CCP

Time for Weintraub to Step Down? 

By Brad Smith

Federal Election Commissioner Ellen Weintraub’s actions in recent months cast serious doubt on whether she can continue to credibly carry on her duties as a Commissioner. She should recognize this predicament and do the honorable thing, which is to resign…

If Commissioner Weintraub wishes to be an unserious, progressive martyr on the Commission, it is certainly within her rights to do so. Indeed, that may be her strategy to stay on the Commission, even though her term ended over a decade ago (she continues to serve as an “acting” commissioner). If she criticizes the President enough, she can spin to a ferociously anti-Trump press that any effort to replace her is an effort to silence the hunt for truth. The problem is that there is actual work to do at the FEC. When Commissioner Weintraub engages in ad hominem public attacks on the lawyers representing parties before her agency, repeatedly criticizes the President on matters outside her jurisdiction-or worse, within it-speaks publicly about pending MURs, and announces in advance her views on issues she will have to vote on, it is a problem, not just for her and the Agency she represents, but for the American public.

The Courts

Reason: Oregon Man Fined for Doing Math Without a License Speaks Out 

By Christian Britschgi

A lengthy (and ongoing) court battle ensued between Järlström, who believes he has a First Amendment right to promote his theory, and the Board of Engineering, which believes Järlström has the rights they say he does. Throughout this process, the board has used the threat of further fines to keep Järlström from publicly discussing his research. But on Tuesday, a federal judge granted an injunction against the board, preventing them from fining Järlström for talking while his court case grinds on…

Järlström may well be wrong in the claims he is making about the nation’s yellow lights. I am certainly in no position to judge his arguments on the mathematical merits. But he has presented a plausible hypothesis, supported it with credible evidence, and enthusiastically engaged both his engineering peers and the general public on an issue of civic importance.

In a different world, the engineering community would be engaging Järlström right back, probing his findings for their merits and deficiencies. That’s what science looks like. That’s what a free society looks like. Instead, Järlström is locked in a legal battle over whether he even has the legal right to present his research.

Independent Groups

Washington Post: How a ‘shadow’ universe of charities joined with political warriors to fuel Trump’s rise 

By Robert O’Harrow Jr. and Shawn Boburg

Charities have been around since the nation’s beginning, as citizens sought to help schools, churches and the poor. Decades ago, Congress created a special section of the IRS code to define and regulate charities, which are known as 501(c)(3) groups under the code. They have a special allure for donors: They can deduct contributions from their taxes.

IRS rules give charities wide latitude, but they may not devote a “substantial part” of their resources or activities to lobbying or “carrying on propaganda.” And they “are absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office,” according to the IRS…

In general, charities have been able to operate with little scrutiny by regulators. The number of enforcement officials at the IRS and the audits they conduct have dwindled over the past decade. The IRS became especially reluctant to enforce limitations on political activity, following a furious backlash from conservatives and Republicans in Congress in 2013 over allegations the agency was illegally targeting tea party groups seeking tax-exempt status.

Congress

Washington Post: Howard County should launch public financing for its elections 

By Rep. John Sarbanes

On Monday, the County Council will vote on a measure to officially launch Howard County’s citizen-owned election system. The new program – which has been endorsed by Maryland PIRG, Common Cause Maryland, the Maryland League of Conservation Voters, the NAACP and the Howard County League of Women Voters – will enable candidates for County Council and county executive to power their campaigns with grass-roots support and small donations…

In Congress, I wrote and introduced the Government by the People Act (H.R. 20), a bipartisan bill with more than 150 co-sponsors and backed by more than 50 national membership organizations. H.R. 20 would help reduce the power of wealthy special interests in Washington and return power to the American people, where it belongs, by implementing a citizen-owned election system similar to the proposal in Howard County. In today’s political climate, the Government by the People Act faces several hurdles. But having examples to showcase, including the system being developed in Howard County, would send a powerful message to members of Congress that citizen-owned elections are a viable and potent antidote to the ills of big-money politics.

Candidates and Campaigns

Rewire: Flood of Out-of-State Money Matches National Attention to Georgia Congressional Race 

By Regina Willis

More than $31 million has so far flooded a race in Georgia’s Congressional District 6 between Democrat Jon Ossoff and Republican Karen Handel, according to disclosures available May 30. Less than $1 million, or 3.2 percent, of that comes from inside Georgia.

