In the News
Janine Turner: Interview: Brad Smith
Brad Smith talks about changes the IRS wants to make regarding campaign finance donations.
CCP
McCutcheon’s Wild Hypotheticals
The Department of Justice has a strong record of prosecutions in high profile cases involving giving in the name of another. Such evasions – working out deals with PACs to give to a candidate – would appear to trigger a violation. It is difficult to see the various hypotheticals ever coming to pass, as the downside for not successfully navigating the minefield is devastating. People can go to jail for this.
Thus, to the best of our knowledge, nothing like Justice Kagan’s hypothetical has been tried in an attempt to circumvent the base limits. So it’s worth noting that if the regulation is ineffective, such evasion could happen now, under the present aggregate limits. Even under the current aggregate limits, an individual could give the maximum $74,600 to 15 PACs ($5,000 to 14 PACs plus $4,600 to the 15th PAC) all purporting to support the same five candidates, in addition to the individual’s $2,600 per-election direct contribution limit. Under Justice Kagan’s logic, this donor could purportedly funnel nearly $15,000 to each of five different candidates. Yet, the FEC seems unperturbed by such conspiracies—as they do not appear to happen.
As we wait for McCutcheon to be handed down, we must remember that even Supreme Court litigants, clerks, and justices can miss things. As much as oral argument captures media attention, this is why so much effort ought to be spent on building a record in the courts below and why extensive briefing from the parties and amici are vital. And even then, some things still get missed or misunderstood.
Independent Groups
The Hill: Senate Republicans halt IRS hearing
By Bernie Becker
Senate Republicans halted a hearing with President Obama’s choice to lead the Internal Revenue Service on Tuesday, raising new questions about whether the troubled agency will have a confirmed chief by year’s end.
Before the hearing broke up, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and the panel’s top Republican, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), vowed to support John Koskinen, the former Freddie Mac executive tapped to take over an agency still reeling from its admission that it inappropriately singled out conservative groups for additional review.
Tax Financing
Roll Call: Cantor’s Pediatric Research Bill Has Democrats Fuming
By Matt Fuller
The “Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Act,” named after a 10-year-old girl who died in October following an 11-month battle with an inoperable brain tumor, would end $12.5 million in funding for party nominating conventions and authorize the money for pediatric research grants instead. It’s the latest iteration of a proposal House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., unveiled in April and is sponsored by Rep. Gregg Harper, R-Miss.
“They’re politicizing the death of a child by naming the bill after her,” a Democratic leadership aide told CQ Roll Call on Tuesday. “That’s pretty disingenuous and callous to use a tragedy like hers to advance something partisan.”
Candidates, Politicians, Campaigns, and Parties
LA Times: Senate’s long weekends may be first filibuster fight casualty
By Michael A. Memoli
What they can do, however, is string out the process to make it as time-consuming as possible, leaving Congress’ upper house unable to consider any other business.
That’s prompted Reid to make a counter-threat: if Republicans won’t tighten the process, he will hold the Senate in session for late nights, and even the weekend to get all the nominations through.
Huffington Post: This Is How Campaigns Get You To Open Their Emails And Give Them Your Money
By Paul Blumenthal
Transactions can also be formed through requests to help the campaign respond to attacks from outside groups or by calls to join an embattled candidate — “We are a top target.”
This strategy helps explain the constant appeals from President Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign, which claimed it might be outspent by the GOP — in fact, it raised $690 million online — and the constant refrain from multiple Democratic campaigns about the billionaire Koch brothers and outside conservative groups spending money in their races.
Lobbying and Ethics
The Hill: For K St., nowhere to go but up
By Kevin Bogardus and Megan R. Wilson
Lobbyists say 2014 can’t be worse than 2013, when their revenue plunged as lawmakers battled through a government shutdown and punted on K Street cash cows like immigration and tax reform.
“There is really only one way to go from the last year,” said Nick Allard, a partner at Patton Boggs.
State and Local
New York –– Newsday: Deals on campaign finance, corruption likely in Albany
By Yancey Roy
ALBANY — Even though state legislators feel badly bruised by a recent report from a panel investigating political corruption, they and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo are likely on a path to reach an agreement on campaign-finance laws and other ethics changes in 2014, analysts say.
As long as it doesn’t involve using taxpayers’ dollars to fund campaigns.
