Category Archives: campaign finance
“Trump’s 2016 campaign was run on a shoestring. His reelection machine is huge — and armed with consultants.”
WaPo:
Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in 2015 had no pollster, rapid-response team or fundraiser. A bare-bones staff fueled by pizza and energy drinks toiled in a makeshift office at Trump Tower. His opponents vastly outspent him — and lost.But as… Continue reading
“Candidates are hoping you’ll buy their rhetoric — as well as their merchandise”
Marketplace:
Most of us can identify a standard commercial and we usually know someone is trying to sell us something. But what happens when the “product” is a political candidate and the “ad” is a tweet, or Facebook post?In her… Continue reading
“Trump’s Ukraine Call Might Violate Election Laws, But No One’s Enforcing Them”
Aprill: “A Tax Lesson for Election Law”
Ellen Aprill has an important new piece at Tax Notes building off the Price for Congress request for an advisory opinion, and lucky for us you can get it from behind the paywall:
An August 22 deadlock by the Federal… Continue reading
“Watchdog Allowed to Sue on Donor Disclosure After FEC Won’t Act”
Bloomberg:
A federal judge eased the way for watchdog groups to bypass a gridlocked Federal Election Commission in a decision allowing a lawsuit seeking to unmask secret donors to a major Republican campaign spending organization.Federal District Judge Christopher Cooper said… Continue reading
FEC Commissioner Hunter Responds to FEC Chair Weintraub’s Attempt to Put Foreign Interference Draft in FEC Digest, Confirms FEC Foreign Contribution Ban (Without Opinion on Whether Opposition Research is a Thing of Value)
Statement:
Late last week, my colleague, Ellen Weintraub, unilaterally and without advance notice, made public a draft interpretative rule regarding the Act’s foreign national ban and placed it on the agenda for the open meeting of October 17, 2019. Approval… Continue reading
FEC Chair Ellen Weintraub Releases Draft Letter Setting Forth Her View of FEC Law that Candidates Soliciting Opposition Research Not at Market Rates Violate the Federal Law
This cannot be acted on by an FEC without a quorum, and surely this would divide the commission along party lines, but Ellen Weintraub’s analysis seems solid.
“Congress Has Used Campaign Finance for Impeachment Before: Here’s How To Do It Now”
Ciara Torres-Spelliscy analysis.
“Justice Dept. rejected investigation of Trump phone call just weeks after it began examining the matter”
I’m quoted in this WaPo piece:
Justice Department officials took less than a month to abandon an inquiry into President Trump’s communications with his Ukrainian counterpart about investigating former vice president Joe Biden — reigniting concerns among Democrats and legal… Continue reading
“The FEC Is Paralyzed. It Couldn’t Come At A Worse Time.”
Ciara Torres-Spelliscy for TPM Cafe.
“As Trump Confirms He Discussed Biden With Ukraine, Pressure to Impeach Builds”
NYT:
President Trump acknowledged on Sunday that he raised corruption accusations against former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. during a phone call with Ukraine’s leader, a stunning admission as pressure mounted on Democrats to impeach Mr. Trump over allegations… Continue reading
“Trump’s Ukraine Gambit Could Be Another Campaign Finance Crime; Unfortunately, Robert Mueller may have given the president the green light to solicit foreign interference again”
I have written this piece for Slate. It begins:
President Donald Trump may well have committed a new campaign finance crime if he, as reported, pressured Ukraine into providing dirt on a political rival, former Vice President Joe Biden, and… Continue reading
“Koch-Linked Nonprofit Must Disclose Donors, Settlement Mandates”
Bloomberg:
A nonprofit linked to the conservative Koch organization that spent more than $20 million to elect Republican congressional candidates must disclose its donors, according to a settlement with the Federal Election Commission.The now-defunct Americans for Job Security (AJS), said … Continue reading