CCP
Dick Durbin doesn’t understand who is serving whom
By Brad SmithNow, here at CCP, we’ve long said that the purpose of disclosure is to allow citizens to monitor government, not to allow government to monitor citizens. We recognize that in practice this distinction can dissolve. For example, if we demand to know who gave money to a public official, in order to monitor that official, we will necessarily give the government the tools to monitor us. But as a first principle for thinking about what disclosure is proper, it is a pretty good starting point. “Because Senator Durbin wants to know” is simply not a valid reason for the government invading your privacy. “As a public official” is the key phrase in Durbin’s response. He is a public official. We (meaning all the rest of us who are not public officials) are not. He has the power of the state; we do not. Does anyone seriously think a letter from Dick Durbin demanding to know if you financially support certain groups, and what you think of certain laws, with the openly stated intention to publicize your reponse in an official Senate hearing, is anything like receiving a similar request from, say, well, the Center for Competitive Politics?*We monitor you, Dick. You don’t monitor us. That’s why you file financial reports and campaign finance reports. You are a public servant, not a public master.This is not Durbin’s first attempt to try to silence his political opposition. Durbin is one of the Senators who specifically urged the IRS to investigate conservative non-profit groups, leading to the current IRS scandal.
Independent Groups
Wall Street Journal (LTE): There Is a Big Difference Between Secrecy and Privacy
By Conn. State Rep. John PiscopoThe first question that should be asked is: What secrecy? ALEC conducts meetings where its legislative and private sector members, often with differing viewpoints, have free and open access; attendees discuss model policies that, when adopted, are posted on the ALEC website. The only information ALEC does not share is its member list—an action specifically protected by NAACP v. Alabama in which a unanimous Supreme Court decision protected the NAACP from sharing its member list with the state of Alabama out of concern for political intimidation. The state of Alabama had used its subpoena power to seek the NAACP’s membership list—the same improper and wrongful use of government power comes from a probing letter like that of Sen. Durbin.ALEC is an educational nonprofit, does not lobby and is not a voting institution in any regard. The organization is a forum for legislators, think tanks and business to share ideas and provide nonpartisan policy analysis, study and research.
Daily Caller: Congressman charges treasury secretary with stonewalling him on IRS questions
By Jamie WeinsteinA Republican congressman is charging Secretary of Treasury Jack Lew with stonewalling him on questions pertaining to the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of conservative groups.On June 7, New Jersey Republican Rep. Scott Garrett sent a letter to Lew inquiring when he first became aware of the IRS’ targeting of conservative groups, even if only in rumors, and if he was at any of the numerous meetings former IRS chief Douglas Shulman had at the White House when Lew served as chief of staff for President Obama in 2012.
Arizona Republic: Let’s face it, conservatives, ‘you’re evil’
By Doug MacEachernAnd none of the people pounding on ALEC’s door in the name of transparency are the least bit curious about it.The Common Cause lawyer who is sending demand letters to ALEC members for similar information has no idea whether PSN offers scholarships.“I’m not aware of them having the funds for flying people in,” said Arn Pearson, the Common Cause attorney, regarding a PSN scholarship fund.
SCOTUS/Judiciary
SCOTUSBlog: Symposium: Aggregate limits and the fight over frame
By Justin LevittMuch too easy. Buckley’s 294 pages cover the entirety of the landmark Federal Election Campaign Act. It gave aggregate limits six sentences. Two of the six were devoted to describing the limits. One noted that the issue had “not been separately addressed at length by the parties.” Three more disposed of the substance. This Court is unlikely to believe that its focus is confined by those three sentences. (Similarly, granting cert. to revisit these three sentences provides little reason to believe that the Court is interested in revisiting Buckley entirely.)Another shallow lens simply looks to conventional wisdom, and the caricature of a relentlessly deregulatory Court. Citizens United looms, larger than life. Like Citizens United, the legislation challenged in McCutcheon also constrains campaign-related cash. And like Citizens United, the challenge has been brought in part by James Bopp, who has a remarkable record before the Court. Easy.
Candidates, Politicians, Campaigns, and Parties
Roll Call: FEC Fines McCain Presidential Campaign $80,000
By Kent CooperThe agreement states John McCain 2008 Inc. violated the law by accepting $377,657 in contributions that exceeded the limits of the Act; failed to report correctly the original dates on which $22,257,684 in contributions were received by its joint fundraising representatives; and failed to correctly report re-designations made to the compliance fund.
FEC
Roll Call: FEC Draft Opinion Rejects Congressional Campaign Committees’ Request
By Kent CooperA draft opinion from the Office of the General Counsel at the Federal Election Commission recommends rejection of an advisory opinion request from both parties’ congressional campaign committees for a unique and novel interpretation of campaign finance law.The request from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, and the National Republican Congressional Committee, sought permission for the committees to pay building-related expenses from separate federal accounts that the committees have established to pay for recounts and some other expenses.
State and Local
Arizona –– AZ Central: Phoenix critics say non-profit again skirting campaign-finance laws
By Dustin GardinerAn obscure non-profit corporation that faced accusations of skirting campaign-finance laws in the 2011 Phoenix elections for mayor and City Council, has re-emerged — and insiders say it has taken to old habits.Arizona Citizens United recently paid for two mailers sent to numerous residents in south Phoenix, according to the disclosure statements on the pieces. The mailers support council candidate Lawrence Robinson, who is running in the heated District 8 race.
New York –– NY Times: Subpoenas for Albany
EditorialGov. Andrew Cuomo of New York warned legislators earlier this year that if they failed to pass crucial reforms, including public financing of political campaigns, then he would establish a commission to investigate and subpoena public officials suspected of misconduct.True to form, the legislators did nothing, so last month the governor, working with Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, created the Moreland Commission to Investigate Public Corruption. The commission has already issued subpoenas and demanded that relevant government agencies preserve all their records for later investigation. Not least among these agencies is the State Board of Elections, which is notorious for not enforcing the state’s already inadequate campaign finance laws.
New York –– Albany Times-Union: Mr. Cuomo’s invitation
EditorialIt’s about time, in fact, that a governor who seems to love the idea of rewriting the state’s campaign finance laws almost as much as raising nearly $30 million to scare off any potential challengers in next year’s election embraces the more contentious reality of fixing a broken system.For now, that means crowing about a Moreland Commission inquiry that’s already issued subpoenas to five of the high rollers in New York politics. Let’s see where all this leads.
