In the News
AP: Bush Preparing to Delegate Many Campaign Tasks to Super PAC
By Thomas BeaumontShould Bush move ahead as his team intends, it is possible that for the first time a super PAC created to support a single candidate would spend more than the candidate’s campaign itself — at least through the primaries. Some of Bush’s donors believe that to be more than likely.The architects of the plan believe the super PAC’s ability to legally raise unlimited amounts of money outweighs its primary disadvantage, that it cannot legally coordinate its actions with Bush or his would-be campaign staff.“Nothing like this has been done before,” said David Keating, president of the Center for Competitive Politics, which opposes limits on campaign finance donations. “It will take a high level of discipline to do it.”
CCP
Constitutional and Practical Issues with Oregon Senate Joint Resolution 5 and Senate Bill 75
By Matt NeseAs the Oregon Supreme Court noted in that case, “[i]n our view, a contribution is protected as an expression by the contributor, not because the contribution eventually may be used by a candidate to express a particular message. The money may never be used to promote a form of expression by the candidate; instead, it may (for example) be used to pay campaign staff or to meet other needs not tied to a particular message. However, the contribution, in and of itself, is the contributor’s expression of support for the candidate or cause – an act of expression that is completed by the act of giving and that depends in no way on the ultimate use to which the contribution is put.”[2]Since that decision, an attempt was made via ballot initiative in 2006 to exempt campaign contributions from the free speech language in Oregon’s Constitution. While Oregon voters narrowly passed the initiative that would have imposed specific contribution limits (in the vein of S.B. 75),[3] they overwhelmingly rejected the initiative that would have amended the State Constitution in order to implement those limits (in the vein of S.J.R. 5).[4]Consequently, S.J.R. 5 would tread on nearly two decades of legal precedent establishing that contribution limits are a violation of free speech rights guaranteed in the Oregon Constitution. It would further submit a constitutional amendment to the voters that they have already rejected. Enacting this measure, therefore, would likely waste time and money unnecessarily retrying well-established law in order to enact changes that the voters of Oregon have already proclaimed they do not want.
Wisconsin
National Review: Wisconsin’s Shame: ‘I Thought It Was a Home Invasion’
By David French“I begged and begged, ‘Please don’t shoot my dogs, please don’t shoot my dogs, just don’t shoot my dogs.’ I couldn’t get them to stop barking, and I couldn’t get them outside quick enough. I saw a gun and barking dogs. I was scared and knew this was a bad mix.”She got the dogs safely out of the house, just as multiple armed agents rushed inside. Some even barged into the bathroom, where her partner was in the shower. The officer or agent in charge demanded that Cindy sit on the couch, but she wanted to get up and get a cup of coffee.“I told him this was my house and I could do what I wanted.” Wrong thing to say. “This made the agent in charge furious. He towered over me with his finger in my face and yelled like a drill sergeant that I either do it his way or he would handcuff me.”They wouldn’t let her speak to a lawyer. She looked outside and saw a person who appeared to be a reporter. Someone had tipped him off.
Independent Groups
CPI: Campaign finance system is broken says GOP super-lawyer Jim Bopp
By Michael BeckelAs a staunch proponent of deregulation, Bopp has argued before the U.S. Supreme Court on multiple occasions, including during the 2008 Wisconsin Right to Life v. Federal Election Commission ruling that overturned the ban on corporate-funded issue ads ahead of an election — what federal regulators call “electioneering communications.”The Terre Haute, Indiana-based lawyer was also involved with the landmark Citizens United v. FEC ruling, which overturned the ban on corporate-funded advertising that explicitly calls for the election or defeat of political candidates. This year, he’s advisingLouisiana’s Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal as Jindal weighs a 2016 White House bid.Bopp recently talked with the Center for Public Integrity about political corruption, the 2016 presidential election and the proliferation of super PACs and nonprofits in politics. Among his assertions: the current campaign finance system is broken and liberal campaign finance reform advocates tend to act like Communists.
More Soft Money Hard Law: An Uprising for Campaign Finance Reform?
By Bob BauerA few years ago, after the enactment of McCain Feingold, the Federal Election Commission began issuing implementing rules, and there were not well received in reform quarters. It was objected that the agency was ignoring Congressional intent and gutting the law. One line of attack was possible Hill intervention to disapprove the rules pursuant to the Congressional Review Act. At a lunch with Senators to discuss this possibility, a prominent reform leader told the assembled legislators that if they did not reject the rules and hold the FEC to account, the public “would rise up” in protest. The public uprising did not occur, neither the Senate nor the House took action, and the reform critics took their cases to court—with some but not complete success.But the hope for public pressure remains alive, and as Matea Gold reports in The Washington Post, there is some thought that with Super PACs and the like, things have gotten so out of hand that voters will insist on action. The ranking of campaign finance among other priorities important to voters remains low, but by one reading, it is inching up the list. Any upward movement is taken to be, maybe, a sign of more popular passion to come. This is always the wish. In the annals of modern campaign finance, it is never a wish come true.
Gyrocopters & Campaign Finance
Real Clear Politics: Why Gyrocopter Guy Risked All for Campaign Finance Reform
By Bill ScherIn a video interview conducted by the Tampa Bay Times before the flight, Hughes summed up liberal conventional wisdom for prioritizing campaign finance: “There are these problems and these problems and these problems that are much more important than campaign finance reform. But those won’t get addressed until we fix campaign finance reform.”Silver bullet solutions are always seductive. Just eliminate money from politics and – presto! – legislation that junks fossil fuel subsidies, breaks up the big banks and eliminates corporate tax shelters glides through Congress.But the left is mistaken. Liberal goals have been advanced despite the prevalence of corporate donations, and sometimes because of them.
