
AP reports.<https://apnews.com/584d26aa91fc4004ad147d0a3ba2231e>
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Posted in census litigation<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=125>
Campaign Finance Attorney Jim Bopp Advising Trump Campaign on Campaign Finance Issues<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107705>
Posted on October 16, 2019 8:03 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107705> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Carrie Levine:<https://twitter.com/levinecarrie/status/1184469276725518336>
[cid:image002.jpg at 01D58464.FFD569B0]<https://twitter.com/levinecarrie>
<https://twitter.com/levinecarrie>
Carrie Levine<https://twitter.com/levinecarrie>
✔@levinecarrie<https://twitter.com/levinecarrie>
<https://twitter.com/levinecarrie/status/1184469276725518336>
1/One interesting tidbit from the Trump campaign's most recent FEC disclosure: the architect of the Supreme Court's Citizens United case is now on the campaign's ever-growing roster of lawyers.
The campaign reported paying Jim Bopp's law firm $25,000 in August.
<https://twitter.com/intent/like?tweet_id=1184469276725518336>
23<https://twitter.com/intent/like?tweet_id=1184469276725518336>
7:00 AM - Oct 16, 2019<https://twitter.com/levinecarrie/status/1184469276725518336>
Twitter Ads info and privacy<https://support.twitter.com/articles/20175256>
<https://twitter.com/levinecarrie/status/1184469276725518336>
27 people are talking about this<https://twitter.com/levinecarrie/status/1184469276725518336>
[cid:image002.jpg at 01D58464.FFD569B0]<https://twitter.com/levinecarrie>
<https://twitter.com/levinecarrie>
Carrie Levine<https://twitter.com/levinecarrie>
✔@levinecarrie<https://twitter.com/levinecarrie>
· 13h<https://twitter.com/levinecarrie/status/1184469276725518336>
<https://twitter.com/levinecarrie/status/1184469276725518336>
1/One interesting tidbit from the Trump campaign's most recent FEC disclosure: the architect of the Supreme Court's Citizens United case is now on the campaign's ever-growing roster of lawyers.
The campaign reported paying Jim Bopp's law firm $25,000 in August.
[cid:image002.jpg at 01D58464.FFD569B0]<https://twitter.com/levinecarrie>
<https://twitter.com/levinecarrie>
Carrie Levine<https://twitter.com/levinecarrie>
✔@levinecarrie<https://twitter.com/levinecarrie>
2/Bopp this morning confirmed the Trump campaign representation, though he said he couldn't discuss details.
"I think I could say that I've been retained as special counsel for strategic and campaign finance law advice for the campaign," he said.
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10<https://twitter.com/intent/like?tweet_id=1184469277648261121>
7:00 AM - Oct 16, 2019<https://twitter.com/levinecarrie/status/1184469277648261121>
Twitter Ads info and privacy<https://support.twitter.com/articles/20175256>
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See Carrie Levine's other Tweets<https://twitter.com/levinecarrie>
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Posted in campaign finance<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>
House Committee on Registration Holding Hearing Thursday on Voting Rights and Election Administration<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107703>
Posted on October 16, 2019 7:42 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107703> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Schedule<https://cha.house.gov/committee-activity/hearings/voting-rights-and-election-administration-america>.
Witnesses
Ms. Barbara Arnwine
National Co-Chair, National Commission for Voter Justice
· Written Testimony of Barbara Arnwine<http://docs.house.gov/meetings/HA/HA08/20191017/110060/HHRG-116-HA08-Wstate-ArnwineB-20191017-U1.pdf>
· Arnwine Witness Disclosure Form<http://docs.house.gov/meetings/HA/HA08/20191017/110060/HHRG-116-HA08-TTF-ArnwineB-20191017-U1.pdf>
· Barbara Arnwine Biography<http://docs.house.gov/meetings/HA/HA08/20191017/110060/HHRG-116-HA08-Bio-ArnwineB-20191017-U1.pdf>
Ms. Michelle Bishop
Voting Rights Specialist, National Disability Rights Network
· Written Testimony of Michelle Bishop<http://docs.house.gov/meetings/HA/HA08/20191017/110060/HHRG-116-HA08-Wstate-BishopM-20191017-U1.pdf>
· Bishop Witness Disclosure Form<http://docs.house.gov/meetings/HA/HA08/20191017/110060/HHRG-116-HA08-TTF-BishopM-20191017-U1.pdf>
· Michelle Bishop Biography<http://docs.house.gov/meetings/HA/HA08/20191017/110060/HHRG-116-HA08-Bio-BishopM-20191017-U1.pdf>
Ms. Kristen Clarke
President & Executive Director, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
Ms. Hannah Fried
Director, All Voting Is Local
· Written Testimony of Hannah Fried<http://docs.house.gov/meetings/HA/HA08/20191017/110060/HHRG-116-HA08-Wstate-FriedH-20191017-U1.pdf>
· Fried Witness Disclosure Form<http://docs.house.gov/meetings/HA/HA08/20191017/110060/HHRG-116-HA08-TTF-FriedH-20191017-U1.pdf>
· Hannah Fried Biography<http://docs.house.gov/meetings/HA/HA08/20191017/110060/HHRG-116-HA08-Bio-FriedH-20191017-U1.pdf>
