Category Archives: campaign finance

“About those ‘democracy vouchers.’ They didn’t work for everyone”

August 16, 2017, 7:26 amcampaign financeRick Hasen

KUOW: This year, Seattle embarked on a bold political experiment in public funding for elections: the Democracy Voucher program. But Hisam Goueli, a candidate for Seattle City Council Position 8, says the new voucher system is broken and lead… Continue reading

Undergraduate Syllabus: Campaign Finance Law, Politics, and Policy

August 15, 2017, 1:46 pmcampaign finance, pedagogyRick Hasen

Looking forward to teaching my undergraduate campaign finance class again in the UC Irvine political science department in the upcoming fall quarter. Here is the updated syllabus.

“Investor Reaction to Covert Corporate Political Activity”

August 9, 2017, 7:38 amcampaign finance, tax law and election lawRick Hasen

Timothy Werner has posted this draft on SSRN (forthcoming Strategic Management Journal). Here is the abstract: Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission and subsequent developments created a covert channel for firms to allocate resources from corporate treasuries to political activity.… Continue reading

“Why Limits on Contributions to Super Pacs Should Survive Citizens United”

August 8, 2017, 9:29 pmcampaign financeRick Hasen

Al Alschuler, Larry Tribe, Norm Eisen, and Richard Painter have posted this draft on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Soon after the Supreme Court decided Citizens United v. FEC, the D.C. Circuit held all limits on contributions to super PACs… Continue reading

“Trump Already Profiting from 2020 Campaign”

August 7, 2017, 6:14 pmcampaign finance, campaigns, conflict of interest lawsRick Hasen

Ciara Torres-Spelliscy blogs.

“Small Donor Empowerment Depends on the Details”

August 7, 2017, 9:49 amcampaign financeRick Hasen

Release: The Campaign Finance Institute (CFI) is pleased to announce that the new issue of The Forum: A Journal of Applied Research in Contemporary Politics (peer-reviewed) includes a major article by Michael J. Malbin and Michael Parrott, “Small Donor Empowerment… Continue reading

“Comeback for ‘legalized money laundering’ in party politics?”

August 4, 2017, 7:42 amcampaign financeRick Hasen

CPI: But a new Center for Public Integrity analysis of campaign finance data indicates Democrats and Republicans alike are now aggressively trafficking in a new — and perfectly legal — kind of soft money, enabled by a 2014 Supreme Court… Continue reading

“Trump’s fundraising prowess keeps Republican Party close”

August 2, 2017, 6:31 amcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

AP: Trump’s fundraising prowess is the engine of the Republican National Committee and a lifeline for every Republican planning to rely on the party for financial help during next year’s congressional races. Leaning heavily on Trump’s appeal among small donors,… Continue reading

Unanimous FEC Concludes Project Veritas Employee Likely Violated FEC Rules by Facilitating Foreign Contributions in Sting

August 1, 2017, 7:34 pmcampaign finance, chicaneryRick Hasen

Bloomberg BNA: An undercover operative for a conservative group likely violated rules against foreign campaign contributions while seeking to show Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign was willing to break those same rules, the Federal Election Commission concluded. The FEC said… Continue reading

“The Geography of Campaign Finance Law”

July 28, 2017, 1:43 pmcampaign financeRick Hasen

David Fontana has posted this draft on SSRN (Southern California Law Review). Here is the abstract: Constitutional law is committed to a principle of geographic self-government: congressional districts and states are separately located and entitled to select different officials to… Continue reading

“Watchdogs Say Cuomo Is Skirting Campaign Finance Rules”

July 26, 2017, 11:40 amcampaign finance, tax law and election lawRick Hasen

NYT: At the end of a video promoting Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s immigration policies, a disclaimer noted the advertisement’s funding source: an obscure anti-discrimination group called New Yorkers United Together. The fledgling group, which has financed only the one online… Continue reading

More Bauer on Trump Campaign Potential Liability for Campaign Finance Violations

July 26, 2017, 7:33 amcampaign finance, chicaneryRick Hasen

Here. I think the severability point I raised last week is also important: that is, one can hold that the ban as applied to foreign principals (and particularly foreign governments) is constitutional even if the application to other foreign nationals… Continue reading

“5 Ways to Interfere in American Elections—Without Breaking the Law”

July 24, 2017, 12:40 pmcampaign finance, campaigns, chicaneryRick Hasen

Uri Friedman for The Atlantic.

“Five sentenced to days in jail for Supreme Court disruption over campaign finance”

July 24, 2017, 10:42 amcampaign finance, chicanery, The Voting WarsRick Hasen

WaPo: Five protesters who disrupted a session of the U.S. Supreme Court by shouting disapproval of its rulings on campaign finance law were sentenced to either one or two weekends in prison Monday after losing a bid to overturn a… Continue reading