In the News
NJToday.net: Progressive Democratic activist says election officials can’t reject slogan
Progressive Democratic activist Lisa McCormick said that New Jersey election officials exceeded their constitutional authority when they rejected a slogan proposed by a Republican congressional candidate who wanted “Let’s Go Brand*n – FJB” printed with his name on the June primary ballot…
McCormick is a litigant in a federal case that challenges the authority of government officials to regulate the content of political statements used by candidates…
McCormick is one of two New Jersey candidates who asked a federal court to declare the state’s restrictions on campaign slogans unconstitutional.
The Institute for Free Speech is representing the candidates, Eugene Mazo and Lisa McCormick, in their First Amendment challenge.
“The slogan laws allow candidates to use a six-word slogan on the ballot, but the slogan cannot refer to the name of any person or any New Jersey association without their consent. This violates a candidate’s free speech rights,” said Ryan Morrison, the lawyer representing Mazo and McCormick in that case.
“In America, we do not have to ask permission to speak. And we do not give the government the power to decide what we can and cannot say,” said Morrison. “That is why the Institute for Free Speech filed a lawsuit on behalf of Democratic congressional candidates Eugene Mazo and Lisa McCormick to strike down the ballot slogan laws for violating the First Amendment.”
The Courts
Alaska’s News Source: Alaska lawsuit challenges new donor disclosure requirements
By Sean Maguire
A lawsuit has been filed in federal court against new donor disclosure requirements that come from Ballot Measure 2, an initiative that was narrowly approved by Alaska voters in 2020…
This lawsuit is focused on challenging the constitutionality of new donor disclosure requirements on First Amendment and privacy grounds.
Ballot Measure 2 requires that the true source of donations above $2,000 in a single year to SuperPACs, or independent expenditure groups as they’re known in Alaska, be disclosed within 24 hours. Delays in disclosure could see fines up to $1,000 per day.
Any group receiving more that 50% of its donations from out of state also needs to disclose that in any campaign mailers or television and radio advertisements…
Attorneys for five Alaskans and two independent expenditure groups argue that new disclosure requirements are too burdensome and could act as a disincentive for donations. The complaint says that there could be “reprisals against them and their business interests in the current climate of cancel culture.”
New York Times: Lt. Gov. Benjamin Arrested in Campaign Finance Scheme
By William K. Rashbaum, Nicholas Fandos, and Jeffery C. Mays
The indictment, the result of an investigation by the F.B.I. and the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, accused [Lt. Gov. Brian A. Benjamin of New York] of conspiring to direct state funds to a Harlem real estate investor in exchange for orchestrating thousands of dollars in illegal campaign contributions to Mr. Benjamin’s unsuccessful 2021 campaign for New York City comptroller, the people said. [The investor, Gerald Migdol,] was arrested on federal charges in November…
At the time, the prosecutors did not comment on Migdol’s motive, or explicitly name Mr. Benjamin. But they said his scheme was designed to help the candidate tap into New York City’s generous public campaign matching funds program and secure him tens of thousands of dollars in additional campaign cash.
Nonprofits
Politico: 2024 hopefuls are already in a dark-money arms race
By Scott Bland
At least a dozen potential candidates for president in 2024 have active nonprofit groups aligned with them, according to a review of corporate filings, campaign disclosures and financial records obtained by POLITICO…
What they all have in common is the ability to pay staffers, fund polling and policy research, run ads and accept money from megadonors without divulging those funders’ names — or much information about any spending until many months after the fact. It’s the latest escalation in a fundraising arms race that has seen personal benefactors, super PACs and now secret money become common building blocks of presidential campaigns.
Every candidate who seeks the White House in 2024 will have to start disclosing their campaign fundraising and spending once they officially declare their campaigns. But in the meantime, and in the absence of new legislation or an enforcement crackdown from tax or campaign-finance regulators, prospective presidents can use nonprofits to shield their donors — and much about their preparations — from the public eye.
The Media
Compact: The Question Anne Applebaum Refused to Answer
By Daniel Schmidt
The Atlantic last week hosted a conference titled “Disinformation and the Erosion of Democracy” at the University of Chicago, where I’m a student…
As it happened, I got a chance to question Anne Applebaum, the Pulitzer-winning historian and Atlantic staff writer, following her session with Obama consigliere David Axelrod. For nearly an hour, Applebaum had effused about how important it is to fight disinformation. So I asked her if she thinks the media acted inappropriately in immediately dismissing the New York Post’s reporting on the Hunter Files as Russian disinformation—a claim we now know to be completely false…
Applebaum’s haughtiness perfectly encapsulates why so many Americans are distrustful of the corporate outlets that claim to defend truth against “post-truth” disinformation…
They just use the word as a tool to advance their own class and political interests.
Washington Post: The latest MAGA vs. Silicon Valley battleground
By Jacqueline Alemany and Theodoric Meyer
When the conservative group Citizens United, run by Trump ally David Bossie, wanted to promote its 42-minute film “Rigged: The Zuckerberg Funded Plot to Defeat Donald Trump,” it approached Effectv, a division of Comcast, last month about running an ad in the San Francisco Bay area market.