The rest represents outside dollars nearly matched by the level of national attention the race has garnered…

Charles S. Bullock, a political science professor at the University of Georgia, told Rewire in a May 26 email that outside spending has changed the dynamics of the race. “If the only funding came locally, this would be an entirely different contest-a contest rather than an event. A Republican would almost certainly win and the national media would not care. Even the Atlanta media would not give it front page coverage.”…

The big spending, however, has come from super PACs and party-affiliated groups buying ad time and sending out mailers independent of the candidates. 

The States

National Review: In Montana, an Election Law Chills Free Speech and Privacy Rights

By David Herbst

The law, which the governor cites warmly as a tool for fighting “the corrupting influence of money in politics,” is in practice little more than a way to guarantee that politicians, who already have the loudest microphone, can shut down opposing viewpoints and make it harder for citizens to hold lawmakers accountable. The truth is no easier to find when the powerful have the only microphone.

Signed into law by Bullock in 2015, the DISCLOSE (Democracy Is Strengthened by Casting Light On Spending in Elections) Act limits “electioneering communications” within two months of the start of voting and requires non-profits to register their donors’ personal information with the government if the organization has the audacity to engage in issue advocacy too close to an election, specifically if that advocacy mentions a politician. That’s right, politicians don’t want criticism, and they are trying to stop independent criticism using this law…

And these laws don’t work anyway. Study after study has shown that such restrictions do not result in less corruption or a more satisfied electorate. So, we’re losing freedom and gaining nothing.

Politico: Board of Elections counsel issues subpoena to Senate GOP

By Bill Mahoney

Board of Elections enforcement counsel Risa Sugarman has subpoenaed the Senate Republican conference’s campaign arm, according to a motion to quash that subpoena filed in an Albany court…

The Senate GOP, which dubbed the subpoenas a “political witch-hunt,” acknowledged its looming court battle.

“The subpoenas unnecessarily abridge the Committee’s first amendment rights of free political expression and association,” said spokesman Scott Reif in a statement. “There is no factual basis for the issuance of these subpoenas. It is a back door political attack on an organization that has a proven record of successfully running campaigns and winning elections. It also threatens our two-party system here in New York.”

One source with knowledge of the investigation said Sugarman was looking at the use of the conference’s soft money committee and whether it has gotten involved in legislative races.

Washington Post: Full interview transcript: Ed Gillespie

Laura Vozzella

Ed Gillespie: I call it my “FAITH in Government for All Virginians” plan, and FAITH stands for fairness, accountability, integrity, transparency, and honesty. And the first thing I will do if elected governor of the Commonwealth we love is sign an executive order that is a zero-gift ban. No gifts at all for me, for my immediate family, for my appointees. I will also make sure that our state legislators – and I’m proud that they have joined me in calling for this – that no personal use of campaign funds. And also put an end to the bait and switch practice that elected officials have been able to use here in the Commonwealth where they raise money to run for one office and then use it to run for another office. That’s unfair to people who don’t hold elected office, makes it very difficult for them to run for office. You know they start at it at an inherent disadvantage, and we need to open up that process and make it more fair. . . . I also double the length of the lobby ban or for the duration of my administration for people who serve in my administration and I will be an honest, ethical, hardworking, principled, faithful servant leader worthy of Virginia. 

Wisconsin State Journal: Critics deride secrecy, limits on investigations by state Ethics Commission as it nears 1-year mark

Mark Sommerhauser

Made up of three Republican appointees and three Democrats, the commission has, by nearly all accounts, defied predictions it would be paralyzed by partisanship.

But critics say the commission is handcuffed by legal limits on what it can disclose about its efforts to enforce campaign finance, ethics and lobbying laws. It also is much more limited than its predecessor, the Government Accountability Board, in its ability to investigate alleged violations of those laws…

The Ethics Commission may investigate only allegations in response to a written complaint. At least four commissioners must decide that the complaint gives “reasonable suspicion” a violation occurred…

Republicans who created the commission scrapped the GAB because they said it showed partisan bias against the GOP and overstepped its authority on a range of enforcement matters.

The most high-profile of those was a John Doe investigation into Walker’s 2012 recall campaign and conservative groups, in which the accountability board played a key role in assisting county prosecutors.