In the News     

Sacramento Bee: Public campaign financing should require voter approval in California

By Dan Walters

California’s Political Reform Act, backed by Jerry Brown as he ran for governor in 1974, can be amended by the Legislature to further its purposes. However, the Legislature’s own lawyer concluded that since voters enacted the flat ban on public finance, they would have to repeal it.

In a letter, the legislative counsel’s office said the public financing provisions in SB 1107 “would require voter approval in order to become effective.”

Legislative leaders, with the support of Fair Political Practices Commission Chairwoman Jodi Remke, ignored that advice. SB 1107 was passed last year and signed by Brown, 42 years after he sponsored the original Political Reform Act.

The issue – whether the Legislature can overturn a voter-enacted public financing ban – is headed to the courts.

Last month, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and Quentin Kopp, a former state senator and judge who was one of Proposition 73’s original sponsors, filed suit to invalidate the new law…
If Common Cause et al. want to legalize public financing of campaigns, they should ask voters for permission.

Michigan Capitol Confidential: Harvard Study Says Michigan Elections Less Democratic Than Cuba, North Korea, Iran

By Derek Draplin

Bradley Smith, a law professor at Capital University and an adjunct scholar with the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, said the study is “absurd” and not based on objective criteria.

“Isn’t a study that ranks Cuba, North Korean and Iran higher on a democracy list than half of the United States – from conservative Georgia to liberal New York, from tiny Rhode Island to giant Texas, self-evidently absurd?” said Smith, a former chairman of the FEC who now specializes in election law and campaign finance. “That should be enough to dismiss this silly study.”…

“The criteria is subjective, and often ideological highly contested – for example, U.S. scores were lowered in the latest survey because of recent deregulation of the campaign finance in the United States – even though those who have argued for such deregulation believe it is a huge plus for democracy,” Smith continued…
“This ‘study’ is not only not worth the paper it is printed on, it should irritate honest election specialists because it is the type of bogus study that makes people skeptical of ‘experts’ who purport to know what is best for them,” he said. 

LifeZette: Republicans Ready to Play Hardball

By Jim Stinson

Not every Republican or conservative likes the idea of getting rid of the Senate filibuster, which allows just one senator to keep a bill or Supreme Court nominee from getting a vote on the Senate floor.

The filibuster prevented an unbridled Obama agenda when Democrats had control of the White House and Congress from 2009 to 2011, some say.

“Republicans should beware,” said Bradley A. Smith, chairman of the Center for Competitive Politics. “Imagine Obama unchecked by filibuster. Republicans did a lot to stop his agenda, even if many don’t realize that.”

Smith thinks much can be done without nuking the filibuster completely.

Smith expects Republicans will push Democrats’ anti-filibuster rule to include Supreme Court nominees. And for Obamacare, they’ll take care of repeal through “budget reconciliation.” That prevents a filibuster.

“Much of what Obama did was done through executive orders and regulatory ‘policy statements,’ precisely because GOP blocked it in Congress,” said Smith. “So that stuff can be easily undone without Congress.”

Free Speech     

Reason: Nat Hentoff, 1925-2017

By Jesse Walker

Nat Hentoff, the prolific critic, journalist, and civil libertarian, passed away yesterday at age 91. His son Nick reports that he “died surrounded by family listening to Billie Holiday,” which I suspect is exactly how he wanted to go.

Hentoff wrote many things, from young adult novels to the sleeve notes of an early Bob Dylan album. But he was most famous for two great passions: his defenses of the Bill of Rights, especially Amendment One, and his enthusiastic writing about music, especially jazz. When people talk about old-school liberals who’d defend to the death your right to say anything you want, chances are good that Hentoff is the fellow they’ve got in mind. In his columns for The Village Voice and The Washington Post and in articles for countless other venues (including Reason), he pounded away at the evils of censorship, and he didn’t care if the censor had a left-wing agenda or a right-wing one. If anything, he seemed especially perturbed when people he expected to share his values started stomping on individual liberties. 

Wisconsin John Doe     

Wisconsin Watchdog: Joe Doe lawsuit seeks to answer whether prosecutors have boundless immunity

By M.D. Kittle

A three-judge panel of the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Friday asked some pointed questions of the attorneys on both sides of Wisconsin’s high-profile First Amendment case, Cynthia Archer v. John T. Chisholm, et al.

At issue in the civil rights lawsuit that arose from the infamous John Doe investigation are such questions as:

Are abusive prosecutors immune from such litigation because of the “silver bullet” of probable cause?

