In the News
NY Times: Robert Menendez Indictment Points to Corrupting Potential of Super PACs
By Nicholas Confessore and Matt Apuzzo“The court’s position is pretty simple, and it is not that independent expenditures can never create gratitude in an officeholder,” said Bradley A. Smith, a professor of law at Capital University Law School. “Rather it is that as a constitutional matter, they do not pose a threat of corruption sufficient to justify the invasions of First Amendment rights that the ‘reformers’ crave.”
ICYMI: Washington Post: Menendez indictment marks first big corruption case involving a super PAC
By Matea GoldDavid Keating, president of the Center for Competitive Politics, which supports less campaign finance regulation, said the alleged corruption was not caused by the avenue that Melgen used.“Corrupt people do corrupt things,” he said. “The answer isn’t to eliminate people’s free-speech rights any more than it would be to eliminate luxury condos in the Caribbean.”
Independent Groups
Washington Post: The Insiders: Should presidential campaigns have their own “policy institutes”?
By Ed RogersAnyway, campaigns are supposed to be about ideas. Campaigns are supposed to develop and promote the policies of a candidate and help voters understand what a candidate thinks about the issues that matter most to them. Yet in reality, campaigns have few resources to allocate for policy development. Most of their money has to go to campaign basics, including advertising and candidate travel. Campaign policy shops have always been starved for money. They are usually manned by mostly part-time volunteers who have assorted letterhead organizations that don’t really do much. But the best campaigns can digest people. Candidates expect good campaign managers to build an infrastructure that can absorb and utilize volunteers in the field and in policy areas.
CPI: A super PAC for journalists?
By Dave LevinthalAligning with a political committee: most news reporters consider it a cardinal sin.But dogma isn’t dogging Michael J. Hollis, a freelance writer and adjunct journalism professor from Texas who on Wednesday registered a federal super PAC aimed at representing the interests of work-a-day scribes, particularly contract writers.Struggling journalists, he said, shouldn’t fear prodding politicians to heed their economic concerns.
The Hill: Buffett says he didn’t know Ready for Hillary was super-PAC
By David McCabeBillionaire Warren Buffett, a vocal opponent of super-PACs, said he cut a $25,000 check to super-PAC Ready for Hillary last year because he didn’t know it was one.Ready for Hillary is a group designed to lay the groundwork for Hillary Clinton’s expected presidential run in 2016. Some noted Buffet’s donation was at odds with his historic opposition to super-PACs.“It’s a good one, because I did not know it was a super-PAC. They had a maximum — which was $25,000 — I think of super-PACs as these things with hundreds of thousands or millions in them,” he told CNN’s Poppy Harlow in an interview published online on Thursday.
Wall Street Journal: Huckabee Backer Forms Super PAC to Support Ex-Arkansas Governor
By Rebecca Ballhaus
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is the latest potential 2016 candidate to get his own super PAC.The committee, called Pursuing America’s Greatness, was formed last month by Nick Ryan, who in 2012 founded a super PAC to back then-presidential candidate and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum. Mr. Ryan, a longtime Iowa GOP strategist, said he has had discussions with Mr. Huckabee about his potential campaign.“The focus of the super PAC is to do everything that we can to enhance the vision that Gov. Huckabee has for the future of our country,” Mr. Ryan said.
Politico: Fire sale: Ready For Hillary winds down
By Annie KarniThe group’s plan was always to fade to black; hand over its robust email list of close to 4 million supporters to the official campaign, once one exists; and end its operations. That updated list of names and contacts provides the Clinton campaign, which is expected to formally announce in early to mid-April, with a valuable organizing springboard.But there was no firm arrangement for what to do with everything else — the website, the lawn signs, the social media feeds, the leftover swag, the beloved Hillary Bus — until this week.According to the terms, Ready For Hillary is donating the iconic Ready For Hillary bus, a 2011 Winnebago wrapped with the now infamous picture of Clinton emailing on her BlackBerry with her shades on, to the nonprofit EMILY’s List.
SCOTUS/Judiciary
Washington Post: Reader poll: What’s the proper punishment for 99Rise protesters?
By Orin KerrThe most visible part of 99Rise’s strategy has been to stage protests inside the Supreme Court courtroom. I gather there are two reasons why they protest there. First, the group opposes the Supreme Court’s First Amendment cases in the area of campaign finance. The Supreme Court has held that banning the spending of money to pay for speech is a way of regulating speech that can violate the First Amendment. If it takes money to get out a political message, the Court has held, then blocking the spending of money to get out the message squelches the message. 99Rise disagrees with these cases and wants a constitutional amendment overturning them.Second, 99Rise targets the Court because, ironically, it gets them tons of free press attention. It often costs a lot of money to get the word out about a cause. Taking out advertisements would be really expensive. But because Supreme Court proceedings are not videotaped, 99Rise gets a lot of free press coverage when it sneaks cameras into the courtroom, films its protests, and releases the video of the protest and subsequent arrests. The protests have draw coverage from most major media outlets. The press even covers the group’s decision not to have a protest. And 99Rise doesn’t have to pay a dime for any of it. I guess you could put it this way: Their strategy is to do newsworthy things to get the word out without having to pay for it, all to stop other people from getting the word out by paying for it.There have been three protests so far. In each, one or more protesters stands up and starts speaking about 99Rise’s causes. The protesters are carried away by court security officers, and the event is filmed by someone else in the group who has brought a hidden video camera inside the courtroom. The video is then packaged up and released to the public for all interested parties to see.
Huffington Post: Super PAC Fires Fundraiser Involved In Menendez Corruption Case
By Paul BlumenthalWASHINGTON — The super PAC caught in the middle of the corruption scandal involving Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) has severed ties to an unnamed fundraiser who features prominently in the Department of Justice’s indictment of the senator.Senate Majority PAC released a statement Thursday from executive director Stephanie Potter, saying, “Senate Majority PAC carefully adheres to the letter and the spirit of the law, and we take pride in that. We take our separation from official government action very seriously and do not advocate legislation before the Senate. The fundraiser referenced in the indictment as ‘fundraiser 2’ and Dr. [Salomon] Melgen are personal friends, and we were not aware of the full extent of their communication until the indictment came out last night. While we are confident that this was an isolated incident, the fundraiser in question is no longer with Senate Majority PAC.”
State and Local
Arizona –– AP: House rejects bill asking voters to kill Clean Elections
PHOENIX (AP) — The Republican-controlled Legislature has rejected a bill that would have asked voters to repeal the Clean Elections Commission and use the money to fund education.The measure is one of several election-related bills Republicans were pushing to address campaign finance, the collection of early ballots and increase the number of votes third parties need to get on the ballot.
New York –– Wall Street Journal: Former NYC Comptroller John Liu Plans To Appeal Federal Court Ruling
By Michael Howard SaulFormer New York City Comptroller John Liu plans to appeal a federal court ruling rejecting his claim that the Campaign Finance Board unlawfully denied him public matching funds during his failed 2013 mayoral bid, his lawyer said Thursday.Richard Emery, an attorney representing Mr. Liu, said the former comptroller intends to appeal Tuesday’s ruling from U.S. District Judge Richard Sullivan that upheld the 2013 decision denying Mr. Liu’s mayoral campaign more than $3.5 million in matching funds.“They operated under a whole series of vague and overbroad rules,” Mr. Emery said of the board.
