Bauer and Smith Discuss Enforcement at the FEC

Beginning here, at Skeptic's Eye.

Tom Friedman Wants a Third Party

See here (TimesSelect required).

"Line-Item Veto Gets Mixed Review at Senate Hearing"

Roll Call offers this report, which begins: "Members of the Senate Budget Committee quarreled Tuesday over a measure that would establish presidential line-item veto authority as opponents asserted the proposal could tip the balance of power, giving the White House leverage over Congress."

Lobbying Reform Update

[the remainder of this post went to the legislation listserv, but this last item seemed of interest here as well...]

[Roll Call[ also offers Lobbying Firm Broke PAC Rules, which begins: "Former top aides to Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) who are working at a lobbying firm with close ties to the lawmaker appear to have used their political action committee in ways that repeatedly broke federal election rules in recent months." (Paid subscription required to access these articles).

"OH 6: Wilson's Write-In Bid Succeeds, Will Face Blasdel"

CQ Politics has this post, which begins: "Democratic state Sen. Charlie Wilson scored a dominant primary victory Tuesday Ohio’s open 6th District, setting up a key November matchup with Republican state Rep. Chuck Blasdel -- even though Wilson's name did not appear on the ballot. An energetic effort enabled Wilson to succeed with a write-in ballot campaign that erased an enormous gaffe he committed prior to the mid-February candidate filing deadline."

"For first time, 1965 act used to protect white voting rights"

AP offers this report.

Election Law Scholar Guy Charles Named Interim Co-Dean for University of Minnesota Law School

Details here. Congratulations (I think!) to my friend Guy.

"Election law quirk spurs protests; Preschool initiative backers want to know where foes got funds."

The Sacramento Bee offers this report.

"CLC Addresses Mootness in WRTL v. FEC"

This item appears on the Campaign Legal Center's new blog.

Brand Replies to Smartmatic

Richard Brand sends along the following response in his ongoing debate with Smartmatic:

VENEZUELA INVESTMENT IN VOTING FIRM WAS NO ROUTINE LOAN
In his letter to the editor of The Miami Herald of April 29, Jack Blaine, the president of Smartmatic international and Sequoia Voting Systems, asserts that the Venezuelan government held a "28-percent nonpermanent, minority equity position in Bizta [Corporation] via a routine loan" at the time Bizta and Smartmatic were hired to provide
electronic voting services for a recall referendum on President Hugo Chavez. To describe the transaction as a "loan" where Venezuela merely held Bizta stock as collateral turns basic principles of corporate finance on their head.

Lenders don't hold equity positions in debtor companies as collateral to secure their loans, because should the debtor be unable to pay back the loan, then the stock held as collateral is necessarily worthless. Debt gets paid before equity. The only rational reason for the Venezuelan government to hold an equity position in Bizta is to
influence Bizta's management decisions. This is underscored by the fact that Venezuela chose Omar Montilla, an electronic voting machine expert who worked for Chavez's 1997 presidential campaign, as its representative on Bizta’s board of directors. Additionally, Bizta's official Venezuelan corporate registry documents describe the
transaction as an equity sale, and not as a loan.
Bizta's founders Antonio Mugica and Alfredo Anzola have turned their attention to their other companies, Smartmatic International and its new subsidiary Sequoia Voting Systems. Millions of Americans who use Sequoia voting machines should be deeply concerned about this.
Sincerely,
Richard Brand