Do public employees sacrifice their First Amendment rights because they are government employees?

“If the U.S. Attorney’s Office said they would only pursue criminal cases against Democrats, is it your assertion that the (Democrats targeted) would have no right to bring a claim, as long as there were probable cause,” Judge Ilana Rovner asked Douglas Knott, attorney for the John Doe investigator-defendants.

Knott said yes, probable cause is the critical element…

“You don’t see a distinct injury to the First Amendment?” Rovner pressed. “Isn’t that (the chilling of speech) precisely the danger the First Amendment addresses?”

Trump Administration

Washington Post: Trump’s education nominee and her family members are major donors to the senators who will vote on her confirmation

By Emma Brown

Betsy DeVos, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for education secretary, is not just a prospective Cabinet member seeking confirmation from the U.S. Senate.

She is also a billionaire Republican donor whose family’s donations have funded the campaigns of many of the senators now tasked with voting on her nomination, including members of the committee overseeing her confirmation hearing, scheduled for Wednesday…

Trump’s transition officials and DeVos supporters say that members of the DeVos family have been exercising their right to support candidates who share their political views and that it’s nothing new for senators – including Democrats – to vote on the confirmation of wealthy nominees who make donations to them.

On Friday, two groups that advocate for reform of money in politics – End Citizens United and Every Voice – called on senators who have received donations from DeVos to recuse themselves from voting on her confirmation. Absent those recusals, “it is impossible to be sure she will receive the scrutiny this important position deserves,” said David Donnelly, of Every Voice.  

Candidates and Campaigns

Huffington Post: Elizabeth Warren Announces Re-Election Run For 2018

By Hayley Miller

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) announced she will run for re-election in 2018. The outspoken populist-progressive and fierce advocate for campaign finance reform said in an email to supporters that she would seek a second term as a U.S. senator from Massachusetts.

“I didn’t come to Washington to roll over and play dead while [President-elect] Donald Trump and his team of billionaires, bigots, and Wall Street bankers crush the working people of Massachusetts and this country,” Warren wrote…

The Federal Election Commission reported Warren raised over $38 million during her 2012 senate run, compared with the roughly $27 million raised by her opponent and incumbent Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.).

But Warren warned against setting expectations for a quick and easy victory.

“Representing Massachusetts in the US Senate and fighting for working families here and all across this country is the best job in the whole world and the greatest honor of my life,” Warren said. “But I also know this: We fought our hearts out to win in 2012, and I expect we’ll have an even bigger, more expensive fight in 2018.”

Observer: De Blasio Plays Up Lack of ‘Tremendous Personal Wealth’ in Facebook Plea for Campaign Cash 

By Will Bredderman

Mayor Bill de Blasio is again reminding voters he doesn’t have a multi-billion-dollar bank account like his self-financing predecessor, former Mayor Michael Bloomberg-and is asking supporters to make up some of the difference, as he seeks a second term amid scandals surrounding his past political fundraising.

The mayor’s campaign, which had $2.24 million in its coffers as of last report, made the appeal in a new sponsored Facebook post…

“Bill de Blasio is not a man of tremendous wealth. There are no special interests spending a bunch of money supporting his campaign. That’s the other side. And they’ve already started spending money to defeat us,” the Facebook post reads. “On this campaign, we rise or we fall together.”

The message also mentions the city’s matching funds system, which effectively multiplies sevenfold every donation of up to $175 a candidate receives from a resident of the five boroughs.

The States

Jackson Calrion-Ledger: Lawmakers wrap first week of session

By Geoff Pender

The 132nd regular session of the Mississippi Legislature was gaveled into being on Tuesday…

House Elections Chairman Bill Denny, R-Jackson, said he hopes to start committee work – at least a discussion – this week on campaign finance reform and an omnibus elections reform measure, both of which died at session’s end last year. As long as they avoid tax scrutiny, Mississippi politicians can spend campaign money in ways that would land them in jail in most other states. An ongoing Clarion-Ledger series, “Public Office/Private Gain,” has shown how many politicians – legislators in particular – use lax campaign finance laws, farcical reporting regulations and nonexistent enforcement to create a tax-free second income funded by special interests and lobbyists…

Denny has filed bills on online registration and early voting. House Speaker Philip Gunn last week was drafting and vetting a campaign finance reform bill. 

Rapid City Journal: Lawmakers set to tackle tight budget, ethics initiative

By James Nord

Beyond tending to the state’s fiscal house, the GOP-held Legislature is expected to repeal a government ethics initiative that voters approved in November. Daugaard has said voters were deceived by campaign advertising that implied lobbyists were bribing legislators while ignoring public campaign finance provisions in the initiative.

