In the News
Washington Times: For FEC, it’s disclosure for thee, but not for me
Agency’s violation of its own rules leaves advocacy groups to guess the law
By Scott BlackburnThe three Democratic appointees on the commission wanted to proceed with an intrusive investigation of the group, pointing to a document by the FEC’s general counsel making the case for proceeding. The three Republican appointees disagreed, pointing to a separate, earlier document from the FEC’s general counsel, which the three Democratic commissioners refused to release to the public.The entire document’s 76 pages were all deemed too sensitive to be seen, and were completely redacted.Any of the sitting Democratic FEC commissioners could have joined with the Republicans and allowed for disclosure of the document, but all three voted to keep the report secret.It’s not hard to imagine why. Defeating your foe in the court of public opinion is a much easier task if your opponent’s argument is literally covered up by FEC lawyers. The plan worked. The ruling produced headlines such as, “Crossroads GPS probably broke election law, FEC lawyers concluded” and “FEC Believes Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS violated campaign-finance laws.”
Independent Groups
Watchdog.org: CINO: Is Conservative Lighthouse conservative in name only?
By MD Kittle“This is one of the left’s many attempts to try to hide behind a front organization and to manipulate the public discourse with people who are ostensibly conservative,” he said.Hull sids the funders, using Atlanta headhunter, theDubrof Group LLC, reached out to him as a potential candidate for executive director of Conservative Lighthouse.In an inquiry letter to Hull, Cydnee Dubrof, managing director of the executive search firm, wrote that the Fund for the Republic and the Campaign Legal Center are “helping to incubate a new organization … that will provide conservative leadership and direction with regard to money in politics.”
Reuters: New Hampshire candidate cashes in on campaign finance reform
By Scott MaloneWINDHAM N.H. (Reuters) – A dark horse in the New Hampshire race for the U.S. Senate who has been fighting big money in politics got a surprise boost last week from a like-minded group – to the tune of $2 million.A new political action committee, Mayday PAC, is backing the candidate in the state’s Republican primary, former state Senator Jim Rubens, with TV, radio and Internet ads as a test case in reforming American political campaign financing.Rubens said the cash from the super PAC has breathed life into his campaign against Scott Brown, a former U.S. senator from Massachusetts who has held a big lead in the polls and had a far larger war chest.
The Hill: Strategists say impact of outside group spending is overrated
By Alexander BoltonDemocratic and Republican strategists say the predicted impact of spending by outside groups has been exaggerated this election cycle as Senate Democratic incumbents have remained competitive despite a deluge of attack ads.Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and other Democratic leaders have warned that the spending of outside groups backed by Charles and David Koch threatens to drown out everything else this election.But on the campaign trail the flood of attack ads has had a limited impact as voters have grown cynical of television carpet-bombing campaigns funded by shadowy groups, strategists from both parties say.
SCOTUS/Judiciary
More Soft Money Hard Law: “Stop this Inanity”
By Bob BauerWhat an odd opinion from the Court of Appeals in Stop This Insanity. The Court decides that the regulatory burden imposed on a political activity satisfies constitutional requirements if there is an alternative, simpler route to roughly the same result. This is questionable enough, but the Court takes additional comfort in the fact that, in its view, the activity—corporate PAC activity—is “functionally obsolete”, a “relic”, an “artifact”. Stop This Insanity, Inc. v. FEC, No. 13-5008, 2014 WL 3824225, at *1-3 (D.C. Cir Aug. 5, 2014). So, somehow, the constitutional standing of a legal restriction is strengthened by its pointlessness.As my colleague Brian Svoboda has pointed out, the Court’s desire to make a virtue of disclosure requirements is also confused. The PAC vehicle that it is discouraging is the more transparent of the options open to a corporation funding independent expenditures. It offers the public a full, detailed view of who is supplying the money for the direct support of candidates, for the independent expenditures themselves. This is where the true interest in disclosure lies. The Court here is inadvertently promoting less rather more useful disclosure. And the question of who is paying for the solicitation is generally clear: the corporation is paying for it.
Disclosure
Washington Post: The FCC moves to expand political disclosure rules to cable
By Nancy ScolaThere are two signs that the commission’s Media Bureau is especially eager to aggressively expand political transparency where it can. First, it has included in its request for feedback the question of whether such a disclosure order should apply to radio, too, despite the fact that the petitioners opted not to ask for it.Second, the time lapse between the groups filing their petition for rulemaking and the FCC opening up public comments on the topic was a grand total of one week.Requests for rulemaking at the FCC can wait years to be acted upon. Andy Schwartzman of Georgetown University Law Center’s Institute for Public Representation is helping to represent the petitioners. “This is about as fast as the FCC moves,” he said. “This is lickety-split.”
Candidates, Politicians, Campaigns, and Parties
Bloomberg: Wall Street Campaign-Cash Restrictions Face Legal Attack
By Robert SchmidtNew Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s chances to be the 2012 Republican vice-presidential nominee were hampered by a U.S. regulation that could have an even bigger impact on the next race for the White House.The three-year-old rule from the Securities and Exchange Commission effectively bars governors and other state officials from raising money from Wall Street for state or federal elections. Having Christie on the ticket would have complicated Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign, which took in more money from securities and investment firms than any other industry.
State and Local
New York –– NCPR: Cuomo: campaign funds for criminal defense lawyer saves taxpayers money
By Karen DeWittAug 06, 2014 — Governor Cuomo is using money from his $35-million campaign war chest to pay for a criminal defense lawyer in a federal probe of his office. Critics say while it’s legal to do so, it’s not an appropriate use of campaign money.Cuomo’s hired prominent criminal defense attorney Elkan Abramowitz to represent his office during a federal investigation of the governor’s ethics commission. US Attorney Preet Bharara is looking into whether some of the governor’s top aides might have meddled in probes conducted by the commission when they came too close to Cuomo donors and associates.
New York –– AP: Cuomo challenger fights to stay on New York ballot
Cuomo’s supporters say Teachout doesn’t meet the state’s five-year residency requirement for gubernatorial candidates and want her campaign disqualified. They took their challenge to court on Thursday, and a decision is expected late next week.Teachout, who lives in Brooklyn, said she has spent time during the summers in Vermont, where she was raised and where her family still lives. On Thursday she called the residency challenge a “frivolous” attempt by Cuomo’s campaign to eliminate a primary foe.
Wisconsin –– Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: County to release records Friday on first John Doe probe
By Jason SteinMilwaukee County officials on Friday will release thousands of records collected during a secret investigation into aides and associates of Gov. Scott Walker when he was Milwaukee County executive, dropping the latest but not the last batch of documents in the case.The release comes as part of a string of once-secret documents from the John Doe probe that have become available in recent months through lawsuits and court actions.“The information includes ‘network documents’ (word documents, pdfs, spreadsheets, etc.) and ‘work station data’ (other documents saved on individual’s computer desktops, like pictures, word documents, etc.) from county computers that were originally seized as part of the investigation. Email accounts are not included in this release,” said Brendan Conway, a spokesman for Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele.
