In the News
SCOTUS Blog: Symposium: McCutcheon v. FEC and the fork in the road
By CCP Academic Advisor Joel GoraShaun McCutcheon is a well-to-do businessman from Alabama and a staunch believer in and supporter of the Republican Party and its candidates and causes. So much so that he would like to contribute $25,000 (well below the maximum annual legal contribution of $32,400) to each of the three national Republican campaign committees (the Republican National Committee, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, and the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee) and $1776 (well below the maximum legal contribution of $2600) to each of about thirty Republican Congressional candidates whose views and policies he supports and with whom he would like to associate politically. These are the so-called “base” limits on candidate contributions and party committee contributions. Yet even though every one of these proposed contributions would be completely legal and within the limits that Congress has decreed – and even though they would be fully disclosed to the public – he cannot make all of those contributions without committing a felony.
Independent Groups
Wall Street Journal: ALEC Strikes Back
By Stephen Moore“I really think the letter backfired,” says Jonathan Williams, an ALEC task force director. “It fired up a lot of our members.” The Chicago Tribune ran an editorial excoriating Mr. Durbin for challenging the free speech rights of ALEC donors and members, as did The Wall Street Journal. Those editorials were circulated to all 1,000 attendees. And the consensus view was some variation on “ALEC must be doing something right to get Durbin so angry.”Mr. Durbin promised a Senate hearing in September on ALEC’s activities, but it may be the senator who has to answer some questions. An ALEC letter to its members sent out on Friday notes that “Members and donors to 501(c)3 organizations are specifically protected by the Internal Revenue Service and the Supreme Court to shield them from the type of political intimidation found in Senator Durbin’s letter.” Among other things, ALEC’s board is investigating how Mr. Durbin obtained a list of the group’s undisclosed donors and whether the Internal Revenue Service played a role.
More Soft Money Hard Law: 501(c)(3) Politics
By Bob BauerA report produced by the Commission on Accountability and Policy for Religious Organizations calls for the reform of the IRS ban on campaign intervention by 501(c)(3) groups. Government Regulation of Political Speech by Religious and Other 501(c)(3) Organizations (2013). It makes the point that the test by which the IRS judges political intervention is loosely constructed and unpredictable in application. The report also notes the additional problem that IRS enforcement is erratic; this is not the agency’s favorite assignment and the agency by and large either does what it can to avoid it, or gives up quickly in the face of dedicated resistance. The report’s authors, presenting their recommendations to Senator Chuck Grassley, propose a remedy in two major parts: one to address the treatment of “no cost” sermons and other religious statements made in the ordinary course of a religious organization’s operations, and the other to cover any other institutional expenditures for political purposes. The first of the recommendations makes sense, but the second does not.
Daily Caller: The IRS’s war on women
By Nina BartlettThe story broke on May 14 that the IRS was corruptly targeting groups like ours — the day after the Utah branch sent out our response letter. Then a second letter from the IRS, dated May 28, arrived from Cincinnati.Unlike the others, this letter was personalized and informed me that LOLA had been erroneously placed on the Automatic Revocation of Exemption List.Without any apology or further explanation, we could forget about reapplying and get back to work. This came as a relief because the Ladies of Liberty Alliance (LOLA) is just starting out and is still a small, all-volunteer organization of women. We were founded in order to bring in more women to the growing libertarian movement and fulfill our mission by providing leadership training that educates and empowers women to spread their own message of liberty. We rely on donated time and meeting space from other non-profits such as the Mercatus Center and the Cato Institute.
Disclosure
Political Law Briefing: Donor Disclosure: Will FEC’s Dismissal of Complaint Usher in More Secrecy in 2014?
By Larry Norton and Meg RohlfingThe 26-page statement explains the Commission’s dismissal of a complaint charging that American Issues Project (“AIP”), a 501(c)(4), failed to register with the FEC and file reports as a federal political committee. AIP spent over $2.8 million in the 2008 election on ads attacking then-candidate Barack Obama. The two Democrats on the Commission found reason to believe a violation had occurred – the sixth seat on the Commission is vacant right now – but that left the matter short of the votes necessary to move forward.
Candidates, Politicians, Campaigns, and Parties
Chicago Tribune: Durbin’s enemies list
EditorialWe were surprised in the early days of this spring’s Internal Revenue Service scandal to see Durbin voice indignation with the IRS for apparently behaving just as he had urged it to: In an Oct. 12, 2010, letter to then-IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman — we have Durbin’s press release, including his letter — the senator urged an investigation of “several 501(c)(4) organizations that appear to be in violation of the law.” But Durbin’s letter only cited one group by name: Crossroads GPS, a conservative group that has spent heavily on advertising to promote fiscal responsibility, limits to government regulation and national security.Durbin said this year on Fox News that he hadn’t sicced the IRS on any liberal groups because … an investigation of Crossroads would put them, too, on notice. Crossroads says it scrupulously obeys the federal laws that regulate all such groups. We’ve seen no evidence that Durbin’s accusation of crimes was accurate, but he surely achieved one goal: He made potential donors think twice about contributing to a group a U.S. senator had publicly named as an illegal operation.
Roll Call: Durbin Responds to Critics of ‘Stand Your Ground’ Queries
By Niels Lesniewski“The Tribune editorial page and others attacked me for trying to hinder free speech and use my position to intimidate those with political views I disagree with,” Durbin wrote. “The Tribune and others are wrong.“ALEC and its corporate and organizational supporters have every right to participate in the political process. My concern is with the lack of transparency. As a public official, when I take a position, I stand up to explain and defend it,” he added. “I file annual financial disclosures, campaign finance reports and have to face the scrutiny of public opinion.”
Bloomberg: Republican Governors Outraise Democrats By $10 Million
By Gregory GirouxThe Republican Governors Association out-raised its Democratic counterpart by more than $10 million in the first half of this year as the two parties prepare for 38 gubernatorial contests over the next 15 months.The RGA took in $23.6 million compared with $13.3 million for the Democratic Governors Association, according to documents released this week by the Internal Revenue Service. The two political groups are 527 organizations that may raise donations in unlimited amounts.
