Category Archives: campaign finance

“FEC member: I have the right to demand Trump prove voter fraud claims”

February 21, 2017, 8:43 pmcampaign finance, federal election commissionRick Hasen

CNN: A member of the Federal Election Commission was defiant Tuesday after a nonprofit group said her request that President Donald Trump provide proof of voter fraud merited an investigation into whether her comments were inappropriate. Ellen Weintraub’s remarks were… Continue reading

“Party by Association: Charting a New Path to Responsive Party Government”

February 21, 2017, 1:08 pmcampaign finance, political partiesRick Hasen

Tabatha Abu El-Haj has posted this draft on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Hardly a day goes by without a headline decrying the hyperpolarization and dysfunction of Congress. While the 2016 election has heightened these concerns, the fact is that… Continue reading

“President Trump, with RNC Help, Raised More Small Donor Money than President Obama; As Much As Clinton and Sanders Combined”

February 21, 2017, 7:12 amcampaign financeRick Hasen

New from CFI: Small donors: After including the money from joint fundraisers, $238.6 million of Trump’s campaign funds came from donors who gave a total of $200 or less. This was 69 percent of the campaign’s individual contributions and 58… Continue reading

Outgoing FEC Commissioner Ravel Predicts More Departures from the FEC, Potentially Costing a Quorum

February 20, 2017, 12:50 pmcampaign finance, federal election commissionRick Hasen

Dave Levinthal for CPI: Conceivably, Trump could nominate anyone he wants to the FEC, including Libertarians or independents that share his political sensibilities. Federal law only mandates that the FEC feature no more than three commissioners from any one political… Continue reading

“Dysfunction and Deadlock at the Federal Election Commission”

February 20, 2017, 7:45 amcampaign finance, federal election commissionRick Hasen

Departing FEC Commissioner Ann Ravel has penned this oped for the NYT.

Rather Than Continued Stalemate, Federal Election Commission May Now Lead Way to Campaign Finance Deregulation

February 19, 2017, 9:20 amcampaign finance, federal election commissionRick Hasen

As we have long been expecting, Federal Election Commissioner Ann Ravel has announced her resignation from the Federal Election Commission, effective March 1. For the last decade or more, beginning with the FEC tenure of Don McGahn (now the White… Continue reading

Debating the Merits of Arizona’s Public Financing System

February 16, 2017, 7:14 pmcampaign financeRick Hasen

Scot Mussi: Clean Elections has reached a dead end Tom Collins: Claims against Arizona Clean Elections Commission are misleading

“‘Soft Money’ Case a Test for Trump, Supreme Court”

February 15, 2017, 9:17 pmcampaign finance, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Bloomberg BNA: A filing due next month in a key Supreme Court case could provide the first indication of whether the Trump administration will seek to uphold or challenge longstanding campaign finance laws that restrict unlimited “soft money” contributions to… Continue reading

“Common Cause Wary of Judge Who Cleaned Up Part of Their Mess in Colorado”

February 15, 2017, 3:32 pmcampaign finance, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Steve Klein blogs.

“A Threat to Democracy; Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch would be a gift to wealthy campaign donors.”

February 15, 2017, 7:22 amcampaign finance, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Karen Hobert Flynn of Common Cause with this US News oped.

“Business Roundtable softening stance on political transparency?”

February 14, 2017, 7:15 amcampaign financeRick Hasen

CPI: In 2013, the Business Roundtable — a nonprofit trade association for the nation’s leading CEOs and one of the country’s most powerful lobbying forces — made clear its stance on corporate political transparency. “Corporations do NOT support increased political… Continue reading

“Reform Groups File Amicus Brief Defending Law Limiting Corrupt ‘Soft-Money’ Contributions to State and Local Parties”

February 13, 2017, 1:47 pmcampaign finance, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

See here.

6th Circuit Rejects, in Part, Challenge to Law Making It Harder for Unions to Collect Money for Political Purposes through Check-Offs

February 10, 2017, 8:20 amcampaign financeRick Hasen

Michigan AFL-CIO v. Schuette, with opinion by Judge Sutton. My favorite line: “As the unions read this language, it explains why there was no First Amendment burden in Ysursa, Pizza, or Bailey, where the government was a regulator and… Continue reading

“How the Skewed Demographics of the Donor Class Pull Our Politics to the Right”

February 10, 2017, 7:42 amcampaign financeRick Hasen

McElwee, Rhodes, and Schaffner in Slate: The prospect of big donors warping the political system loomed large in the 2016 election. On the left, Bernie Sanders warned of an “oligarchic society” in which big donors dictated the political agenda. On… Continue reading