“Congress’s New Bill Can’t Eliminate Russian Influence Online”
Wired reports.
See my earlier Politico piece, Why Banning Russian Facebook Ads Might Be Impossible.
Category Archives: campaign finance
“Financial disclosure shows unusual campaign setup for Pence chief of staff”
Politico:
Nick Ayers, a senior adviser to Pence during the presidential race and now his chief of staff, joined the 2016 team as a volunteer and never took a dime in salary from the Trump-Pence campaign even as he crisscrossed… Continue reading
“Issue One raises concerns about Democratic Party’s new mega joint fundraising committee”
Release:
On Thursday, Politico reported the formation of a new mega joint fundraising committee called the Democratic Grassroots Victory Fund. This joint fundraising committee will solicit contributions to benefit the Democratic National Committee, as well as state parties in all… Continue reading
“Facebook and Google Helped Anti-Refugee Campaign in Swing States”
Bloomberg:
In the final weeks of the 2016 election campaign, voters in swing states including Nevada and North Carolina saw ads appear in their Facebook feeds and on Google websites touting a pair of controversial faux-tourism videos, showing France and… Continue reading
Text of (House Version of) Honest Ads Act Now Available
“Senators Demand Online Ad Disclosures as Tech Lobby Mobilizes”
NYT:
Senator John McCain and two Democratic senators moved on Thursday to force Facebook, Google and other internet companies to disclose who is purchasing online political advertising, after revelations that Russian-linked operatives bought deceptive ads in the run-up to the… Continue reading
Abrams v. Werthheimer on Whether Citizens United Was a “Disaster”
Fred Wertheimer published an op-ed in the Huffington Post, “Citizens United Has Been a Disaster for the Country.” It rebuts claims made by Floyd Abrams in The Wall Street Journal in an op-ed entitled “The Citizens United … Continue reading
“How Gridlock, Social Media Giants and the Clintons Made the Internet Ripe for Russian Meddling”
Daily Beast:
The co-authors of McCain-Feingold’s House companion bill, Reps. Christopher Shays (R-CT) and Marty Meehan (D-MA), were not pleased. They sued the FEC in part due to that omission, and successfully invalidated 15 FEC regulations. In response, the commission… Continue reading
“Republican lawmakers’ posh hideaway bankrolled by secret corporate cash”
CPI:
But behind the scenes, several major corporations and trade groups secretly bankrolled a plush hideawayfor lawmakers at the same Republican National Convention in Cleveland where Trump gave the speech, records obtained by the Center for Public Integrity show.… Continue reading
“Do Seattle’s democracy vouchers work? New analysis says yes”
Seattle Times:
The program went into effect this year, and it’s had a bit of a bumpy start. One City Council candidate has been accused of defrauding the program. A libertarian-leaning group has sued, saying the program violates the… Continue reading
“Want to deepen our democracy? Get ready.”
E.J. Dionne:
This is why the recent introduction of the “We the People” Democracy Reform Act of 2017 by Rep. David E. Price (D-N.C.) and Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) could prove to be an important milestone even if the… Continue reading
“Of Aliens, Money and Politics: Should Foreign Political Donations Be Banned?”
Joo-Cheong Tham has posted this interesting draft on SSRN (forthcoming Kings Law Journal). A snippet:
Against premise 1), I argue that non-citizenship and the inability to vote are not sufficient grounds for exclusion from the political community. Against premise 2),… Continue reading
“Trump campaign legal bills topped $1 million last quarter”
WaPo:
President Trump’s reelection committee spent more than $1 million on legal bills last quarter as investigations into Russian meddling in the 2016 election pressed on through the summer, according to a disclosure filed Sunday with the Federal Election Commission.… Continue reading
“Donald Trump campaign ramps up 2020 re-election fundraising”
CPI:
New financial disclosures President Donald Trump’s re-election committee filed Sunday with the Federal Election Commission tell a story of two Trump campaigns.
On one end, Trump, both by choice and circumstance, remains tethered to his 2016 presidential election effort.… Continue reading