Mr. Dale Ho
Director, Voting Rights Project
Ms. Virginia Kase
Chief Executive Officer, League of Women Voters
· Written Testimony of Virginia Kase<http://docs.house.gov/meetings/HA/HA08/20191017/110060/HHRG-116-HA08-Wstate-KaseV-20191017-U1.pdf>
· Kase Witness Disclosure Form<http://docs.house.gov/meetings/HA/HA08/20191017/110060/HHRG-116-HA08-TTF-KaseV-20191017-U1.pdf>
· Virginia Kase Biography<http://docs.house.gov/meetings/HA/HA08/20191017/110060/HHRG-116-HA08-Bio-KaseV-20191017-U1.pdf>
The Honorable Catherine E. Lhamon
Chair, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights
· Written Testimony of Catherine E. Lhamon<http://docs.house.gov/meetings/HA/HA08/20191017/110060/HHRG-116-HA08-Wstate-LhamonC-20191017-U1.pdf>
· Lhamon Witness Disclosure Form<http://docs.house.gov/meetings/HA/HA08/20191017/110060/HHRG-116-HA08-TTF-LhamonC-20191017-U1.pdf>
· Catherine E. Lhamon Biography<http://docs.house.gov/meetings/HA/HA08/20191017/110060/HHRG-116-HA08-Bio-LhamonC-20191017-U1.pdf>
Ms. Denise Lieberman
Senior Attorney & Program Director, Power & Democracy, Advancement Project
Ms. Elena Nunez
Director of State Operations & Ballot Measure Strategies, Common Cause
· Written Testimony of Elena Nunez<http://docs.house.gov/meetings/HA/HA08/20191017/110060/HHRG-116-HA08-Wstate-NunezE-20191017-U1.pdf>
· Nunez Witness Disclosure Form<http://docs.house.gov/meetings/HA/HA08/20191017/110060/HHRG-116-HA08-TTF-NunezE-20191017-U1.pdf>
Mr. Deuel Ross
Senior Counsel, NAACP Legal Defense Fund
Mr. Thomas Saenz
President & General Counsel, MALDEF
Mr. Arturo Vargas
Chief Executive Officer, NALEO Educational Fund
· Written Testimony of Arturo Vargas<http://docs.house.gov/meetings/HA/HA08/20191017/110060/HHRG-116-HA08-Wstate-VargasA-20191017-U1.pdf>
· Vargas Witness Disclosure Form<http://docs.house.gov/meetings/HA/HA08/20191017/110060/HHRG-116-HA08-TTF-VargasA-20191017-U1.pdf>
· Arturo Vargas Biography<http://docs.house.gov/meetings/HA/HA08/20191017/110060/HHRG-116-HA08-Bio-VargasA-20191017-U1.pdf>
Mr. Michael Waldman
President, Brennan Center for Justice
· Written Testimony of Michael Waldman<http://docs.house.gov/meetings/HA/HA08/20191017/110060/HHRG-116-HA08-Wstate-WaldmanM-20191017-U1.pdf>
· Waldman Witness Disclosure Form<http://docs.house.gov/meetings/HA/HA08/20191017/110060/HHRG-116-HA08-TTF-WaldmanM-20191017-U1.pdf>
· Michael Waldman Bio<http://docs.house.gov/meetings/HA/HA08/20191017/110060/HHRG-116-HA08-Bio-WaldmanM-20191017-U1.pdf>
Ms. Brenda Wright
Senior Advisor for Legal Strategies, Demos
· Written Testimony of Brenda Wright<http://docs.house.gov/meetings/HA/HA08/20191017/110060/HHRG-116-HA08-Wstate-WrightB-20191017-U1.pdf>
· Wright Witness Disclosure Form<http://docs.house.gov/meetings/HA/HA08/20191017/110060/HHRG-116-HA08-TTF-WrightB-20191017-U1.pdf>
· Brenda Wright Biography<http://docs.house.gov/meetings/HA/HA08/20191017/110060/HHRG-116-HA08-Bio-WrightB-20191017-U1.pdf>
Mr. John C. Yang
President & Executive Director, Asian Americans Advancing Justice
· Written Testimony of John C. Yang<http://docs.house.gov/meetings/HA/HA08/20191017/110060/HHRG-116-HA08-Wstate-YangJ-20191017-U1.pdf>
· Yang Witness Disclosure Form<http://docs.house.gov/meetings/HA/HA08/20191017/110060/HHRG-116-HA08-TTF-YangJ-20191017-U1.pdf>
· John C. Yang Biography<http://docs.house.gov/meetings/HA/HA08/20191017/110060/HHRG-116-HA08-Bio-YangJ-20191017-U1.pdf>
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>
“Group seeks to remove thousands from Wisconsin’s voter rolls because they are believed to have moved”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107701>
Posted on October 16, 2019 7:14 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107701> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel<https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2019/10/16/group-seeks-remove-thousands-wisconsins-voter-rolls/3986444002/>:
A conservative group is seeking to quickly remove thousands of people from the voting rolls who election officials believe have moved.
The question over how to treat as many as 234,000 voters comes as Wisconsin emerges as one of the most heavily contested states in next year’s presidential election.
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Posted in election administration<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, NVRA (motor voter)<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=33>
NYT Editorial Endorses Ranked Choice Voting for NYC<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107699>
Posted on October 16, 2019 7:08 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107699> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Here.<https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/15/opinion/new-york-ranked-choice-voting.html>
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Posted in alternative voting systems<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=63>
--
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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