CCP
More Good News for Free Speech in the AP-NORC Poll
Luke Wachob
Most notably, a plurality of Americans (47 percent) say that individuals should be able to give unlimited amounts directly to candidates. While support for unlimited contributions is often portrayed as a fringe position by the media, nearly half the country would like to see limits eliminated. Perhaps this explains why 12 states across the country have no limits on what individuals may give to candidates. By contrast, just 24 percent support our current federal system, in which individuals can only give to their preferred candidates in limited amounts. Thirty percent of those surveyed believe individuals shouldn’t be allowed to contribute at all.
Other notable results: 50 percent of Americans say that giving money to candidates is a form of free speech while 48 percent disagree. A strong majority say corporations should be able to spend on campaigns (75 percent), and 37 percent believe corporate spending should be unlimited. Similarly, 79 percent say unions should be allowed to spend on campaigns. It’s worth noting that, despite this support, corporations and unions are currently prohibited from contributing directly to candidate campaigns under federal law.
Congress
Daily Signal: Freedom Caucus: Top Priority for Spending Bill Is Stricter Screenings of Syrian, Iraqi Refugees
Lee Fang
Though he wouldn’t pare down his expectations as low as Salmon is, Rep. Jim Jordan, the Freedom Caucus chairman, confirmed the Syrian refugee issue is the group’s “most important” priority.
“It should be in there,” Jordan, R-Ohio, said. “We have been very clear from the get-go that in order for us to vote for the omnibus, the only way we would consider it is if we fight on policy. What we’re asking for is very, very reasonable. Let’s do something on the life issue that’s significant, let’s keep out the McConnell campaign finance language and put in the Syrian refugee language that passed with 47 Democrats. That is as reasonable as it gets. If those things happen, we can hold our nose and vote for this bill even though it spends too much money.”
Independent Groups
Vox: Jeb Bush’s operation appears to have set $32.5 million on fire
Andrew Prokop and Javier Zarracina
In fact, Team Bush’s spending is twice as much as the combined money spent on ads for the top four GOP candidates in the polls — Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and Ben Carson. Yet Bush remains in the low single digits in polls nationally and in early states.
Check out this graphic of SMG Delta’s numbers showing how little apparent relation there is between ad spending and poll numbers:
Mother Jones: FEC Asked to Investigate Ghost Donations to Jeb Bush Super-PAC
Russ Choma
The complaint, submitted by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), requests an investigation into Heather Oaks LLC and TH Holdings LLC, which each contributed $100,000 to Right to Rise last winter. As Mother Jones reported, each of these firms—which are limited liability corporations (LLCs)—appears to have virtually no real-world presence or assets, suggesting they may have been used as a conduit by donors seeking to keep their fingerprints off these contributions.
Newsweek: Who Blew the Lid Off Campaign Contributions?
Albert W. Alschuler and Lawrence H. Tribe
Limits on contributions to candidates no longer restrict what people can give to electoral efforts; they simply channel funds to less responsible and more destructive speakers. If contributions to super PACs can’t be limited, perhaps the Supreme Court should overrule 40 years of precedent, give all contribution limits a respectful burial, and acknowledge that the American government is for sale.
No sane legislator would vote in favor of our regime of campaign financing, and no legislator ever has. The United States has this topsy-turvy regime because the federal courts have held that the First Amendment requires it.
Lobbying
Washington Post: Caesars Entertainment lobbies for Harry Reid-backed measure to help casino
Catherine Ho
Lobbyists for Caesars Entertainment are jockeying to include a measure in the must-pass government spending bill that would help the Las Vegas-based casino giant avoid bankruptcy as it goes through a debt restructuring.
The measure, which has the support of Democratic Senate leader and Nevada Sen. Harry Reid, would weaken a federal law meant to protect small bondholders —- including pension funds — against abuses by large investors.
If passed, it would help Caesars by giving the company more leeway to change the terms of its debt repayment.
FCC
The Hill: Groups press for super-PAC ads to carry Bloomberg’s name
Mario Trujillo
A trio of transparency groups want the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to require Michael Bloomberg’s name to appear at the end of TV ads that are paid for by his super-PAC, Independence USA PAC.
The Campaign Legal Center, Common Cause and the Sunlight Foundation filed a complaint with the FCC against a multiple TV stations, which declined to require the former New York City mayor’s group to make the extra disclosures last month.
“Efforts to obscure the true funding of political messages have recently proliferated as individuals increasingly turn to political action committees with opaque or misleading names to hide funders’ identities,” the groups wrote in their complaint.
National Journal: Transparency Groups Target Bloomberg PAC in Long-Shot Bid to Unmask Donors
Brendan Sasso
But the FCC has been reluctant to get involved in the fight. Last year, the agency dismissed a series of complaints, saying the groups had failed to show “credible, unrefuted evidence that a sponsor is acting at the direction of a third party.”
This time, the groups say they can prove that Bloomberg provided 100 percent of the funding for the Independence USA PAC since its creation. In addition to filing formal complaints against the 18 stations, the groups also sent notices to 100 more stations around the country, informing them of Bloomberg’s role in the PAC and urging them to identify him by name in ads.
Supreme Court
CNN: In hot-mic moment, Supreme Court justices laugh at protesters
Theodore Schleifer
The recording begins with protesters saying, “‘We rise to demand democracy. One person, one vote.”
Scalia and Thomas are taken aback: “Oh Lord,” says Scalia. “Oh, there will be another one.”
“I didn’t think the bankruptcy cases would attract such attention,” Roberts sternly tells the protesters.
The justices then recognize some of the faces in the crowd. “Is it the same guy?” asks Scalia. “Yup,” says Thomas. “Same guy.”
“They should give them some stiff sentences is what they ought to do,” Scalia tells his colleagues. “Give them stiff, stiff sentences. Stiff sentences.”
The Media
The Intercept: CBS Chief Cheers Trump: “Go Donald! Keep Getting Out There!”
Lee Fang
Speaking about the expected flood of campaign advertising dollars, which he described as “phenomenal,” Moonves said that he is glad to have so many Republicans competing for the nomination.
“The more they spend, the better it is for us and: Go Donald! Keep getting out there!” Moonves said. “And, you know, this is fun, watching this, let them spend money on us, and we love having them in there. We’re looking forward to a very exciting political year in ’16.”
Candidates and Campaigns
New York Times: Hillary Clinton’s Gun Ad Got Big Fanfare but Little Play
Maggie Haberman
When Hillary Clinton’s campaign unveiled a stark campaign ad in early November urging a change in gun control laws, the move was seen as unusually bold for a candidate who has been criticized in the past for being overly cautious. The ad would be put into the rotation of her existing television reservations in Iowa and New Hampshire, her campaign said at the time.
It was true that it went into the rotation, but the spot was broadcast on local television only six times, according to data provided by the Campaign Media Analysis Group: It ran four times in four separate Iowa media markets, and two times in two separate New Hampshire markets, Boston and Manchester. Five of those instances were on Nov. 4, a day after the spot aired.
The States
Wisconsin Watchdog: Attorney General: John Chisholm broke campaign finance law
M.D. Kittle
Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm, the Democrat who launched Wisconsin’s politically driven John Doe investigation into conservatives, appears to have broken state campaign finance law, according to state Attorney General Brad Schimel.
“…(I)t does appear on its face that two maximum contributions were received (by Chisholm’s campaign) from the same individual in the same election cycle,” Schimel told Wisconsin Watchdog Thursday.
Chisholm did not return a call seeking comment. He has not returned any calls from Watchdog.
