Category Archives: campaigns

“Assigning a Tax Lesson: The Relationship between the Trump Foundation and Trump’s Tax Returns”

Ellen Aprill and Lloyd Mayer have written this oped for TaxProf. It begins: As the debate between the Vice Presidential candidates Wednesday night made clear, Donald Trump’s refusal to release his tax returns remains an important campaign issue. The extraordinary… Continue reading

“Tight governors’ races loosen political purse strings”

October 6, 2016, 7:24 amcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

CPI reports.

“The White House Rule: No Tax Returns, No Job”

October 6, 2016, 7:22 amcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

Eisen and Painter NYT oped: As ethics counsel to the current president and his predecessor, we scrutinized their tax returns before they were released every year. We also worked with our colleagues to review many tax returns of presidential nominees… Continue reading

“The 2016 Election and the Coming Reform Debate”

October 6, 2016, 7:18 amcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

Bauer blogs, and reformers won’t like it.

“Donald Trump Often Made Donations to State Attorneys General Reviewing His Business”

October 6, 2016, 7:09 amcampaigns, conflict of interest lawsRick Hasen

WSJ reports.

“How 10 mega-donors already helped pour a record $1.1 billion into super PACs”

October 6, 2016, 7:04 amcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

WaPo: Super PACs seeking to influence the 2016 elections have collected more than $1 billion, a record haul driven by jumbo-sized contributions from rich donors on both sides of the aisle. Just 10 mega-donor individuals and couples contributed nearly 20 … Continue reading

“Trump threatens to sue over ‘nasty’ campaign ads”

October 5, 2016, 2:59 pmcampaignsRick Hasen

The Hill: “There is nobody that loves the vets more or respects the vets more. They’re spending hundreds of millions of dollars on false commercials, and it’s a disgrace. So what we’ll do, I guess we’ll sue them. Let’s sue… Continue reading

“Kentucky gov. urges politics at pulpit despite federal law”

October 5, 2016, 2:36 pmcampaigns, tax law and election lawRick Hasen

Lexington Herald Leader: Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin urged a group of preachers to embrace political speech at the pulpit by telling them not to fear a federal law that prohibits candidate endorsements by tax-exempt churches.

“R/GA and Ad Council built a voting bot to drive Millennials to the polls”

October 5, 2016, 2:35 pmcampaigns, voting, voting technologyRick Hasen

The latest: Simply called “GoVoteBot,” it interacts with users in real time on Facebook Messenger. The bot was designed to be non-partisan, simply supplying information to users without attempting to sway their vote. R/GA and the Ad Council worked with… Continue reading

“Ballot selfies are legal in Virginia, attorney general says”

October 5, 2016, 2:31 pmcampaigns, election administrationRick Hasen

The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports.

“The Hacker Behind The New Clinton Leaks Denies That He Made Stuff Up”

October 4, 2016, 5:37 pmcampaigns, chicaneryRick Hasen

BuzzFeed: Despite the many questions raised over new documents allegedly leaked from the servers of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, the hacker known as “Guccifer 2.0” continued to insist Tuesday that the documents were real, and that they were a… Continue reading

“Trump Used Foundation Funds for 2016 Run, Filings Suggest”

October 4, 2016, 5:23 pmcampaign finance, campaigns, tax law and election lawRick Hasen

Real Clear Politics: That check is one of at least several donations to suggest Trump used his private foundation, funded by outside donors, to launch and fuel his political ambitions. Such contributions, if they were made solely for Trump’s benefit,… Continue reading

“See The Amazing Campaign Contortionists Twist The Finance Rules”

October 4, 2016, 4:58 pmcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

Paul Blumenthal for HuffPo describes the deregulatory spiral.

Contrary to Early Reports, Sheldon Adelson Now Coughing Up $25 Million or More for Trump

October 2, 2016, 11:57 amcampaign finance, campaigns, tax law and election lawRick Hasen

Earlier I noted that Sheldon Adelson was giving only $5 million to a Trump Super PAC, only a small fraction of what he spent helping Gingrich then Romney in 2012. But now Teddy Schleifer reports the amount is likely to… Continue reading