Category Archives: campaign finance
Indiana: “Rokita, Messer deny wrongdoing in possible straw donor scheme”
IndyStar:
Three Indiana members of Congress gave and received money from Ohio Rep. Jim Renacci in what experts said may have been an improper straw donor scheme — including two Indiana congressmen running for the U.S. Senate.
The Senate candidates,… Continue reading
Don Blankenship Refuses to Disclose Finances in Connection with Senate Run in West Va., Gets Attacked by McConnell Super PAC
NYT:
Mr. Blankenship offers no apology for his many contradictions and personal and business decisions, some of them previously undisclosed. Though he lives a baronial lifestyle thanks to a fortune built on coal scratched from West Virginia’s mountains, he says… Continue reading
Mick Mulaney Sold Access to Lobbyists as a Member of Congress (But Don’t Worry Because That’s Not Corruption According to Justice Kennedy)
NYT:
Mick Mulvaney, the interim director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, told banking industry executives and lobbyists on Tuesday that they should increase their campaign donations to influence lawmakers, revealing that he would meet only with lobbyists who contributed… Continue reading
FEC Commissioner Weintraub Says It Is Time to “Pull the Fire Alarm” and Have Complainants Bypass the FEC and Go to Court
Statement from Commissioner Weintraub:
Fire alarms are sometimes housed in boxes labeled “Break glass in case of emergency.” The Federal Election Campaign Act has such a box; it’s the provision that allows complainants to sue respondents directly when the Federal… Continue reading
“Rick Scott Super PAC Donations Challenge Federal Anti-Corruption Rule”
Capital and Main:
A super PAC led by Florida Gov. Rick Scott raked in donations from two private equity executives after Scott’s administration directed lucrative state pension investments to their firms, according to government records reviewed by MapLight and Capital… Continue reading
En Banc 5th Circuit, on a Vote of 12-2, with One of Trump’s Appointees Issuing a Blistering Dissent, Denies Rehearing to Consider Challenge to Austin’s $350 Contribution Limit
Via How Appealing comes news of this vote to deny rehearing en banc in Zimmerman v. City of Austin.
The vote is not all that surprising given that since Randall v. Sorrell, courts generally have not struck down campaign finance… Continue reading
“The Changing Story of the NRA and Russia”
Must-read Ciara Torres-Spelliscy:
Ultimately, an entity with subpoena power can resolve the mystery of whether any substantial money from Russia was funneled through the NRA in 2016. That will require more than polite inquiries from the Senator from Oregon. It… Continue reading
“Minor Party Fights New York’s Campaign-Finance Limits”
“NRA Proves the Need for Campaign-Finance Reform”
Bloomberg View editorial:
The National Rifle Association is finished answering questions. That’s what the organization told Senator Ron Wyden last week in a letter complaining about Wyden’s “time-consuming and burdensome” inquiries into the NRA’s ties to Russians.
That answer isn’t… Continue reading
“Top GOP super PAC books $48 million in ads for House races”
WaPo:
The Congressional Leadership Fund, the leading Republican super PAC focused on the House, is booking $48 million in ad reservations ahead of the November midterm elections — giving its first indications of where it intends to focus its considerable… Continue reading
“Eyeing 2020, Trump Fund-Raisers Return to Familiar Well: Small Donors”
“How Russian Facebook Ads Divided and Targeted U.S. Voters Before the 2016 Election”
Wired:
WHEN YOUNG MIE Kim began studying political ads on Facebook in August of 2016—while Hillary Clinton was still leading the polls— few people had ever heard of the Russian propaganda group, Internet Research Agency. Not even Facebook itself… Continue reading
Without Noted Dissent, Supreme Court Declines to Hear Blaogojevich Appeal
Here is the order list. I had thought the case presented a meaty issue, but this may have not been the right vehicle to address it. (He tried to raise a similar issue a few years ago.)