Category Archives: campaign finance

“Democratic Dollars Flow Once Again to Likely Lost Causes”

April 20, 2022, 7:15 amcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

NYT: Gary Chambers Jr. burst onto the national scene in 2020 with a viral video of him castigating the racism of the East Baton Rouge school district. Now, he has captured the hearts and wallets of young liberals with a… Continue reading

“Campaign finance watchdog cracks down on untraceable super PAC donations”

April 19, 2022, 11:46 amcampaign finance, federal election commissionRick Hasen

Politico: The Federal Election Commission signaled Friday that it will take steps to uncover some types of virtually untraceable donations to super PACs, a potentially significant shift in the enforcement of campaign finance law.The move came as the FEC… Continue reading

“Revealed: The $14M mystery behind a new crypto super PAC”

April 19, 2022, 11:41 amcampaign financeRick Hasen

Politico: The billionaire founder of a global crypto exchange made an anonymous $14 million contribution to a super PAC. Only it wasn’t anonymous. And it wasn’t $14 million.Protect Our Future — a super PAC that’s spent millions supporting … Continue reading

“Judge denies Abrams bid to seek unlimited contributions”

April 14, 2022, 4:11 pmcampaign financeRick Hasen

AP: Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams cannot immediately begin raising and spending unlimited campaign contributions under a state law passed last year because she is not yet her party’s nominee, a federal judge ruled Thursday.Abrams and her One… Continue reading

Republican, Democratic fundraising for election litigation tops $82 million in 2021

April 13, 2022, 7:29 amcampaign financeDerek Muller

I’ve chronicled how the 2015 “Cromnibus” bill appears to have contributed to a sharp increase in spending on election litigation. The bill allowed additional contributions to “election recounts and contests and other legal proceedings,” above and beyond individual candidate campaign… Continue reading

“2024 hopefuls are already in a dark-money arms race”

April 11, 2022, 7:04 amcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

Politico: When Mike Pompeo announced his political action committee last June, he set off a wave of news stories heralding the move as a potential step toward a 2024 presidential campaign. But the former secretary of State kept his next… Continue reading

“Donations Steered to Trump Super PAC by Canadian Are Found to Be Illegal”

April 8, 2022, 2:50 pmcampaign financeRick Hasen

NYT: A Canadian steel industry billionaire illegally helped steer $1.75 million in donations to a pro-Trump super PAC and has agreed to pay one of the largest fines ever levied by the Federal Election Commission to settle the case, the… Continue reading

“Dissatisfied With Their Party, Wealthy Republican Donors Form Secret Coalitions”

April 6, 2022, 12:59 pmcampaign financeRick Hasen

NYT: A new coalition of wealthy conservative benefactors that says it aims to “disrupt but advance the Republican agenda” gathered this week for a private summit in South Florida that included closed-door addresses from former President Donald J. Trump and… Continue reading

DNC Settles Suit Over Payment for Research in “Steele Dossier”; One ELB Reader Wonders About DNC Tactics

March 31, 2022, 7:42 amcampaign finance, chicanery, federal election commissionRick Hasen

Politico: The Federal Election Commission has agreed to a fine of over $100,000 against the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign over an investigation into alleged misreporting of spending related to the now-infamous Steele dossier.The FEC… Continue reading

“Congress gets new spending loophole”

March 31, 2022, 7:29 amcampaign financeRick Hasen

Lachlan Markay for Axios: The big picture: Whether or not Ros-Lehtinen’s spending constituted personal use, the FEC’s failure to move forward with an investigation effectively cements a standard that, good government groups warn, opens a huge campaign finance loophole.… Continue reading

Federal District Court Denies Preliminary Injunction in Wisconsin Campaign Finance Disclosure Case

March 28, 2022, 6:44 amcampaign financeRick Hasen

From the opinion: In sum, while the First Amendment interests of WFA and its donors at stake in this case are substantial, WFA has failed to make a showing that it would suffer irreparable harm if its motion for… Continue reading

“Sen. Mitch McConnell has made it his personal mission to keep the dark money spigot open; The GOP’s hypocrisy on donor transparency has been on full display since President Biden announced Ketanji Brown Jackson as his Supreme Court justice nominee.”

March 27, 2022, 7:12 amcampaign finance, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Brendan Fischer NBC News oped.

Some recent law student scholarship on election law

March 26, 2022, 6:12 amabsentee ballots, campaign finance, redistrictingDerek Muller

This weekend, I’ll blog about some recent election law scholarship. I thought I’d start by highlighting a few student notes that caught my eye in recent weeks: Kyle Apple (Iowa), Gerrymandering the Presidency: Why Federal District Popular Voting Presents a … Continue reading

“GOP Congressman Jeff Fortenberry Found Guilty in Campaign Finance Case”

March 25, 2022, 6:43 amcampaign finance, legislation and legislaturesDerek Muller

Deanna Paul in the Wall Street Journal: A federal jury in Los Angeles on Thursday found Nebraska Rep. Jeff Fortenberry guilty of lying to federal investigators in a bid to conceal illegal campaign contributions he received during a 2016… Continue reading