In the News
Seton Hall Law Review In Defense of “Super PACs” and of the First Amendment
By Professor and CCP Academic Advisor Joel M. Gora
This article is a defense of “Super PACs” and of the First Amendment principles that they embody, namely, that we need a robust, wide-open and uninhibited discussion of politics and government in order to make our democracy work. Like the famous Citizens United ruling in 2010, Super PACs have gotten a bad press and have been widely condemned as threats to democracy. But Super PACs are really nothing new. They trace their origins back to Buckley v. Valeo, the Supreme Court’s landmark 1976 free speech ruling which rejected any justification for limiting the independent expenditures for political speech. Thus, the day after Buckley, individuals and groups were free to spend whatever they wished to support or oppose political candidates. Whether they were allowed to join together for such purposes was less clear. But Citizens United removed any lingering doubt by holding that any speaker – individual, corporate, union, non-profit – was free to make independent expenditures without prohibition or limitation. Based on those principles, a federal appeals court easily and unanimously ruled that what one person or group could do individually, several people or groups could do cooperatively, namely, pool their resources to get out their common message. That is a Super PAC.
CCP
Press mulls its right to lie in coverage of SBA List v. Dreihaus
By Brad Smith
Every moderately competent Ohio lawyer practicing in the field knows how the game works. You file your complaint one week before the election. A three member “probable cause” panel of the OEC will then determine if “probable cause” exists, typically on Thursday or Friday morning before the election.
The members of this panel – who need no legal training at all, are appointed by political affiliation, often have a majority membership from one party, and are prohibited by Ohio law from considering constitutional objections – then make a probable cause determination, at a very low (though indeterminate) level of proof. This typically results in a finding of “probable cause” that the accused has “lied” in a statement.
The complaining candidate then features this finding in advertisements run over the week-end of the campaign. “A panel of the Ohio Elections Commission found probable cause that my dirty rotten scumbag opponent’s campaign ads are lies.” The credulous/ignorant/what-the-heck-it-has-the-whiff-of-a-scandal-let’s-go-with-it (take your pick) press trumpets the findings through newspapers and radio news in the district in the campaign’s final 2-3 days. When the case is dismissed (voluntarily or not – the DeWine brief in COAST notes that the overwhelming majority of complaints that are prosecuted are dismissed, and the majority of those not dismissed tend to eventually be overruled on appeal) it is long after the election, and after the damage has been done.
Independent Groups
Lexington Herald-Leader: Conservative group to open 5 Kentucky offices to help Bevin in bid against McConnell
By SAM YOUNGMAN
In an effort to make the May 20 primary the final battle in a lengthy war between establishment Republicans and outside groups, he has been painting Bevin as a proxy for Tea Party fundraising groups.
On Sunday, Allison Moore, McConnell’s spokeswoman, said the Madison Project had a failing plan to reach out to conservatives if their strategy was to attack McConnell or Paul, noting that Ryun said in a tweet last week that Paul was a “tool.”
“Their genius strategy is to smear Mitch McConnell, call Rand Paul a ‘tool,’ and then ask Kentucky Republicans to abandon their own and support Matt Bevin,” she said. “They’ve got a better chance of signing up Barack Obama than any Kentucky conservatives to help their cause.”
Tax Financing
Al Jazeera: Campaign finance reformers playing whack-a-mole to contain money flood
By Naureen Khan
In the absence of courts friendlier to campaign finance regulations or concerted action by Congress, reformers are left with a piecemeal approach: trying to bolster laws on the state level, mounting defenses to existing rules on the state and federal levels and urging regulatory agencies to step in.
“There will be always some element of whack-a-mole. Money will always find the other step on the other side of the law,” said Nick Nyhart, president of Public Campaign, an advocacy organization for public financing. “But reasonable regulations can be put in place and make a difference.”
Candidates, Politicians, Campaigns, and Parties
Lexington Herald-Leader:Kentucky GOP asks U.S. attorney for investigation of Grimes campaign
By SAM YOUNGMAN
The Republican Party of Kentucky plans to ask a U.S. attorney Monday to investigate claims made by former Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Ed Marksberry that he was offered future favors to drop out of the race against Alison Lundergan Grimes.
In a letter provided to the Herald-Leader by the Republican Party, state GOP Chairman Steve Robertson asks U.S. Attorney David Hale in Louisville to investigate Marksberry’s claims.
Robertson urges Hale to “appropriately prosecute the hiring/payoff scheme orchestrated by Secretary Grimes’ campaign and brought to light by none other than the offeree, Mr. Marksberry.”
