In the News
Watchdog.org: Is FEC hearing stacking the deck for ‘dark money’ narrative? By M.D. Kittle
By MD KittleKeating said the full-day hearing agenda appears to be “reasonably balanced” on both sides of the issue. But the morning’s schedule of panelists is packed with members of the “dark money” narrative crowd, who are likely, Keating said, to pick up the brunt of media coverage.“If you decide to listen to only the panelists in the morning, you are going to get an overwhelming view of people who want more regulation,” he said. “The whole day is balanced, but the morning is clearly stacked” with advocates for greater campaign finance restrictions.Some assert the top-heavy schedule was by design.Lee Goodman, a Republican commissioner and former chairman, accused Ravel, a Democrat and appointee of President Obama, of “engaging in viewpoint discrimination,” according to FoxNews.com.
CCP
Oral Comments of Bradley A. Smith: Federal Election Commission Hearing on Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in Light of McCutcheon, et al. v. FEC
By Bradley A. SmithAs we start this long day of comment, it is worth reminding ourselves that the United States today has more disclosure laws in effect that any prior time in our nation’s history. Indeed, campaign finance generally is regulated more heavily at the federal level than at any time prior to 1975, and in many ways, regulated more heavily than at any time prior to 2003. Federal laws and regulations governing campaign finance total over 376,000 words, not including advisory opinions, general statements of policy, and the like. That is about 75 percent longer than Plato’s Republic, generally considered the definitive philosophical treatise on it questions facing all of government. And it is further worth reminding ourselves that for all the outrage generated by those opposed to the Supreme Court’s eminently sensible and doctrinally ordinary First Amendment rulings in Citizens United v. FEC and McCutcheon v. FEC, no federal disclosure laws have been repealed nor were any struck down by the courts in those cases, nor were any FEC regulations governing earmarking, affiliation, or coordination.While the Courts have not struck down any federal disclosure laws, it is not true, as some have suggested, that the Supreme Court has given its blessing to disclosure laws much broader than those already on the books. The Supreme Court has a long history of striking down overly broad disclosure rules, either facially or as applied, in Thomas v. Collins, NAACP v. Alabama, NAACP v. Button, Talley v. California, Bates v. Little Rock, Brown v. Socialist Workers ’74 Campaign Committee, Meyer v. Grant, Buckley v. American Constitutional Law Foundation, and McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission, to name some of the most prominent. In Massachusetts Citizens for Life v. FEC the Court struck down laws extending the reach of disclosure through the definition of political committee. And in Buckley v. Valeo itself the Court upheld FECA’s disclosure requirements only after dramatically narrowing their reach and scope, prohibiting many of the same things that are proposed for added disclosure today. Moreover, lower federal courts continue to strike down state laws often similar to many now proposed federally.
IRS
The Hill: Obama administration won’t release IRS targeting documents
By Bob CusackThe Hill sought access to government documents that might provide a glimpse of the decision-making through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.The Hill asked for 2013 emails and other correspondence between the IRS and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA). The request specifically sought emails from former IRS official Lois Lerner and Treasury officials, including Secretary Jack Lew, while the inspector general was working on its explosive May 2013 report that the IRS used “inappropriate criteria” to review the political activities of tax-exempt groups.TIGTA opted not to release any of the 512 documents covered by the request, citing various exemptions in the law. The Hill recently appealed the FOIA decision, but TIGTA denied the appeal. TIGTA also declined to comment for this article.
Roll Call: IRS Wars Heat Up
By Eliza Newlin CarneyBoth Republicans on Capitol Hill and the Obama administration have brought fresh artillery to their war over the IRS and its policing of politically active tax-exempt groups.GOP leaders are taking advantage of their new Senate majority and expanded House ranks to step up ongoing probes into IRS targeting of 501(c)4 social welfare groups, including tea party organizations. Republicans in both chambers have also introduced legislation that would block the IRS from issuing any new regulations to constrain political activity by tax-exempt groups until early 2017.The Stop Targeting Political Beliefs by the IRS Act would “halt further action on the IRS’ proposed targeting regulations until the Justice Department and congressional investigating into the IRS’ previous targeting are complete,” Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., said when introducing the bill last month with Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz. An identical House bill was introduced by Reps. Paul D. Ryan, R-Wis. and Peter Roskam, R-Ill.
