Nonprofits Cloak Donations to Governor"

The LA Times offers this front-page report, with the subhead: "Tax-exempt groups provide millions from sources not made public. Ethics watchdogs say the practice avoids state disclosure laws."

Election 2004 Finally Over(?)

See here.

"Voting Rights Act should be amended"

The Arizona Republic offers this editorial. It ends:

At this point, there's no justification for subjecting the election procedures in Arizona and the other political jurisdictions currently under the preclearance requirement to greater federal scrutiny than those in the rest of the country. Yet supporters of the Voting Rights Act oppose making the preclearance requirement universal or permanent, fearing that would run afoul of the Supreme Court, which from time to time frets about all the race-consciousness in the act.

So, will Arizona's congressional delegation - which consists entirely of Anglo Republican and Latino Democratic politicians who face less electoral competition as a result of race-conscious political boundaries - lead a fight to remove Arizona from this unjustified, unwarranted and discriminatory federal scrutiny of our election procedures?

Don't count on it.

"Appeals court grants expedited review of primary lawsuit"

A.P. offers this report, which begins: "OLYMPIA, Wash. -- An appellate court on Monday granted a fast-track review of a federal court decision striking down the popular 'Top Two' primary system that state voters approved by initiative last fall." Thanks to Steven Rankin for the pointer (see his post on Mississippi's primary system).

"Judge Rules in South Dakota Redistricting Case"

Native American Times offers this report.

"Another scandal that's just waiting to be ignored"

Joshua Spivack offers this oped. A snippet: "In the current controversy, the state's Court of Appeals removed Brooklyn Surrogate Court Judge Michael Feinberg after he was found to have given almost $8.5 million in estate fees to one of his law school buddies, Louis Rosenthal, without ever seeing paperwork showing that the money was earned. Feinberg also routinely granted Rosenthal commissions higher than the state norm, resulting in approximately $2 million in excessive charges - all paid out from money that was rightfully the property of the heirs. Feinberg's behavior might be the most egregious example of Surrogate Court abuse, but it is hardly the only one. The Democratic boss of Queens, Thomas Manton, has been attacked for having his law firm profit off that borough's Surrogate Court administrator's office to the tune of $1 million."

-- 
Rick Hasen 
William H. Hannon Distinguished Professor of Law
Loyola Law School 
919 Albany Street 
Los Angeles, CA  90015-1211 
(213)736-1466 - voice 
(213)380-3769 - fax 
rick.hasen@lls.edu 
http://www.lls.edu/academics/faculty/hasen.html 
http://electionlawblog.org