Lobbying and Ethics
National Journal: How Lobbyists Still Fly Through Loopholes
By Shane Goldmacher
It’s widely believed that the 2007 rewrite of congressional travel rules spurred by the scandal that sent lobbyist Jack Abramoff to prison banned such international dalliances. But that’s far, far from true. A National Journal investigation has found that despite efforts to clip the wings of congressional travel planned and paid for by special interests, lawmakers are again taking flight. Indeed, the reality is that lobbyists who can’t legally buy a lawmaker a sandwich can still escort members on trips all around the world.
More than six years ago, reformers pledged that tightened travel rules would end an era of globe-trotting tied to special interests and, as incoming Speaker Nancy Pelosi put it, “break the link between lobbyists and legislators.”
It hasn’t worked. Take it from Abramoff. “I just think they reshuffled the deck,” he said, having emerged from prison as a self-styled reformer. “But it’s the same deck. They’re still playing the game.”
Washington Post: Lobbyists poised for more profit declines, but also finding ways to keep business flowing
By Holly Yeager
But there’s another factor to consider — and it’s one that the Influence Industry column will come back to as we look at the many ways that advocates try to shape decisions made on Capitol Hill, at the White House and at regulatory agencies. Simply put: Lobbying is changing, lobbyists are branching out into other kinds of work, and the amounts that show up on disclosure reports represent just a fraction of what’s being spent to influence policy.
Tough restrictions imposed by President Obama that effectively put administration jobs off-limits to lobbyists appeared to prompt many K Streeters to remove themselves from the lobbying rolls. At the same time, many firms have been boosting their public affairs, grass-roots organizing, coalition-building and other work that falls outside the traditional lobbying definition.
State and Local
Connecticut –– CT News: Sorting Through The Mud: Understanding the Campaign Finance System
By Jason Pau
Campaign finance law in Connecticut has two parts: what is allowed under state law and what is allowed under federal law. As a result, there are two very different campaign finance schemes, and these schemes interact in different ways.
At the core are federal First Amendment principles. Under the U.S. Constitution, an individual has an absolute right to spend as much as he or she wishes on speech, including political speech. Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court expanded that right by allowing individuals to also give unlimited amounts to organizations known as Super PACs. The only limits are on the amounts that can be given to campaigns run by candidates directly and to organizations that coordinate with or give to campaigns run by candidates. As long as Super PACs don’t give to or coordinate with candidate-run campaigns, they can accept unlimited contributions from individuals.
The legal reason for setting limits on contributions that go directly to campaigns is that such contributions could have a corrupting effect.
Arkansas –– 5News: Lt. Gov. Mark Darr Announces Resignation
Darr said he made unintentional mistakes in reporting campaign expenditures, in collecting travel reimbursements and in using the state credit card.
Those issues are “not worthy of my removal from office,” he said in a prepared statement earlier in the week.
Darr stepped back from those comments Friday, sending out a statement announcing his resignation from office, in which he said, “Politics can be a toxic business. I will no longer subject my family to its hard lessons.”
District of Columbia –– Washington Post: Gray kicks off reelection bid, apologizes for ‘pain and embarrassment’ of 2010 campaign
By Mike DeBonis
First, however, Gray addressed his 2010 campaign, the source of political head winds that made his bid for a second term look doubtful until his decision in early December to proceed with a run.
Gray has not been charged and has denied wrongdoing. The federal investigation has resulted in guilty pleas from four campaign associates to various felony charges stemming from schemes that prosecutors say violated campaign finance laws.
Those “shortcomings,” Gray said Saturday, “caused many people great pain.”
Virginia –– Washington Post: McAuliffe raises more than $1 million for inaugural celebration in Virginia
By Rachel Weiner
Virginia Gov.-elect Terry McAuliffe has raised nearly $1.3 million for his inaugural festivities, with cash coming from a wide range of donors both inside and outside the state.
Among his top donors were two giant Richmond-based companies, tobacco producer Altria and Dominion Virginia Power, which each donated $50,000 for Saturday’s celebrations.
In his 2009 campaign, McAuliffe made a point of refusing donations from Dominion, saying the powerful state energy company was too reluctant to embrace renewable energy.
Virginia –– Washington Post: McAuliffe imposes far-reaching gift limit on himself and his staff
By Rachel Weiner
RICHMOND — Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) signed an executive order Saturday imposing sweeping new standards for ethics in government intended to prevent the kind of gifts scandal that engulfed his predecessor, Robert F. McDonnell.
McAuliffe’s order imposes a strict $100 gift cap on himself and the executive branch. It establishes an ethics commission, including $100,000 in start-up funds, with the authority to monitor compliance and recommend discipline for violators.
New York –– NCPR: Cuomo tries again for anti-corruption reform
By Karen DeWitt
But in his speech, Cuomo tried to appeal to lawmakers’ better natures. He began by referencing the latest sexual harassment scandal in the Assembly, where several women are accusing a Buffalo area Assemblyman of inappropriate behavior.
