In the News                   

Charleston Post and Courier: Dark money bill chills free speech

By Eric Wang

Senate Bill 255 appears to require an “independent expenditure committee” to file ongoing campaign finance reports as a political “committee” – commonly known as “PAC.” The bill’s extreme ambiguity on this point is, in and of itself, a fatal flaw. What is clear is that the bill intends to publicly out the donors to such groups – even if their donations were completely unrelated to any political purpose. Names, addresses and employer information would have to be reported not only for donors, but also for a group’s employees and vendors.

“Not surprisingly,” the Post and Courier editorial noted approvingly, the state officials pushing this bill are ones whose legislative initiatives advocacy groups have opposed. We fail to see the virtue here. Yes, it is “not surprising” that certain public officials would lash out at citizen groups that do not fall in line with those officials’ agendas. But far from promoting ethics, a bill to intimidate those groups into silence is a recipe for more corruption.

Citizens who want to know donors’ identities are free to discount messages from groups that do not provide that information. Forcing disclosure, however, deprives citizens of the chance to hear from groups that would be silenced by bills like SB 255.

Pillar of Law: Common Cause Wary of Judge Who Cleaned Up Part of Their Mess in Colorado

By Stephen Klein

Rather than acknowledge its goof in helping create the “ill-advised Colorado statute” that led to the Riddle case, Common Cause now warns of the level of scrutiny Judge Gorsuch might apply generally to campaign finance limits. But the problems with Amendment 27 did not end with Riddle: Common Cause’s jewel is in many other ways the antithesis to “a functioning democracy to debate our differences” and one of the main reasons we need judges like Gorsuch who should apply the strictest First Amendment scrutiny to campaign finance regimes.

Thanks to Amendment 27, grassroots speakers in Colorado have had to go to federal court to fight off campaign finance requirements over raising just a few thousand dollars to fight a local annexation effort. To comply with registration and reporting requirements to raise and spend so little money would eat up most of the budget. More recently, another group had to bring a similar suit just to publish a policy paper. The cases took years to resolve, and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees.

CCP                   

Powerful Dissent by Supreme Court Nominee in Fourth Amendment Case

By David Keating

This post reviews Judge Gorsuch’s dissent in a Fourth Amendment warrantless search case.[1] Gorsuch powerfully and colorfully argues public officers have no power to intrude upon a house and its curtilage (appendages such as porch and the immediate area) when the owner revokes the ‘implied license’ via multiple ‘No Trespassing’ signs.

I found this case while searching for First Amendment opinions by Judge Gorsuch. I’m highlighting this case for a number of reasons. Occasionally, litigants challenge speech laws through other constitutional rights, including the Fourth Amendment. Equally as important, this dissent exemplifies three of Judge Gorsuch’s most impressive qualities – his superb writing, his independence, and his respect for the rule of law.

Supreme Court                  

Politico: Gorsuch confirmation hearing set for March 20

By Seung Min Kim

Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch’s confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee has been scheduled for March 20.

The hearing for President Donald Trump’s most high-profile and consequential nominee this year is expected to last three to four days. Opening statements from senators on the Committee and Gorsuch will be on March 20, and questioning of the Tenth Circuit judge will be held on March 21. Senators will also hear testimony from outside experts.
“Judge Gorsuch has met every demand placed on him by the minority,” Grassley said in a statement announcing the hearings. “He’s a mainstream judge. He’s displayed independence. He’s met with dozens of senators who have nothing but positive things to say. He is well-qualified and respected. He worked diligently to return the bipartisan questionnaire. It’s time for him to have the opportunity to speak for himself before the Judiciary Committee.”

The Courts                  

Annapolis Capital Gazette: Peroutka testifies under immunity agreement in Anne Arundel robocall trial

By Morgan Brockett

County Councilman Michael Anthony Peroutka acknowledged Tuesday that he reached an immunity agreement with state prosecutors before sending over emails and other records as part of an investigation into illegal robocalls aimed at his political opponent in 2014…

Peroutka has been a key witness in the trial of Dennis Fusaro, a national Republican political consultant whom Peroutka paid to manage his 2014 campaign, and Stephen Waters, a Republican political consultant based in Virginia.

Fusaro and Waters were charged with misdemeanors in connection with an October 2014 robocall that referred to Peroutka’s Democratic opponent in the District 5 race, Patrick Armstrong of Severna Park.

Prosecutors say the robocall violated election law by failing to identify Fusaro and Waters as the persons responsible for it and failing to state whether the call was authorized by any candidate…

Shortly after the charges were filed, attorneys for Fusaro and Waters said the robocall was protected by the First Amendment.

