CCP
Restricting Political Speech: The First Question Must be “Why?”
By Tom SwansonThe simple fact is that political speech is still just speech. Elections can’t be bought in a nation of voters who aren’t for sale. Perhaps voters heard more voices, or different voices, in the cacophony preceding the 2012 elections, but, as far as anyone can tell, Americans ultimately went out and voted for the man or woman they thought most fit to lead. If corporate political speech doesn’t impinge upon this process, what’s the argument for silencing it? “Reformers” hope to make the IRS scandal their latest excuse for regulating disfavored speakers and opinions.
Independent Groups
Washington Times: A Democrat’s IRS about-face
By Warren L. Dean Jr.Mr. Van Hollen needs to understand only one simple lesson from these events. It is a lesson Richard Nixon learned the hard way. It is that the work of the IRS is off-limits to politicians, including him. That is what his constituents expect. Anything else he may say is just an embarrassing excuse.
The Atlantic: Don’t Want Corporations to Have Rights? Then the ACLU Suit Is Dead
By Wendy KaminerOf course, ACLU is not merely seeking to protect its interests in this lawsuit: It seeks to protect the interests of clients and prospective clients whose identities are revealed by the metadata, and for whom the surveillance “is likely to have a “chilling effect,” deterring them from seeking legal assistance. Maybe it could successfully assert standing to represent a client, or individual employees. But, again, the ACLU is the plaintiff in this case, representing itself, defending its own corporate constitutional rights.“[T]he dragnet surveillance the government is carrying out under Section 215 infringes upon the ACLU’s First Amendment rights, including the twin liberties of free expression and free association,” the organization’s press release explains: “The kind of personal-data aggregation accomplished through Section 215 also constitutes an unreasonable search and seizure under the Fourth Amendment.”I don’t imagine that many advocates of the People’s Rights Amendment are unsympathetic to these claims. I do expect, however, that many will continue to deny, emphatically and illogically, that eliminating corporate constitutional rights would have any effect on the ACLU’s lawsuit, or similar suits in the future.
Politico: IRS scandal could change rules for nonprofits
By Lauren FrenchThe panel floated the idea of limiting the amount of political election activity such organizations can participate in to 10 percent of expenditures or mandate that nonprofits report total annual expenditures on lobbying or electioneering. Another potential change involves creating a new category for tax-exempt organizations engaged primarily in political activities.Danny Werfel, the new acting IRS commissioner, has told lawmakers he’s already starting conversations with the Treasury Department on potential change.
AP: IRS Supervisor in DC Scrutinized Tea Party Cases
WASHINGTON — An Internal Revenue Service supervisor in Washington says she was personally involved in scrutinizing some of the earliest applications from tea party groups seeking tax-exempt status, including some requests that languished for more than a year without action.Holly Paz, who until recently was a top deputy in the division that handles applications for tax-exempt status, told congressional investigators she reviewed 20 to 30 applications. Her assertion contradicts initial claims by the agency that a small group of agents working in an office in Cincinnati were solely responsible for mishandling the applications.
The Hill: IRS official: ‘Apolitical’ Ohio staffers not sensitive enough
By Bernie Becker“Many of these employees have been with the IRS for decades and were used to a world where how they talked about things internally was not something that would be public or that anyone would be interested in,” Paz told investigators in the first closed-door interview conducted on the IRS controversy.“So I don’t think they thought much about how it would appear to others. They knew what they meant, and that was sort of good enough for them.”
Candidates, Politicians and Parties
Free Beacon: Three Top Obama Fundraisers Selected as U.S. Ambassadors
Obama named John Emerson, the co-chair for the campaign’s Southern California finance team, as the next U.S. ambassador to Germany. HBO executive James Costos, who raised more than $500,000 for Obama, was named the ambassador to Spain. The director of Obama’s campaign finance operations, Rufus Gifford, was slated to serve as the ambassador to Denmark.
State and Local
New York –– NY Daily News: Campaign Finance Reform Group Prepared To Back Primaries Against Independent Democrats
By KEN LOVETTDavid Donnelly, co-founder of Friends of Democracy along with Jonathan Soros, said the super PAC was prepared to back primary challenges next year to at least some of the four breakaway Democrats who they feel failed to bring reform legislation to the floor.He said his group is also likely to spend big bucks to target Senate Republicans it believed could be defeated next year.