“I just feel it was very misleading,” said Daugaard, who has suggested studying the issues covered by the initiative to find other solutions.

The beleaguered ballot measure – a state judge put it on hold while a legal challenge from Republican lawmakers and others moves forward – doesn’t appear to have many legislative allies. The incoming House and Senate Republican leaders, Rep. Lee Qualm and Sen. Blake Curd, are among those challenging it.

Measure supporters hired a lobbyist and have said they’re prepared to fight for it at the Capitol, which likely won’t offer many friendly faces. Democrats’ ranks are even thinner this year, with Republicans controlling about 85 percent of the legislative seats after November’s election.

Argus Leader: Repeal and replace coming to Pierre

By Jonathan Ellis

Repeal and replace.

You’ve heard about it, correct? Republican lawmakers, emboldened by the results of the November election, will march into the Capitol this January and begin the process of dismantling a law they despise. They’ve been emboldened by their leader, who took to Twitter to denounce the law. Democrats will do what they do best – whine – but they will be powerless to put the brakes on repeal and replace.

Yep, the fix is in. For Initiated Measure 22…

The people, the noble voters, gave us Initiated Measure 22, a massive overhaul of the state’s campaign finance laws that also created an ethics commission, put limits on lobbyists’ gifts to lawmakers and established a publicly financed campaign finance system.

And therein lies the political dilemma that some Republicans in Pierre will ponder. It’s one thing to overturn a law passed by Democrats. But to overturn the will of the people, now that requires more fortitude. Sure Daugaard might be providing top cover, but he’s not going to be on the ballot in 2018. He’s done. Retired. That won’t be the case for most of the Republicans tasked with repealing IM 22.

Sacramento Bee: How democracy is growing in California cities

By Foon Rhee

California Common Cause recently published its first Municipal Democracy Index, which found some notable progress for small-democracy among the state’s 482 cities…

Another key finding in the study is that most cities don’t limit campaign contributions, which allows big donors to have outsized influence. Unlike most states, California doesn’t have statewide limits in local elections. Only 22 percent of cities have adopted limits, ranging from $100 per contributor to $4,200. Sacramento’s limit is $3,300 per person in the mayor’s race and $1,650 in council races.

Sacramento is among seven cities that have some kind of public financing on the books, which can help level the playing field. But it stopped funding it in 2010.

There’s also a lack of transparency: Only 32 percent of cities post campaign finance information online, where it’s much more accessible to voters who want to know who is funding candidates and ballot measures.

Argus-Press: Campaign finance reform on the agenda again in New Mexico 

By Associated Press

New Mexico Senate majority leader and longtime open government advocate Peter Wirth says the time might be right for an overhaul of the state’s campaign finance laws.

The Santa Fe Democrat has been pushing for years to require more reporting of campaign spending and fundraising and to address the effects of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United ruling, which removed caps on how much corporations, unions and interest groups can spend as long as they don’t coordinate with candidates…

Wirth sponsored a reform bill with Republican Rep. James Dines during the last legislative session. The Senate gave unanimous approval, but it died in the House, which has consistently been the cemetery for Wirth’s previous legislation on campaign finance…
The 2017 proposal is expected to mirror the previous measure. Under that legislation, super PACs would have been prohibited from making an expenditure of $500 or more “at the request or suggestion of, or in cooperation, consultation or concert with, a candidate, campaign committee or political party” or their representatives. 

Fort Wayne Journal Gazette: Dirty data precludes any clean analysis

By Connor Faul, Emily Koval, and Sarah Panfil

Under Indiana law, any candidate, party committee or political action committee must report its contributions and expenses at least once a year (candidate and party committees must file more frequently during election years). Committees file their financial reports with the Election Division either electronically or on paper…

In reality, most errors and data entry issues simply go unfixed. For instance, numerous records of contributions are blank – missing names, addresses, dates or other important information…
Misspellings and misclassifications run rampant. Indianapolis alone has 210 different spellings, from “Indiandpolsi” to “INDPLSI” – in addition to the 193 different states that are cited. Contributor names also lack standardization, and to further complicate things, corporate, PAC and individual names are lumped together in a single field.

In essence, the data is dirty – a term used to describe data that is incomplete, inaccurate or otherwise erroneous. And the defects serve to defeat any efforts to systematically analyze campaign finance data with sophisticated data analysis tools.