In the News
AP: Judge halts enforcement of Del. election law
The judge on Monday ruled in favor of Delaware Strong Families in its challenge to a 2012 law requiring disclosures by third-party groups working independently of political candidates to influence elections.The law requires groups that spend $500 or more during an election period on third-party advertisements to disclose the source of donations. Those advertisements include communications, such as DSF’s voter guide, that refer to clearly identified candidates, even if they don’t urge a vote for or against a candidate.
CCP
Cooking the Numbers: Public Citizen’s Recipe
By Luke WachobAnother 27 groups that Public Citizen thinks “favored going ahead with rulemaking” are organizations signed on to comments written by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian nonprofit organization. A quote fromthose comments: “In fact, we believe that the current 501(c)(3) political activity prohibition is unconstitutional and severely restricts the First Amendment rights of numerous exempt organizations. The proposed new regulations, in essence, seek to “double down” on the unconstitutionality of the current regulations. Thus, they should be withdrawn in favor of a better approach that grants much-needed clarity in this area.”Another 52 groups in the “favored going ahead with rulemaking” camp are signers on comments submitted by the Funders’ Committee for Civic Participation, a coalition of many left-leaning foundations advocating for increased public engagement in the political process. Here is a quote from their comments: “we urge the IRS to restart the process with bright-line rules that rationally distinguish between partisan and nonpartisan forms of democratic participation.”If this is support for the rulemaking process, I would hate to see what opposition looks like. Those are just three examples, but they account for a whopping 144 of the 398 (36%) organizations that Public Citizen counts as favoring rulemaking and 24% of the 593 total organizations polled.
CCP Comments on Constitutional and Practical Issues with Minnesota House File 1944
By Matt NeseIf House File 1944 becomes law as written, there is a high likelihood that the law will be found unconstitutional if challenged in court. Any potential legal action will cost the state a great deal of money defending the case, and will distract the Attorney General’s office from meritorious legal work. Additionally, it is probable that the state will be forced by the courts to award legal fees to successful plaintiffs. Legal fee awards are often costly, and can cost governments well over one hundred thousand dollars.
CCP Comments on Constitutional and Practical Issues with Minnesota Senate File 1915
Various sections of the bill are unconstitutionally vague. The bill regulates an expansive amount of speech, including books and websites. The bill’s disclosure provisions go farther than any form of disclosure approved by the U.S. Supreme Court, and are drafted in such a way as to impose onerous burdens on small organizations.
State and Local
Arizona –– National Journal: How the Right Hijacked Arizona
By James OliphantBut he soon found his seam. In 1998, after a string of corruption scandals, state voters had approved a so-called clean-elections law that allowed for taxpayer financing of campaigns. The standard for qualifying for public support was ludicrously low. A candidate simply had to put together 200 contributions of $5 to qualify for state matching funds—a total of just $1,000.Passed to the acclaim of good-government liberals, the clean-elections law became Querard’s weapon of choice. “I cracked the code,” he says. The measure benefited fringe candidates who had a harder time raising money through traditional means like PACs and corporate money—and it gave them enough support to survive against a better-funded challenger, particularly in GOP primaries. The other component for success was message. The Querard candidate had to be louder, bolder, more provocative than the other guy. He or she had to turn hard right—and then keep going down the block. “These are my people!” he says over slabs of sourdough.
Minnesota –– Star Tribune: Gov. Dayton adds his voice to push for campaign cash disclosure
By RACHEL E. STASSEN-BERGERSources of political spending that are now secret could be forced into the light of disclosure if Gov. Mark Dayton has his way.“This is about people’s right to know who is trying to influence the outcome of elections and how much money they are investing to do so,” Dayton said in an interview with the Star Tribune. “I strongly support that.”The governor’s backing makes it more likely that starting with this year’s elections, Minnesotans would be able to track the sources of all politically tinged mailings and ads that come out before Election Day.
New York –– Wall Street Journal: New York Comptroller DiNapoli: Public Campaign Financing Effort ‘Fumbled’
By Erica OrdenALBANY—Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli is resisting a deal that would make him a guinea pig for public financing of political campaigns, saying it may be “set up for failure.”The campaign-finance program was one of several deals brokered late in the negotiations over a $138 billion state budget expected to be voted on Monday night and would only apply to this November’s state comptroller race. It was seen as a compromise between Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who had proposed a system for all state politicians, similar to New York City’s, and the Legislature, where skepticism about public financing runs high.On Monday, the same government-transparency groups who supported Mr. Cuomo’s plan were urging Mr. DiNapoli, a Democrat, to boycott the system. Mr. DiNapoli didn’t say what he would do but he said he questioned whether there was enough time to set up a new system or “whether it was set up for failure.”
New York –– Capital New York: Public campaign finance limited to comptroller
By Jessica AlaimoALBANY—State budget bills printed late Friday include public campaign financing for just one political office this year: The state comptroller, something good government advocates balked at as an overall failure to accomplish comprehensive campaign finance reform.
Virginia –– AP: McAuliffe says he didn’t approve fundraising letter promising access
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) – Gov. Terry McAuliffe said Thursday he did not approve a fundraising appeal his newly formed political action committee sent promising big-dollar donors personal access to him and also said he’s giving to charity a past contribution that came from a D.C. businessman who recently pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations.