Kochs Obsession
Politico: Koch brothers will offer audition to Jeb Bush
By Mike AllenSen. Marco Rubio, Sen. Rand Paul and Sen. Ted Cruz debated at the Koch network’s winter seminar in January, and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker made a separate appearance. Those were the candidates who appeared to have a chance at the Koch blessing, and attendees said Rubio seemed to win that round.But those four — plus Jeb – will be invited to the Kochs’ summer conference, the aide said. Bush is getting a second look because so many Koch supporters think he looks like a winner. Other candidates, perhaps Rick Perry or Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, may also get invitations.The New York Times’ Nick Confessore reported Monday afternoon that David Koch had indicated the brothers favor Walker, citing remarks he made to donors who had just heard from the Wisconsin governor. The article runs on page A13 of the print edition: “G.O.P. Donors Signal a Favorite: Wisconsin Governor.”
Candidates, Politicians, Campaigns, and Parties
NY Times: New Book, ‘Clinton Cash,’ Questions Foreign Donations to Foundation
By Amy ChozickIn the long lead up to Mrs. Clinton’s campaign announcement, aides proved adept in swatting down critical books as conservative propaganda, including Edward Klein’s “Blood Feud,” about tensions between the Clintons and the Obamas, and Daniel Halper’s “Clinton Inc.: The Audacious Rebuilding of a Political Machine.”But “Clinton Cash” is potentially more unsettling, both because of its focused reporting and because major news organizations including The Times, The Washington Post and Fox News have exclusive agreements with the author to pursue the story lines found in the book.Members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which includes Mr. Paul and Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, have been briefed on the book’s findings, and its contents have already made their way into several of the Republican presidential candidates’ campaigns.
Bloomberg: Why Hillary Is Really Pushing Campaign Finance Reform
By Jonathan BernsteinWhy has Hillary Clinton taken up campaign-finance reform as a big issue in her presidential campaign? Some people say she is trying to inoculate herself from attacks on her own campaign’s prodigious fund-raising and on contributions to the Clinton Foundation. Others say it must be because campaign finance is emerging as a populist issue for 2016.I doubt either is the main incentive. The most logical reason for Clinton to be talking about campaign finance right now has to do with her unusual position as the presumptive Democratic nominee more than a year before swing voters are paying attention.
Yahoo: Inside the big business of little presidential campaign souvenirs
By Olivier KnoxToday, presidential campaigns use their online stores to raise money, pump up their numbers of small donors, obtain the personal information of potential voters, and spread their candidates’ messages.“In the general election, it’s a must-have, absolutely — a central part of any digital campaign,” said Matt Lira, who served as digital director for Rep. Paul Ryan when the Wisconsin lawmaker was the Republican vice presidential candidate.“It’s a cross-section of three of any campaign’s priorities: Fundraising, recruitment, and messaging,” Lira, who oversaw online efforts as deputy executive director at the National Republican Senatorial Committee ahead of the 2014 midterm elections, told Yahoo News.
Roll Call: Another Schock Staffer Served Grand Jury Subpoena
By Bridget BowmanShea Ledford formally notified Speaker John A. Boehner, R-Ohio, of the subpoena Monday afternoon as the House gaveled into its pro forma session. According to the Legistorm database, Ledford has served as a “district special assistant” since April 2014.Ledford joins four other colleagues who have been called to testify in front of a grand jury in the United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois. As current House employees, they must abide by the House rule that stipulates they formally notify the speaker if served with a subpoena.
CPI: Gingrich campaign pays IRS debt
By Dave LevinthalThe “Newt 2012” committee had owed the IRS more than $26,000 for income tax liabilities and payments as recently as last autumn, although it cut that figure to about $1,000 by New Year’s Day.The bad news for the former Republican speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives?Gingrich’s campaign still owes dozens of other creditors a collective $4.65 million, according to a recently filed campaign finance report, and prospects of erasing it are bleak — the committee raised a little more than $17,000 during the year’s first three months by selling supporters’ personal information to a data broker.
Perry Indictment
Concurring Opinions: Constitutional & Criminal Law Experts File Brief Defending Gov. Rick Perry — First Amend. & Other Defenses Raised
By Ronald K.L. CollinsThe case, recall, involves Texas Governor Rick Perry and his threat to veto a bill if a state political official did not do what he asked. He then vetoed the bill. A grand jury thereafter indicted the Governor and charged him with two felonies.→ One count alleged that the Governor violated Texas law when he vetoed a bill that would have funded the continued operation of the Public Integrity Unit of the Travis County District Attorney’s office.→ The other count alleged that the Governor violated Texas law by “threatening” to use his veto powers if a government official did not resign her post (this in connection with his call for the resignation of Travis County D.A. Rosemary Lehmberg, a Democrat, who had been convicted of drunk driving).
State and Local
Vermont –– AP: GOP vice chairman accuses Vt. attorney general of flouting campaign finance laws
Charlotte lawyer Brady Toensing, who is vice chairman of the state Republican Party, wrote to Sorrell accusing the attorney general of “long-term and chronic flouting of Vermont campaign finance laws.”Toensing says Sorrell illegally coordinated with a group set up in 2012 to support his primary campaign against T.J. Donovan. He also wants a review of allegations reported in the Burlington newspaper Seven Days that Sorrell took campaign contributions from an outside law firm with which his office contracted.