Independent Groups
NY Times: Emerging Clinton Team Shows Signs of Disquiet
By Nicholas Confessore and Amy ChozickLingering tensions between Hillary Rodham Clinton’s loyalists and the strategists who helped President Obama defeat her in 2008 have erupted into an intense public struggle over who will wield money and clout in her emerging 2016 presidential campaign.At issue is controlling access to the deep-pocketed donors whose support is critical to sustain the outside organizations that are paving the way for Mrs. Clinton’s campaign. It is a competition that has been exacerbated, many Clinton supporters said, by Mrs. Clinton’s reluctance to formally enter the race and establish a campaign organization with clear lines of authority.
NY Times: Brock Is No Stranger to Political Rumbles Involving Clintons
By Amy Chozick“As rough and tumble as they get.”That’s how one old friend of Bill and Hillary Clinton described David Brock when he arrived in Arkansas in early 1993 to dig up dirt on President Clinton.Back then, Mr. Brock was a star reporter for The American Spectator, the conservative magazine. Today, he is a liberal devoted to getting Hillary Rodham Clinton elected president. But he’s still rough and tumble.
Kochs Obsession
Mother Jones: The Koch Brothers Raised $249 Million at Their Latest Donor Summit
By Andy KrollDonors at the Palm Springs confab pledged $249 million toward funding the Koch brothers’ grand plan, according to two sources with knowledge of the fundraising haul. A spokesman for Freedom Partners, the organization that hosts the donor summits and helps distribute the money raised at them, declined to comment. If the Koch network raises comparable sums at its remaining donor retreats between now and November 2016—it tends to hold two to three such gatherings a year—it will easily meet, if not surpass, its $889 million target.The retreats—first hosted by the Kochs in 2003, when a mere 17 people attended—serve not only as strategy sessions but as showcases and fundraisers for an array of conservative and libertarian organizations, including more politically active outfits like Americans for Prosperity, wonky think tanks, and issue-based nonprofits focusing on veterans issues, health care, and seniors. Typically, toward the end of each retreat, donors gather for lunch and take turns pledging big amounts for Koch-backed causes.
FEC
The Blaze: The FEC Chair Guards Against Money Corruption in Politics…Yet Her Travel Reports Reveal Some Surprising Expenses
By Zach NobleRepublican (and 2014 FEC chair) Lee Goodman spent a total of $1,065 on two trips in those two years.Democrat Cynthia Bauerly spent $953 on two trips; Republicans Caroline Hunter and Donald McGahn each took one under-$500 trip.Ravel, on the other hand, spent more than $6,500 on five trips — averaging some $1,300 per trip, compared to the roughly $500 per trip spent by Goodman, Bauerly, Hunter and McGahn.Only Weintraub outspent Ravel in the two-year period, with nearly $25,000 on nine trips, many of them foreign and some as far abroad as Albania.
State and Local
New Mexico –– Albuquerque Journal: Santa Fe’s public campaign financing panned anew over outside spending for Gonzales
By Mark OswaldBushee, Dimas and Mayor Gonzales all accepted the $60,000 each in public money available for mayoral candidates last year, the first time taxpayer dollars were available to mayor candidates. The candidates were barred from accepting private donations after they took the public financing.But Gonzales got the support of more than $64,000 in campaign spending by independent groups supported by public employee unions. In the face of criticism that the big bucks from independent groups negated the goal of public financing to “level the playing field” among candidates, Gonzales repeatedly insisted he didn’t want or ask for the unions’ help.“I feel like I was part of a grand experiment that failed miserably,” said Bushee, who was the target of negative ads paid for by the union groups, at Monday’s ethics board meeting.
Texas –– San Antonio Express-News: Audit finds Canseco violated ban on foreign contributions
By Kevin DiazWASHINGTON — A final Federal Election Commission audit has found that former San Antonio congressman Quico Canseco accepted $100,000 for his 2010 House bid from a family-owned business in Mexico, violating bans on foreign contributions.
