Category Archives: campaign finance
“Maine Court: Anti-Gay Marriage Group Must Disclose Donors”
AP:
Maine’s highest court on Tuesday rejected a national anti-gay marriage group’s latest bid to shield the identities of the donors who contributed to its effort to defeat the state’s gay marriage law in 2009.
The National Organization for Marriage… Continue reading
“Two years after scandal, the IRS still struggling”
WaPo:
The Senate Finance Committee will release on Wednesday a bipartisan report on the 2013 scandal involving the Internal Revenue Service targeting conservative groups.
Much will be made about what led to the controversy, but more than two years… Continue reading
“Rand Paul super PAC head indicted over alleged 2012 campaign finance violations”
WaPo:
Jesse Benton, a longtime ally of Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) who is heading up a super PAC supporting his presidential campaign, was indicted Wednesday on charges that he concealed payments to a former Iowa state senator.
The charges… Continue reading
“A wealthy oligarchy of donors is dominating the 2016 election”
WaPo editorial:
THE UNITED States may be turning a corner in presidential politics. Although the election itself is more than a year away, the latest reports to the Federal Election Commission show that a wealthy oligarchy of donors has… Continue reading
WI John Doe Case Could Well Be Heading to #SCOTUS
Patrick Marley for the Journal Sentinel:
A special prosecutor this week asked Wisconsin’s high court to reconsider its decision ending an investigation into Gov. Scott Walker’s campaign, in a sign he is considering taking the matter to the U.S. Supreme… Continue reading
Federal Court Upholds AL Ban on Certain Party PAC-to-PAC Transfers
Alabama Democratic Conference v. Strange:
Alabama’s Fair Campaign Practices Act (“FCPA”) prohibits a political action committee (“PAC”) from making contributions, expenditures, or transfers of funds to another PAC, except that a PAC that is not a “principal campaign committee”… Continue reading
“Election Law’s Path in the Roberts Court’s First Decade: A Sharp Right Turn But with Speed Bumps and Surprising Twists”
I have posted this draft on SSRN. It is still an early draft. Comments welcome! Here is the abstract:
The first decade of election law cases at the Supreme Court under the leadership of Chief Justice Roberts brought election law… Continue reading
“Scott Walker, GOP lawmakers want to change elections board by 2016”
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:
Gov. Scott Walker and Republicans who control the Legislature plan to restructure the agency that runs elections by the fall of 2016, when Walker hopes to top the ballot as a candidate for president.
GOP lawmakers also plan… Continue reading
CCP v. Harris Cert Petition
Read it here.
The question concerns whether CA AG Harris can have access to CCP’s donor list for law enforcement purposes (and not for public disclosure) or whether such access violates the First Amendment.
“Hillary Clinton’s Mega-Donors Are Also Funding Jeb Bush”
Jackie Kucinich for the Daily Beast.
Bloomberg BNA on Republicans’ New Soft Money Suit
Ken Doyle: [update: also here without a subscription]
No Explanation of Timing
The decision to renew the legal challenge to the BCRA soft-money limits on behalf of the Louisiana Republicans—but not the RNC—may reflect divisions within the party over… Continue reading
Looking More Like WI John Doe Claims of Harassment Exaggerated or False
Journal Sentinel:
An attorney for the two investigators submitted the audio file to federal court on Monday.
David Rivkin, Archer’s lawyer, said in a statement that the audio “confirms Ms. Archer’s account of that traumatic morning in every relevant… Continue reading
“Scott Walker Aide’s Claim of Prosecutorial Abuse Refuted by New Audio”
PR Watch:
Scott Walker’s former top aide Cindy Archer has become the poster child for allegations that state prosecutors investigating corruption around Walker ran amok and engaged in aggressive, unconstitutional “raids” on people’s homes.
Newly-released audio contradicts many of… Continue reading