Category Archives: campaign finance

“Tax credit for $200 in political giving could encourage small donors”

January 14, 2015, 9:17 amcampaign finance, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

David Gans LA Times oped: The policy landscape is highly polarized, with the two sides talking past each other. Rather than simply rehearsing the same stale debates, we need to find different approaches. One is to enact a federal tax… Continue reading

“Study Shows Big Donors Dominated Competitive 2014 Congressional Races”

January 14, 2015, 9:15 amcampaign financeRick Hasen

US Pirg: U.S. PIRG today released a new study, “The Money Chase: Moving from Big Money Dominance in the 2014 Midterms to a Small Donor Democracy,” at a joint research summit with seven other major money in politics organizations.… Continue reading

“Groups Have Deep Ties to Campaigns and Parties They Support, Discrediting Key Assumption in Supreme Court’s Citizens United Decision”

January 14, 2015, 7:06 amcampaign finance, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Release: Single-candidate super PACs represented 45 percent of all super PACs that spent at least $100,000 during this election cycle, a new Public Citizen report shows. The report is the latest installment in a series Public Citizen began… Continue reading

“Election Spending 2014: Outside Spending in Senate Races Since ‘Citizens United'”

January 14, 2015, 7:03 amcampaign finance, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

New Brennan Center report: Key findings include: Outside spending by a tiny number of mega-rich donors has played an increasingly important role in each federal election since Citizens United. Outside spending on Senate elections has more than doubled since… Continue reading

“New conservative group aims to build GOP support for reducing influence of big donors”

January 14, 2015, 7:02 amcampaign financeRick Hasen

WaPo reports.

“Houston Has a Problem: The Constitutional Problems with Temporal Bans on Contributions”

January 14, 2015, 7:00 amcampaign financeRick Hasen

Bauer blogs.

“5 Years After ‘Citizens United,’ SuperPACs Continue To Grow”

January 13, 2015, 8:54 pmcampaign finance, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Peter Overby reports for NPR.

“In campaign finance case, city to argue against its own rules”

January 13, 2015, 8:49 pmcampaign financeRick Hasen

Houston Chronicle: “City officials will argue that the city’s election ordinance is unconstitutional as part of a strategy to strengthen their position in a lawsuit that could shape the early stages of this year’s mayor’s race.”

“Liberal ‘dark money’ group could face IRS fine”

January 13, 2015, 7:40 amcampaign financeRick Hasen

CPI reports.

“Court Coy on Marriage; Rebuffs Political Money Appeals”

January 13, 2015, 7:30 amcampaign finance, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Marcia Coyle reports for the NLJ.

“High Court Won’t Eye Challenges To Federal, State PAC Regulations”

January 12, 2015, 7:36 pmcampaign finance, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Bloomberg BNA: The Supreme Court has let stand federal and state rules for political action committees, which faced new challenges in the wake of recent court decisions that rolled back other campaign finance regulations. The move made it less… Continue reading

“California launches ethics inquiry of NOM and its major donors”

January 12, 2015, 7:30 pmcampaign financeRick Hasen

San Diego Gay and Lesbian News reports.

Breaking: SCOTUS Denies Review in Campaign Finance Case Approving Some Limits on Independent Expenditures

January 12, 2015, 7:04 amcampaign finance, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

This morning the Supreme Court denied cert. in Vermont Right to Life v. Sorrell, out of the Second Circuit. I thought there was a reasonable chance the Court would take the case. Here is how I described the Second… Continue reading

“Blue Billionaires on Top”

January 11, 2015, 8:28 pmcampaign financeRick Hasen

Politico: The 100 biggest donors of 2014 gave nearly $174 million to Democrats, compared to more than $140 million to Republicans, according to a POLITICO analysis of reports filed with the Federal Election Commission and Internal Revenue Service….Of course, that… Continue reading