In the News
Wall Street Journal: Where Have All the Proxies Gone?
EditorialIt’s halftime in the shareholder proxy season, so how’s that big push to limit corporate political spending working out? According to new findings from the Manhattan Institute’s ProxyMonitor, the campaign is something short of a tour de force.
Christian Science Monitor: Is John Edwards verdict the last straw for campaign finance?
By Patrik JonssonJohn Edwards may have committed many sins, as his defense attorney noted, but a North Carolina jury on Thursday did not convict him of any crimes.
CCP
Edwards Mistrial
By Sarah Lee“After incurring the enormous costs of a high-profile prosecution, the government is no closer to a conviction than it was the day the complaint was filed, ” said Keating.“The case should never have been brought and now the government should drop the case. Prosecutors should stop trying to use vague laws to criminalize politics.”, “It’s reassuring that this jury was not misled by the vague, misleading, and likely unconstitutional instructions given to them by the Court, ” concluded Keating.
Independent groups
Bloomberg: Super-PAC Beneficiary Gingrich Laments Super-PAC Influence
By JULIE BYKOWICZNewt Gingrich, whose quest for the Republican presidential nomination was kept on life support for months by a super-PAC, said in a television interview today that super-PACs are bad for politics.
SCOTUS/Judiciary
Washington Post: Montana bucks the court
By George WillMontana uses an interesting argument to justify defiance of a Supreme Court decision: Because the state is particularly prone to political corruption, it should be trusted to constrict First Amendment protections of political speech.
Roll Call: Campaign Finance Challenge
By Eliza Newlin CarneyAs the Supreme Court mulls the first direct challenge to its 2010 Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruling, reform advocates have lobbied the court to revisit and fully debate the constitutionality of corporate political spending.
Associated Press: Stevens: Second thoughts likely in Citizens United
Former U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens has said he expects the court has already had second thoughts about parts of its controversial Citizens United ruling that eased restrictions on corporate spending in political campaigns.
Trial
Wall Street Journal: Acquittal, Mistrial in Edwards Case
By VALERIE BAUERLEINThe campaign-finance trial of former presidential candidate John Edwards ended in a mistrial Thursday, disintegrating under the weight of sometimes contradictory evidence as the jury failed to reach a verdict on almost all of the charges.
NY Times: Edwards Not Guilty on One Count; Mistrial on Five Others
By KIM SEVERSON and JOHN SCHWARTZWhen former Senator John Edwards, a man who reached for the presidency while scrambling to hide a pregnant mistress, heard on Thursday that a federal jury would not convict him on the six corruption charges he faced, he fell back in his chair and closed his eyes.
Politico: John Edwards not guilty on one count jury deadlocks on others
By Josh GersteinThe jury at John Edwards’s federal campaign finance trial deadlocked on five counts Thursday, leading the judge to declare a mistrial on those charges.
Disclosure
Politico: Mega-donors: Quit picking on us
By Kenneth VogelTheir personal lives are fodder for news stories. President Barack Obama and his allies have singled out conservative mega-donors as greedy tax cheats, or worse. And a conservative website has launched a counteroffensive targeting big-money liberals.
Candidates and parties
Obama campaign to donors: Get off sidelines and send money now
By Amie ParnesPresident Obama’s campaign team and top supporters are telling donors they need to get off the sidelines now so they can compete with GOP super-PACS waging an expected $1 billion campaign against them.
