Category Archives: campaign finance

“Assessing Group Incentives, Independent Spending, and Campaign Finance Law by Comparing the States”

September 1, 2020, 7:27 amcampaign financeRick Hasen

CFI release: The surge in independent spending (IEs) in state elections between 2006 and 2018 cannot adequately be explained by the Supreme Court’s decisions that seemed to liberate IEs a decade ago. Moreover, the spending by ideological and issue groups… Continue reading

“Tracing the Money Behind the Supreme Court Case Against Obamacare; Most of the state attorneys general suing to dismantle the Affordable Care Act were elected with corporate backing.”

August 31, 2020, 8:37 amcampaign financeRick Hasen

Ciara Torres-Spelliscy for the Brennan Center.

“Political Giving Should Be Private; Americans of both parties worry they’ll be canceled for making donations to a campaign or cause.”

August 27, 2020, 8:38 amcampaign financeRick Hasen

Brad Smith WSJ oped.

“Managers Gave to GOP Groups Accused of Racial Gerrymander Push”

August 25, 2020, 10:24 amcampaign finance, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

FundFire (subscription only): Asset management firms gave at least $1.5 million between 2010 and 2018 to Republican-affiliated groups that promoted redistricting efforts that were later struck down by federal courts for disenfranchising Black voters, according to data in a new … Continue reading

D.C. Circuit Strikes FEC Rule Which Limited Disclosure of Contributions Funding Independent Expenditures

August 21, 2020, 9:51 amcampaign finance, federal election commissionRick Hasen

Big win for more effective disclosure rules.

“Democrats push to revamp political money system that’s boosting their campaigns; ‘Dark money’ is funding half of spending on House, Senate ads”

August 19, 2020, 5:03 pmcampaign financeRick Hasen

Roll Call reports.

“Trump’s Policies Are a Boon to the Super Rich. So Where Are All the Seven-Figure Checks?”

August 16, 2020, 10:18 pmcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

NYT: Mr. Trump is hardly lacking for cash; he has received huge numbers of small donations online from a fervent grass-roots base, and he raised a jaw-dropping $165 million in July for his campaign and the two fund-raising committees that… Continue reading

“Is Jared Kushner Illegally Soliciting Campaign Help From Kanye West?”

August 14, 2020, 8:37 amcampaign financeRick Hasen

Paul Ryan analysis.

Is Kanye West Breaking the Law By Coordinating with the Trump Campaign While Running for President? Perhaps

August 13, 2020, 9:20 amcampaign finance, campaigns, chicaneryRick Hasen

I’ve been getting a lot of questions about whether Kanye West, who is running for President and getting on the ballots in at least a few states, is somehow breaking campaign finance law by doing so given the… Continue reading

“Bribery Charges in Ohio Illuminate the Dangers of Dark Money”

August 7, 2020, 7:26 amcampaign financeRick Hasen

Ciara Torres-Spelliscy for the Brennan Center.

Ohio: “LaRose favors bill targeting dark money; Secretary of State backs bipartisan measure requiring disclosure.”

August 4, 2020, 7:45 amcampaign financeRick Hasen

The Dayton Daily News reports.

Big CLC Complaint Against Trump Campaign Using Parscale Firm to Hide Recipients of Campaign Expenditures

July 28, 2020, 8:04 amcampaign financeRick Hasen

Start here: https://twitter.com/brendan_fischer/status/1288101435062788097

“Private-Equity Executives Pour $92 Million Into 2020 Races Blackstone’s Stephen Schwarzman, who gave $10 million to a group aiming to defend the Senate’s Republican majority, leads political spending in the industry”

July 27, 2020, 6:51 amcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

WSJ reports.

Big (Quixotic?) Push to Get Supreme Court to Hold that Congress Has the Constitutional Power to Outlaw Super PACs

July 22, 2020, 9:34 pmcampaign finance, Plutocrats United, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

The cert petition in Lieu v. FEC is designed to get the Supreme Court to address an issue addressed by the D.C. Circuit in the earlier SpeechNow case but never addressed by the Supreme Court: is it constitutional for Congress… Continue reading

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The law of politics and the politics of law