In the News
Syracuse Post-Standard: Campaign lawn sign restrictions in town of Manlius face new legal challenge
By Elizabeth DoranThe former dean of Syracuse University’s communications school is suing the town of Manlius over its rules governing the placement of political lawn signs.David Rubin, a Manlius resident and dean emeritus of SU’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, says the town’s restrictions are unconstitutional and a violation of First Amendment free speech rights.Rubin is represented for free by the Center for Competitive Politics in Alexandria, Va., a non-profit group that advocates for political free speech. The group is the largest organization in the U.S. dedicated to protecting First Amendment political rights.
Newsmax: Former FEC Chairman: IRS Scandal ‘Assault on First Amendment’
By Dan WellThe IRS scandal is anything but “phony,” as President Barack Obama has labeled it, and is instead an assault on the Constitution’s First Amendment, says Bradley Smith, former chairman of the Federal Election Commission.“The IRS scandal is part of a long-term assault on First Amendment rights,” Smith, now chairman of the Center for Competitive Politics, writes in the Wall Street Journal.
CCP
Town Censors Residents’ Political Speech
Alexandria, Va. – The Center for Competitive Politics (CCP) today filed a lawsuit against Manlius, New York, on behalf of resident David Rubin challenging a town law that restricts First Amendment rights to political signs.The Syracuse suburb prohibits residents from displaying political yard signs except during the thirty days before and seven days after an election. Even when citizens are allowed to display such signs, they must first obtain a permit.“It is a shame that our local politicians in Manlius insist on spending scarce resources to defend a law that is clearly unconstitutional. The Supreme Court has already made that quite clear in Ladue v. Gilleo,” said David Rubin, the plaintiff in the case and Dean Emeritus of Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications.
Disclosure
Roll Call: Compliance Bell May Ring for Super PAC
By Kent CooperLiberty For All Action Fund, a libertarian-oriented super PAC, failed to include in their initial 2012 July 15 report two contributions from John Ramsey, an undergraduate student at Stephen F. Austin University in Nacogdoches, Texas. He had contributed two checks on May 8, one for $431,631.83 and another for $30,000. The failure to list the contributions also caused his aggregate contribution total to be incorrect, and the cash on hand at the close of the period total to be incorrect. Ramsey’s aggregate contribution amount should have been listed as $2,271,637.36
FEC
CNN: First on CNN: Republican says e-mails could mean FEC-IRS collusion
By Dana Bash and Alan SilverleibMcGahn, who did not provide a timeline of events, said FEC commissioners had not given their staffers permission to reach out to the IRS on the matter, which is generally required for such inquiries.The e-mails McGahn described to CNN are exactly what Republican congressional investigators are asking IRS and FEC officials to turn over to Congress as part of its investigation.
State and Local
Virginia –– Washington Post: Cuccinelli urges special session on ethics
By Laura VozzellaRICHMOND — Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II urged Gov. Robert F. McDonnell on Monday to call a special General Assembly session to repair “severe holes” in the state’s ethics laws.With McDonnell (R) embroiled in a gifts scandal, the Republican candidate to succeed him said Virginia cannot wait until the legislature reconvenes in January to tighten the state’s lax disclosure requirements.
New York –– NY Times: Citing Irregularities, City Board Rejects Public Money for Liu’s Campaign
By DAVID W. CHEN“The evidence suggests that the potential violations are serious and pervasive across the campaign’s fund-raising,” the chairman, the Rev. Joseph Parkes, said in a statement, which he read aloud after the unanimous vote at the board’s offices in Lower Manhattan.“The choice to withhold payment in this instance,” Mr. Parkes added, “is based on the campaign’s inability to demonstrate it is in compliance with the law.”
