Category Archives: campaigns

“DHS finds increasing attempts to hack U.S. election systems ahead of midterms”

October 15, 2018, 1:17 pmcampaigns, chicanery, election administrationRick Hasen

Pete Williams and Ken Dilanian for NBC News: The Department of Homeland Security says it’s working to identify who — or what — is behind an increasing number of attempted cyber attacks on U.S. election databases ahead of next month’s… Continue reading

“Bill to reform government, elections should be the top item on the agenda in 2019”

October 15, 2018, 12:08 pmcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

Tiffany Muller oped in The Hill.

“Adelson drops tens of millions more to save the GOP Congress”

October 12, 2018, 6:54 amcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

Politico: Las Vegas casino mogul Sheldon Adelson is pumping tens of millions of dollars more into Republican Party coffers in an 11th-hour push to save their congressional majorities, according to two senior Republicans familiar with the donation. The contributions were… Continue reading

“As even long-shot Democrats harvest huge numbers of campaign contributions, Republicans brace for an onslaught”

October 11, 2018, 7:28 amcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

LA Times report.

Trump Advancing Adelson’s Financial Interests

October 10, 2018, 7:21 amcampaign finance, campaigns, Plutocrats UnitedRick Hasen

Justin Elliott for ProPublica: After decades as a major Republican donor, Adelson is known as an ideological figure, motivated by his desire to influence U.S. policy to help Israel. “I’m a one-issue person. That issue is Israel,” he said last… Continue reading

“Rick Gates Sought Online Manipulation Plans From Israeli Intelligence Firm for Trump Campaign”

October 9, 2018, 6:49 amcampaigns, chicaneryRick Hasen

NYT: A top Trump campaign official requested proposals in 2016 from an Israeli company to create fake online identities, to use social media manipulation and to gather intelligence to help defeat Republican primary race opponents and Hillary Clinton, according to… Continue reading

“Wall Street Is Booming Under Trump. But Many of Its Donors Are Embracing Democrats.”

October 8, 2018, 6:56 amcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

NYT: The stock market may be booming. Unemployment is hitting record lows. Republicans pushed through $1.5 trillion in tax cuts. But despite all that, for the first time in a decade, the broader financial community is on pace to give… Continue reading

CA Requires Disclosure By Backers of Bots Intended to Influence Elections

October 1, 2018, 8:11 pmcampaignsRick Hasen

NBC News: California Gov. Jerry Brown drew plenty of headlines on Sunday when he signed the state’s net neutrality bill into a law, a move that was immediately met with a lawsuit from the Department of Justice. On Friday, he… Continue reading

“Helping citizens unite in post-Citizens United America”

September 25, 2018, 1:28 pmcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

Adam Bonica and Gisel Kordestani oped in The Hill: We at Crowdpac are among the 78 percent of Americans who want to see Citizens United overturned. We are well aware that if Crowdpac’s conditional fundraising platform is challenged in… Continue reading

“Independent Spending in the 2018 Congressional Primaries Went Up (Again)”

September 25, 2018, 7:07 amcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

CFI: Independent expenditures (IEs) spending for congressional primaries went up once again. This unsurprising conclusion was based on a Campaign Finance Institute (CFI) analysis of data supplied by the Federal Election Commission for all federal primaries from 2006 through… Continue reading

Today’s Must-Read: “Russia’s Pro-Gun Influence Accounts Copied The NRA — And Sometimes, Vice Versa”

September 21, 2018, 9:28 amcampaigns, chicaneryRick Hasen

Tim Mak for NPR with a fascinating report: Russian social media agitators who pushed pro-gun messages in the United States sometimes copied the language of the National Rifle Association. And sometimes, the NRA copied them. What isn’t clear is whether… Continue reading

“The Plot to Subvert an Election”

September 20, 2018, 7:23 amcampaigns, chicaneryRick Hasen

Deep NYT dive: For many Americans, the Trump-Russia story as it has been voluminously reported over the past two years is a confusing tangle of unfamiliar names and cyberjargon, further obscured by the shout-fest of partisan politics. What Robert S.… Continue reading

“Inside Facebook’s Election ‘War Room’”

September 20, 2018, 7:17 amcampaignsRick Hasen

NYT: Facebook invited two New York Times reporters into the War Room before it opens next week to discuss the work of the elections team and some of the tools it has developed to try to prevent interference. The company… Continue reading