Independent Groups                

Ad Age: Trump PAC Keeps Spending to Push Supporters to Call Senators

By Kate Kaye

A Trump Super PAC that says it built a list of 3 to 5 million active supporters during the 2016 election using tactics including direct response 1-800 number TV ads has spent around $175,000 this month alone to keep the pro-Trump momentum rolling. Post-inauguration, Great America PAC has been serving up Facebook and radio ads encouraging people to call their senators to support President Trump, his agenda, and his nominees, including Neil Gorsuch, his pick for Supreme Court Justice…

Convincing people to pick up the phone and voice their opinion to a congressional staffer rather than sign an online petition or send an email via a web form appears to be a growing trend among PACs and advocacy groups… 

“Our representatives in government need to learn how to be responsive to the governed,” said Dan Backer, general counsel and treasurer of Great America PAC. “We have to bust through the data-management dynamic that has developed of just counting the number of messages received while ignoring the message being delivered.”

Donors                 

American Prospect: Huge Demonstrations, Huge (Low-Dollar) Donations

By Eliza Newlin Carney

It will take months to establish whether Democrats can transform the grassroots energy that’s driving demonstrators to street protests, airports and town hall meetings into actual electoral gains.

But by one measure, party leaders and their allies are already cashing in on a key ingredient of political clout: Money. Public reports do not yet show how much Democratic Party committees and political groups have raised since January, but organizers say the money is flowing in-much of it in low-dollar donations from first-time contributors.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee had a “record-smashing month” for an off-year election in January, says one aide, pulling in $4.1 million via digital fundraising alone. That’s twice the committee’s online haul in January of 2015. The average gift this January was $18.

Liberal issue groups are also cleaning up. The women’s PAC EMILY’s List doubled its pool of online “sustainers,” who make regular automatic gifts to the group, in the weeks following Election Day. 

Trump Administration                  

ABC News: President Trump holding ‘campaign event’ in Florida Saturday

By Katherine Faulders, Adam Kelsey, and Ryan Struyk

President Donald Trump took office just weeks ago, but now he is set to travel to Orlando Saturday for what the White House has termed “a campaign event.”

The event, which is listed on Trump’s campaign website, will take place at a hangar at the Orlando-Melbourne International Airport, the site of a previous Trump campaign rally in September.

Trump repeatedly took aim at former President Barack Obama for his campaign efforts while in office.

Asked about the event Wednesday, White House press secretary Sean Spicer called the rally “a campaign event” and said it is “being run by the campaign.”

On the day of his inauguration, Trump filed paperwork with the Federal Election Committee indicating a possible re-election bid in 2020. Trump wrote that his filing, “does not constitute a formal announcement,” but as a result, he is able to collect donations.

The States

Albuquerque Journal: ‘Dark money’ may get new rules

By Dan McKay

Independent “dark-money” groups that spend to influence New Mexico’s elections would face new requirements to disclose their donors under a bill adopted by the state Senate on Wednesday.

The proposal now moves to the House – where Brian Egolf’s election as speaker has given supporters new hope that it will win approval there, too. Egolf is a Democrat from Santa Fe.

The proposal, Senate Bill 96, would also raise the limit on donations to candidates to $5,000 for each combined primary and general election cycle. That’s twice what legislative candidates can now accept and a small decrease from the $5,400 limit to statewide candidates…

The bill proposes that when there’s independent spending above a certain threshold near an election, the group would have to report the spending and the source of any contributions used to make it.

South Dakota Public Broadcasting: Bill To Limit Out Of State Money Heads To House Floor

By Lee Strubinger

A house committee is proposing a $100,000 cap on contributions from out-of-state groups that give funds to state ballot questions…

Representative David Lust voted against the bill. He says the bill will get challenged in court on the grounds of limiting free speech…

“This is censorship. This is paternalistic. This is not good policy,” Lust says. “It’s reactionary to some things that got through that we would have preferred not gotten through which we have now taken care of.”
Lust is referring to Initiated Measure 22, a campaign finance and ethics reform packages that lawmakers have repealed and are hoping to replace.
Speaker of the House Mark Mickelson says the state has a compelling interest in limiting out of state speech. He says previous Supreme Court cases do not apply to this bill. Mickelson says the bill attempts to reign in interest groups promoting a national agenda.

Lexington Herald-Leader: More money? No problem. Senate passes bill to increase contribution limits

By Daniel Desrochers

A bill that would double the amount donors can contribute to a campaign passed the Senate Wednesday on a party-line vote after it got out of the Senate State and Local Government Committee committee earlier in the day.

Senate Bill 75, proposed by Sen. Majority Leader Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown, doubles the amount that individuals and PACs can donate to a campaign, caucus campaign committees and state executive committees, along with other changes to Kentucky campaign finance laws…

In committee, Thayer defended the necessity of the bill, saying that with the increase of so-called “dark money” in politics – groups donating money while shielding their identities – it’s important to increase the amount that candidates can receive transparently.

“The role of the campaigns and political parties is being diminished by super PACs,” Thayer said. “And I support Citizens United and I’m for super PACs. But I think we need to make our campaigns and our political parties, at the state level especially, more effective.”