In the News
Politico: Republicans turn up IRS rhetoric as elections loom
By Rachel Bade
That’s misleading for a number of reasons.
Eric Wang of the Center for Competitive Politics, which opposes the rules, said the “rules themselves [would be] nonpartisan” and would “affect left-wing groups and right-wing groups equally” — except if there are more conservative nonprofits than liberal ones.
But these details don’t really matter in elections, experts said.
Independent Groups
Washington Post: An unexpected legacy of Citizens United: More money to finance GOP’s intraparty war
By Matea Gold and Dan Keating
The attacks are not the work of McConnell’s conservative primary challenger. Instead, they are coming from independent groups that want to unseat him and are benefitting from a new system of unlimited contributions ushered in by the Supreme Court in its 2010 Citizens United v. FEC ruling.
Conservatives cheered that decision, described at the time by McConnell as a “First Amendment triumph.” But, as McConnell’s experience now illustrates, the loosened rules are causing political headaches for the GOP — allowing tea party groups to bring more financial firepower to challenges against Republican incumbents.
Now, party leaders struggling to unify the warring wings in time to retake the Senate this year and lay a foundation for the 2016 presidential race are instead contending with a well-financed insurgency.
More Soft Money Hard Law: Bill Maher Takes His Show on the Campaign Trail: the “Press Exemption” After Citizens United and a Lament for the Parties
By Bob Bauer
Is Bill Maher proposing to cross the line from press commentary into campaign activity, or is he merely innovating, as the press is scrambling everywhere to do, and preparing for a New Wave Editorial? As Rick Pildes suggests, this question is mooted by Citizens United, which means that HBO and Maher can count on this decision to provide him much of the space he may need for his editorial project. Prior to Citizens United, HBO would have struggled to defend this program; in the wake of the decision, the path is generally clear, depending on how Maher produces the show.
The majority in Citizens United suggested that media corporations should be glad for this controversial turn of the doctrinal wheel. The long-standing distinction between media and other corporations could not be defended, they wrote. So if the Austin case they overruled somehow came to life, and the corporate spending ban was rigorously and consistently applied, the special privileges long enjoyed by media corporations would have to fall away. Citizens United v. FEC, 558 U.S. 310, 352 (2010) (“With the advent of the Internet and the decline of print and broadcast media … the line between the media and others who wish to comment on political and social issues becomes far more blurred.”).
Washington Examiner: Can Mitch McConnell stop President Obama’s political abuse of the IRS?
By Mark Tapscott
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell fought the good fight oncampaign finance reform and freedom of political speech under theFirst Amendment. Now he’s taking up the good fight on the IRS and freedom of political speech under the First Amendment.
The IRS targeted for special consideration — i.e. bureaucratic harassment — more than 200 conservative, Tea Party and evangelical groups seeking non-profit tax exemption during the 2010 and 2012 election campaigns.
Disclosure
Roll Call: Members of Congress and Super PACs Keep Lawyers Busy
By Kent Cooper
Campaign finance lawyers have been busy in the last few months providing legal services to members of Congress, Super PACs, and presidential campaigns.
Several Senate and House members dealt with serious campaign finance legal questions and investigations during the last quarter of 2013. Here are a few of the members of Congress and political organizations that paid for legal services, many relating to investigations and inquiries by the House and Senate Ethics Committees, the Federal Election Commission, and others.
Candidates, Politicians, Campaigns, and Parties
Wall Street Journal: Obama Defends Handling of Controversies on O’Reilly Show
By Jared A. Favole
Mr. Obama said Congress has investigated the IRS problem and didn’t find evidence that the scrutiny was done for political purposes. “These kinds of things keep on surfacing in part because of you and your TV station will promote them,” the president said.
“But,” Mr. O’Reilly said, there are “unanswered questions.” He asked the president whether he thought there was any corruption going on at the IRS.
“There was some boneheaded decisions,” Mr. Obama said but “not even a smidgen of corruption.”
Politico: The Democrats’ well-oiled money machine
By BYRON TAU and TARINI PARTI
The party’s House and Senate fundraising arms closed out 2013 with big cash hauls bolstered by extensive fundraising commitments by President Barack Obama, first lady Michelle Obama and Vice President Joe Biden.
On the outside group front, Senate Majority PAC and House Majority PAC have emerged as legitimate and well-funded rivals to conservative outside groups like Karl Rove’s Crossroads network and the House-focused Congressional Leadership Fund. Both groups on their own beat the entirety of Rove’s Crossroads network in 2013, according to fundraising numbers released Friday.
Lobbying and Ethics
NY Times: Law Doesn’t End Revolving Door on Capitol Hill
By ERIC LIPTON and BEN PROTESS
A top aide to a Republican congressman from Arizona helped promote a legislative plan to overhaul the nation’s home mortgage finance system. Weeks after leaving his government job, he reappeared on Capitol Hill, now as a lobbyist for a company poised to capitalize on the plan.
A former counsel to Democrats on the House Financial Services Committee left Capitol Hill a year ago. He, too, returned to the Hill just months later, lobbying committee aides on behalf of Wall Street giants like JPMorgan Chase and Bloomberg L.P.
State and Local
California –– Venable: FPPC goes after more committees in its “dark money” case
By RON JACOBS
Any future money those two entities raise will have to go to California. Of course, since one committee has been closed and the other said it will close, it seems like this will be the end of the matter (and would they really be able to raise any money just to pay a penalty anyway?). What is amazing is that the FPPC said the two groups that received the money did not do anything wrong, and yet they have been forced to pay the state the amount they received, even after having already spent it.
Montana –– KXLH: AG Agrees: Campaign Mailer Law is Unconstitutional
By Sanjay Talwani
HELENA – Montana Attorney General Tim Fox says a law about campaign materials that was passed by the Montana Legislature last year is unconstitutionally vague, setting the stage for a federal judge to throw out the law.
Matthew Monforton, a Republican running for House District 69 in Bozeman, filed suit to strike down the law, which would have required candidates who publish campaign materials about their opponents’ records to include every vote taken on the issues over the previous six years.
New York –– NY Times: Gov. Cuomo’s Cleanup Campaign
Editorial
Gov. Andrew Cuomo wants to make the fight against corruption in Albany a major theme in his re-election campaign this year. Given the arrests, convictions and accusations of misbehavior involving state legislators in recent years, that makes sense. And to show he’s serious this time, the governor has announced a package of reforms, including public financing of elections, as part of his 2014-15 budget. His task now is to persuade the Legislature to go along. It won’t be easy, but he should be ready to campaign against any lawmaker, Democrat or Republican, who resists these crucial reforms.
Virginia –– Washington Post: For months, taxpayer-funded attorneys had big role in federal McDonnell, Star probe
By Rosalind S. Helderman
New documents released by Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s office show that taxpayer-funded attorneys were deeply involved in responding to the federal investigation of former governor Robert F. McDonnell, going back to at least early June.
McDonnell (R) and his wife, Maureen, were indicted last week, charged with working together to use the governor’s office to assist a Richmond area businessman in exchange for more than $165,000 in gifts and loans.
