In the News
Delaware Online: Should nonpartisan Delaware group be regulated?
By Allen Dickerson and Zac Morgan
Specifically, Delaware Strong challenges a new statute, which regulates speech merely because it mentions a candidate for office. In the past, Delaware Strong has created and distributed neutral, nonpartisan voter guides listing every state and federal candidate on the Delaware ballot, and noting each candidate’s position on issues ranging from same-sex marriage to the estate tax. The information in the guides is gathered directly from the candidates themselves.
The guides do not endose candidates, rank their responses or encourage anyone to vote a certain way. They are purely informational. In fact, the guides are similar to election guides often published by newspapers – with the obvious exception that newspapers can and do endorse candidates.
Thanks to the new law, if Delaware Strong wants to distribute its voter guides before the 2014 election, it must register with the state, and file reports listing the names and addresses of its donors. Essentially, the new law makes Delaware Strong a PAC – the equivalent of a Delaware branch of American Crossroads.
CCP
Media Watch: Grey Lady messes up basic facts…again
By Luke Wachob
Readers of the Times will also be left at best with no idea what the DISCLOSE Act is; at worst, they’ll buy into the Time’s faulty description. Clearly it’s not a bill requiring disclosure of Super PAC donors, because current law already does that. In reality, the DISCLOSE Act is an extreme bill that would close the door to many companies wanting to support certain issues, and require disclosure of donors to non-profits even if those donors did not contribute for political reasons.
Independent Groups
Daily Caller: IRS provided conservative groups’ confidential tax information to FEC
By Caroline May
A conservative government watchdog says it has obtained emails revealing that the Internal Revenue Service sent conservative groups’ private tax exemption application and tax return information to the Federal Elections Commission, in violation of federal law.
According to Judicial Watch, the emails from Jan. 2009 to the present, provided by the FEC in response to an August 2013 Freedom of Information Act request, yielded a “revealing email chain” between former Internal Revenue Services (IRS) Director of Exempt Organizations Lois Lerner and enforcement attorneys at the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
Politico: 2013: Year of the liberal billionaire
By ALEXANDER BURNS and MAGGIE HABERMAN
Democrats and liberal interest groups spent much of 2012 bemoaning an avalanche of outside spending from billionaires on the right, warning that ideological tycoons like the Koch brothers and casino magnate Sheldon Adelson could threaten the legitimacy of the American electoral system.
What a difference a year makes.
Corporate Governance
CEI: Fairy Tales and Astroturf
By David Silvers
In reality, this is a push to discourage corporations from exercising their right of free speech and political association. After all, since corporations are already banned from making direct contributions to federal candidates, the proposed measure forces corporations to publicly disclose their support to non-profit organizations such as trade associations and 501(c)(4)s.
So how does this help shareholders?
It doesn’t. The rule is designed to tie the political activities of non-profits directly to the corporations that support the organizations, even if the corporation had no knowledge of the organization’s specific activities. In the past, this information has been used to publicly harass corporations and bully them into “voluntarily” giving up on engaging in First Amendment protected activities.
FEC
Perkins Coie: Few Tricks, Some Treats as Two New FEC Commissioners Start Work on Halloween
By Brian Svoboda
For the first time since January, the Federal Election Commission held a meeting at which a majority of six Commissioners agreed on an advisory opinion. At its public meeting today, the Commission welcomed Lee Goodman and Ann Ravel to its ranks. Commissioner Goodman came from a private practice in which he represented Republican candidates and officeholders, among other clients. As the chair of the California Fair Political Practices Commission, Commissioner Ravel made waves last week with the announcement of a million-dollar settlement with two conservative nonprofits that failed to disclose the sources of funds spent on state ballot initiative campaigns.
In opening statements, the two new Commissioners found common ground on two subjects: they both expressed appreciation of the FEC’s staff, and a desire to achieve consensus on issues facing the agency. Commissioner Goodman added, though, that the FEC is a “complicated agency” where First Amendment and regulatory concerns must be carefully balanced.
State and Local
California –– NY Times: A Victory Against Dark Money
Editorial
A few days ago, as part of a civil settlement, the state imposed $16 million in penalties and fines on the groups, a record in a campaign finance case. Though it’s not clear how much of those penalties will ever be collected, or even who many of the original donors were, the effort demonstrates the importance of state disclosure laws and aggressive enforcement, particularly since Congress has refused to pay attention to abuses on a national level.
Virginia –– NY Times: I.O.U.’s Give the Democrat an Edge in Virginia
By TRIP GABRIEL and NICHOLAS CONFESSORE
“He’s been the highlight of fund-raisers, hundreds of them all over the state in the last four years,” said Richard Saslaw, the Democratic leader in the State Senate.
As a political moneyman, Mr. McAuliffe was known for a Barnum-like exuberance, with Al Gore once lightly mocking him as “the greatest fund-raiser in the history of the universe.” This year he has far outdone his rival. His campaign has collected $34.4 million, compared with Mr. Cuccinelli’s $19.7 million, according to the nonpartisan Virginia Public Access Project.
Virginia –– Washington Post: McAuliffe trounces Cuccinelli in late donations in Virginia governor’s race
By Ben Pershing
The race for cash has turned into a rout in the final days of the contest for Virginia governor, with front-runner Terry McAuliffe exponentially outraising Ken Cuccinelli II — particularly from companies that have legislative interests in Richmond.
At the same time, the race to succeed Cuccinelli (R) as attorney general has become a magnet for late donations as contributors from both parties scramble to participate in what appears to be the tightest matchup on Tuesday’s ballot.