It was turned down.
In an email reviewed by The Washington Post, an account executive at Citizens United’s media-buying firm wrote that Effectv told him it would not run the ad because it violated its guidelines that ads should “not call out CEOs in a negative way.” …
The group accused Comcast of giving shifting reasons for why it was rejecting the advertisement.
In a letter to Comcast, reviewed by The Washington Post, Citizens United’s general counsel alleged that during a call with Comcast, the initial rationale over why they decided to reject the ad shifted from not liking the “image of the ad” to violating Comcast’s “prohibition on personal attacks.”
“When we requested specific suggestions and edits so that we could modify the ad to conform to the guidelines, you responded that you and your Comcast colleagues ‘really hadn’t given it much thought,’” wrote Michael Boos, Citizen United’s executive vice president and general counsel.
Free Expression
By Bailee Hill
A University of Buffalo student is speaking out after she was chased by a woke mob at an event on campus with Lt. Col. Allen West, claiming she was scared for her life.
Young Americans for Freedom President Therese Purcell joined “Fox & Friends First” Monday to discuss the incident and how the meeting spiraled out of control.
Online Speech Platforms
Wall Street Journal: Elon Musk, Again an Outsider at Twitter, Emerges as Unshackled Wild Card for Company
By Salvador Rodriguez and Tim Higgins
Elon Musk’s surprise decision not to join Twitter Inc.’s board gives the social-media company less control over its largest shareholder, paving the way for him to press for changes and speak out freely about the company as an activist investor…
On Monday, Mr. Musk indicated in a regulatory filing that he still might engage with Twitter on a range of issues “without limitation.” …
As a board member, Mr. Musk would have been limited to holding less than 14.9% of Twitter’s shares, but his reversal raises at least the possibility that he could attempt a hostile takeover…
Mr. Musk also “liked” a tweet Monday that said, “Let me break this down for you: Elon became largest shareholder for Free Speech. Elon was told to play nice and not speak freely.”
Engadget: Meta will close a loophole in its doxxing policy in response to the Oversight Board
By K. Bell
Meta has agreed to change some of its rules around doxxing in response to recommendations from the Oversight Board…
One of the most notable changes is that Meta agreed to end an exception to its existing rules that allowed users to post private residential information if it was “publicly available” elsewhere. The Oversight Board had pointed out that there was a significant difference between obtaining data from a public records request and a viral social media post.
While the company ended one exception, it agreed to relax its policy on another issue. Meta said users would be able to share photos of the exterior of private homes “when the property depicted is the focus of the news story, except when shared in the context of organizing protests against the resident.” Likewise, the company also agreed that it would allow users to share addresses of “high ranking” government officials if the property is a publicly-owned official residence, like those used by heads of state and ambassadors.
The policy changes could have a significant impact for people facing harassment, while also allowing some information to be shared in the context of news stories or protests against elected officials.
The Atlantic: Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid
By Jonathan Haidt
The story of Babel is the best metaphor I have found for what happened to America in the 2010s, and for the fractured country we now inhabit. Something went terribly wrong, very suddenly. We are disoriented, unable to speak the same language or recognize the same truth. We are cut off from one another and from the past.
It’s been clear for quite a while now that red America and blue America are becoming like two different countries claiming the same territory, with two different versions of the Constitution, economics, and American history. But Babel is not a story about tribalism; it’s a story about the fragmentation of everything. It’s about the shattering of all that had seemed solid, the scattering of people who had been a community. It’s a metaphor for what is happening not only between red and blue, but within the left and within the right, as well as within universities, companies, professional associations, museums, and even families.
Babel is a metaphor for what some forms of social media have done to nearly all of the groups and institutions most important to the country’s future—and to us as a people. How did this happen? And what does it portend for American life?
The States
News Channel 5: Battle brews in Tennessee legislature over disclosure of ‘dark money’
By Phil Williams
Super-wealthy people, some from out-of-state, want to help decide who represents you on Tennessee’s Capitol Hill without you knowing it.
That issue — the experts call it “dark money” — is heating up as lawmakers begin considering legislation to shine a light into those dark places.
Over the weekend, the groups that don’t want to disclose who’s funding their efforts took to social media to rally their troops to turn out in opposition to the bill (HB 1201/SB 1005) when it comes up in the House Local Government Committee on Tuesday.
The Center Square: Critics: Illinois Democrats’ plan to force retailers to post ‘tax relief’ details is unconstitutional, election year propaganda
By Greg Bishop and Dan McCaleb
Budget bills introduced by Illinois Democrats in the waning hours of session and that were passed early Saturday will require private-sector retailers to notify consumers of temporary “tax relief” measures included in them. Critics say the requirements are an unconstitutional violation of free speech rights and forced campaign propaganda during an election year…
Josh Sharp of the Illinois Fuel and Retail Association said before Saturday’s approval of the budget bills that the forced sticker notice is unconstitutional.
“This industry won’t be forced into offering free election year advertising for the Governor,” Sharp said. “Ordering businesses to take part in speech that is compelled by the government under the threat of fines and criminal penalties is unwise and unconstitutional.”
Sharp said retailers would sue over the requirement.
