CCP
Money Still Doesn’t “Buy Elections”
By Scott Blackburn
Last Wednesday, The Washington Post’s Jonathan Capehart wrote a noteworthy piece criticizing former Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich for his inane statements regarding former New York City mayor, Michael Bloomberg. Gingrich said that he, “[had] every problem with Mayor Bloomberg being able to buy the election in New York” – a claim that would be laughable were it not such a common refrain. Capehart rightly takes the former Speaker to task, defending Bloomberg’s three mayoral victories, all of which were won not with dollars, but with the votes of New York City residents.
Money does not “buy elections.” And, despite Mr. Gingrich’s protestations, nothing proves this point better than the innumerable failed campaigns of self-funded candidates. Indeed, the Post article runs through a lengthy list of examples of the hundreds of millions spent by wealthy candidates who, nonetheless, failed to win over voters.
Amending the First Amendment
Roll Call: Senate Democrats Begin Efforts to Amend Constitution
It’s been 22 years since the last amendment to the Constitution took effect, but Senate Democrats are hoping to alter the nation’s founding document once again.
The likelihood of crossing the threshold to amend the Constitution over campaign finance is slim to none, however. An amendment would have to garner support from two-thirds of the House and Senate, before being approved by three-fourths of the states.
IRS
Wall Street Journal: Where’s Jim Comey?
Editorial
Some in Congress are beginning to wonder if there is any investigation at all. Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan noted in a letter to Mr. Comey last month that “one of the FBI’s first actions in its criminal investigation” should be “to identify and seize all documents relating to Ms. Lerner.” Had it done so, the FBI would have known a year ago that Ms. Lerner’s emails had gone walkabout.
We now know that the IRS told Treasury and the White House about the missing emails in April—yet the Obama Administration withheld that information from Congress and the public. Did the FBI know too?
IRS Commissioner John Koskinen has testified that he didn’t tell the FBI about the missing emails. But if that’s the case, why aren’t the G-men shouting to high heaven? If the FBI discovered a private company had withheld documents in the course of a federal investigation, the handcuffs would be flashing. The FBI’s gumshoes seem to be remarkably relaxed about getting IRS answers.
Free Beacon: Useful Idiots: The Democrats Provide the IRS the Best Defense Money Can Buy
By David Rutz
House Democrats with financial ties to a union representing Internal Revenue Service workers have gone to great lengths to defend the IRS during the investigation into its targeting of conservative groups, a new Washington Free Beacon video shows.
The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) has long given almost exclusively to Democratic Party candidates. Meanwhile, the Democratic recipients on committees investigating the scandal have used their platforms to do everything from apologizing to acting commissioner John Koskinen for being treated rudely by Republicans to blaming the targeting on budget cuts.
Washington Times: Rep. Darrell Issa to DOJ: Time to move on IRS case
By Tom Howell Jr.
The House’s top investigator said the investigation into the IRS political targeting scandal is being held up by a Justice Department that refuses to go after Lois Lerner, the former official at the heart of the probe.
Rep. Darrell Issa, California Republican, told Fox News Sunday he hopes political pressure from the midterm elections will at least prompt federal attorneys to “go through the motions” of presenting Congress’ contempt charge to a grand jury for possible indictment.
“How long will the Justice Department not take on this case?” Mr. Issa said.
Independent Groups
Washington Post: What’s left of the political center?
By Dan Balz
In a politically polarized nation, what constitutes the middle ground?
The answer is not as simple as it might seem. We are in a time in which there are both rising expressions of independence from the two major parties by many Americans and elections in which the red-blue divisions are increasingly stark.
Party identification tells one part of it, the story of a country moving away from allegiance to the major political parties. A decade ago, about one-third of Americans described themselves as independents, according to Gallup surveys. Today that’s grown to four in 10 or more. In some states that allow registration by party, the biggest increases have been among those who decline to identify with either the Republicans or Democrats.
San Francisco Gate: SF enviro Tom Steyer is still nation’s largest super PAC donor
By Joe Garofoli
We knew that San Francisco billionaire former hedge fund manager/enviro activist Tom Steyer was a big super PAC donor.
Now, while 21 Americans have already kicked in $1 million to super PACs in this election cycle, according to NBC and the Center for Responsive Politics, Steyer remains officially the biggest individual political donor to super PACs. This updates an earlier listing from the nonpartisan Sunlight Foundation.
The Democrat Steyer poured $11 million into his super PAC NextGen Climate Action Committee, which largely spent against Republicans who they deemed as not supporting climate change policies.
Candidates, Politicians, Campaigns, and Parties
Politico: Scammers, hackers, and spies hit campaign trail
By Bryon Tau
Political campaigns are hotbeds of criminal activity and mischief — just not in the way you think.
The fly-by-night, pressure-cooker and skinflint environment of political campaigns makes them uniquely vulnerable to hackers, criminals and ideological foes, campaign operatives and cybersecurity experts say.
Lobbying and Ethics
Roll Call: New Bill Relative To Lobbyists and Candidates
By Kent Cooper
A bill recently introduced in Congress would require lobbyists to identify relatives who are senior government officials, and prohibit candidates and their committees from employing relatives.
Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., recently introduced H.R. 5011, that seeks to curtail the benefits involved with candidates who hire relatives and lobbyists who have lobbying contacts with their relatives who are government officials.
FEC
Roll Call: FEC Provides Reminder and Resources for Upcoming Deadline
By Kent Cooper
Federal candidates, PACS, and party committees have a major reporting deadline coming up that will provide the public with an update on the campaign financing of the 2014 elections. The Federal Election Commission has provided a reminder and resources to filers.
State and Local
New York –– Wall Street Journal: De Blasio Readies Campaign Fund for Second-Term Bid
By MICHAEL HOWARD SAUL
Mayor Bill de Blasio has created a campaign account for 2017 with the New York City Campaign Finance Board and has been quietly fundraising during the past few months, people familiar with the matter said.
Mr. de Blasio, the city’s first Democratic mayor in 20 years, is expected to seek re-election to a second four-year term in 2017. The mayor, 53 years old, succeededMichael Bloomberg on Jan. 1.
In March, Mr. de Blasio set up a campaign account with the state Board of Elections and last week he submitted paperwork with the city’s Campaign Finance Board registering that account for the 2017 election. Joni Kletter, a lawyer and a member of Mr. de Blasio’s inaugural committee, is listed as treasurer on the state filing.
West Virginia – Charleston Daily Mail: W.Va. organized labor creates super PAC
By Dave Boucher
West Virginia organized labor created a new independent fundraising arm in an attempt to fight the flow of outside money affecting federal elections in the state.
The West Virginia AFL-CIO created the new federal political action committee “Honest West Virginians” in late June, according to a filing with the Federal Election Commission. The group of labor unions and other affiliated organizations felt it had no choice in creating the PAC, said AFL-CIO treasurer Josh Sword.
“This is not something that we necessarily wanted to do, we felt like we had to do this,” said Sword, who is also treasurer for the PAC.
