In the News
Watchdog.org: Disclosure regs a Trojan horse to kill political speech, expert says
By M.D. Kittle“CCP’s most significant concern with the Regulations stems from their tendency to increase, rather than limit, vagueness regarding what speech qualifies as an independent expenditure,” the nonprofit wrote. “… the Regulations make it significantly more difficult for speakers to determine, in advance, whether their desired speech will be an independent expenditure.”Instead, the new regs muddy the state’s previous crisper standard, which was formerly rooted in the U.S. Supreme Court’s rulings in recent years expanding political speech and unhitching what the court found more onerous First Amendment burdens, CCP asserts.Such standards seem to superimpose protected issue advocacy, or communications that advocate for or against policy, onto express advocacy, ads that specifically support or oppose a campaign. Such laws most recently in Wisconsin have been declared unconstitutional.
Gov. Perry Indictment
Wall Street Journal: Rick Perry’s Lawyer Calls Indictment ‘Banana Republic Politics’
By NATHAN KOPPEL and MIGUEL BUSTILLOAUSTIN, Texas—An expanded team of lawyers for Gov. Rick Perry provided a preview Monday of how it intends to defend the Republican politician from acriminal indictment alleging that he abused his power by trying to oust a Democratic district attorney from office.Veteran Houston trial lawyer Tony Buzbee, who said at a news conference in the state capital that he will now lead Mr. Perry’s defense, called the indictment “banana republic politics” and noted that there are critics of the case across the political spectrum.The lawyers said Mr. Perry had a First Amendment right to speak out about an official he considered unfit, and played an embarrassing video of the elected official Mr. Perry challenged, Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg. The video showed her arguing with police who were booking her after a drunken-driving arrest last year.
NY Times: Is Gov. Rick Perry’s Bad Judgment Really a Crime?
EditorialBut his ill-advised veto still doesn’t seem to rise to the level of a criminal act. After a complaint was filed by a liberal group, a judge appointed a special prosecutor, Michael McCrum, a San Antonio lawyer and former federal prosecutor, to take the case. A Travis County grand jury indicted Mr. Perry on two felony counts: abuse of official capacity and coercion of a public servant. The indictment says he exceeded his veto power by combining it with a threat to Ms. Lehmberg if she didn’t quit.Governors and presidents threaten vetoes and engage in horse-trading all the time to get what they want, but for that kind of political activity to become criminal requires far more evidence than has been revealed in the Perry case so far. Perhaps Mr. McCrum will have some solid proof to show once the case heads to trial. But, for now, Texas voters should be more furious at Mr. Perry for refusing to expand Medicaid, and for all the favors he has done for big donors, than for a budget veto.
SEC
The Atlantic: The Wrong Type of Corruption?
By David FrumIt’s a good guess that the federal courts will listen sympathetically to the challenge to the SEC rule. The Supreme Court has made clear that campaign contributions are protected free speech, both for individuals and for corporations. While protecting against corruption remains a valid basis for restricting contributions, the Court has defined corruption narrowly: In the words of the majority opinion in McCutcheon v. FEC, the most recent major campaign-finance case, corruption is “an effort to control the exercise of an officeholder’s official duties.” And as Justice John Roberts wrote in FEC v. Wisconsin Right to Life, the courts “must err on the side of protecting political speech rather than suppressing it.” It seems very conceivable that the courts will find the SEC rule overly broad.Meanwhile, it’s a valid question whether the SEC rule is actually achieving anything.The people with the most sway over state pension-funds decisions are not always—nor even often—elected officials. And those who exert the most effective influence over them are not always—nor even often—campaign contributors.
Candidates, Politicians, Campaigns, and Parties
Politico: The Grimes family discount
By Manu RajuAlison Lundergan Grimes has barnstormed Kentucky in her 45-foot-long campaign bus, rolling up to raucous rallies and posing for photos next to the vehicle bearing an oversized image of the Democratic Senate hopeful.Left unmentioned amid the hubbub is this: Her father’s company acquired the bus just as the campaign got underway last year — and is renting it to his daughter for a fraction of what other companies would typically charge, according to a POLITICO analysis. Federal campaign finance law bars a campaign from receiving goods and services below the fair market value from a corporation, regardless of whether it is owned by a family member.A review of Federal Election Commission records shows Grimes paid less than $11,000 through June to rent the bus for at least 24 days, amounting to about $456 per day. Officials at four bus companies said they typically charge $1,500 to $2,000 a day to rent a similarly sized bus, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s campaign said it spent at least $2,200 per day to rent essentially the same bus during a swing earlier this month. That would amount to a savings of tens of thousands of dollars for the Democrat’s campaign.
Washington Post: Democrats try out a new/old bogeywoman: Sarah Palin
By Aaron BlakeGiven that Palin is broadly unpopular and highly polarizing, the ad might seem to be much ado about nothing. After all, Palin has been a Democratic foil for years. But national Democrats haven’t actually used her much in their advertising campaigns. And, in fact, this is the first TV ad the DSCC has ever run featuring Palin.
State and Local
California –– AP: Lawmakers pass bills to outlaw lobbyists’ gifts, disclose actors used in campaign commercials
SACRAMENTO, California — Questionable campaign practices at the state and local level prompted state lawmakers to approve three reform bills Monday, including one adopted after a lobbyist was fined for hosting fundraisers at his home.SB1443 would outlaw gifts from lobbyists and reduce the annual overall gift limit for lawmakers from $440 to $200. It also would ban the most extravagant types of gifts, such as sports and concert tickets, for elected officials and legislative staff.Article continues: Meanwhile, the Senate approved a requirement that campaign ads disclose when paid actors are used as spokespeople.
Pennsylvania –– The Legal Intelligencer: Phila. Ban on Cops’ Political Donations Tossed
By Saranac Hale SpencerPhiladelphia’s rule banning police officers from donating to their union’s political action committee is unconstitutional, the Third Circuit has ruled.In a reversal of the trial court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit held that the city’s 1951 charter that was passed in an effort to curb corruption has a provision that violates the First Amendment.
New York –– NY Times: In Five Years, a Federal Prosecutor Has Taken On Terrorism, Corruption and Cuomo
By Ben Protess and Benjamin WeiserIn Albany, Mr. Bharara has found another generous target: He has convicted more than a dozen lawmakers on corruption charges. “Some of the things that we’ve seen out of Albany and elsewhere are, quite frankly, appalling,” he said.And now, even though Mr. Cuomo has said that the anticorruption panel, known as the Moreland Commission, was never supposed to be independent because it was an entity he created and controlled, Mr. Bharara has taken the cases the commission was forced to abandon.Mr. Bharara said that in consultation with Richard B. Zabel, his deputy, he decided to discuss the commission’s closing in some detail on the radio; he said they felt the public had a right to know why Mr. Bharara’s office was seizing the files.
Montana –– AP: Montana: Senator Who Left Race Cannot Pass on His War Chest
Amanda Curtis, the new Democratic United States Senate candidate, will not be able to jump-start her campaign using money left in Senator John Walsh’s bank account from his defunct campaign. Senator Walsh, who dropped out of the race in a plagiarism scandal this month, can only give the legal limit of $2,000 to his replacement candidate’s campaign, according to Federal Election Commission rules.
