“Clinton Donor Among Billionaire Backers of Pro-Obama PAC”
Bloomberg: “The Democratic billionaires are back.”
Monthly Archives: July 2012
” TV Ad Makers Earn More Super-PAC Millions for Less Work”
Bloomberg: “Davis’s experience underscores how super-PACs are transforming the business of running a political campaign and changing the pecking order of the most-coveted jobs. Producing and placing ads have long been two of the most lucrative slots in a… Continue reading
“Helicopter parents flood super PACs”
Vogel for Politico: “Talk about helicopter parents: Candidates’ rich mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters increasingly are pouring cash into super PACs that support their loved ones’ campaigns — a phenomenon that critics say tests the bounds of both contribution limits… Continue reading
“Why votes in Larimer County aren’t as secret as you think”
Coloradoan.com: “Because of the way they are sorted, stored and preserved, each voted ballot in some counties — including Larimer — can be traced back to the individual who cast it, the Citizen Center claims in its federal lawsuit… Continue reading
Harold Myerson Suggets Romney Presidency Could Be Illegitimate Thanks to New Voter ID Laws
Harold Meyerson WaPo oped: “And what should Democrats do if Romney comes to power on the strength of racially suppressed votes? Such an outcome and such a presidency, I’d hope they contend, would be illegitimate — a betrayal of our… Continue reading
“Voter Registration in Four States”
Pew has just published four graphs on the pace of voter registration in four states (MD, VA, CO, FL) over time. The key finding is:
These data show the unique business cycle of an elections office, where every four years… Continue reading
“Romney camp asks Va. to probe voter forms”
Times Dispatch: “Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s campaign is asking Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli to launch an investigation into voter-registration forms that are being sent to Virginia residents and addressed to deceased relatives, children, family pets and others ineligible… Continue reading
“Don’t believe the polls on third-party contenders”
This item appears at WaPo’s Wonkblog.
“Council Recall Election Funded by Contractors Past and Present”
City Ethics: “Talk about independent expenditures usually refers to such expenditures in support, or more often in opposition to, federal candidates. At the local level, the major independent expenditures tend to come from unions, both public service unions and… Continue reading
The Continuing Need for Supreme Court Clarification of the Line Between Campaign Contributions, Legitimate Political Activity, and Bribes
The well-known federal district judge, Myron Thompson, recently finished presiding over one of the largest and most important recent trials in which the Department of Justice’s Public Integrity Section sought to convict numerous state legislators and campaign contributors of federal… Continue reading
“Anonymous Donations Can Remain Secret Despite IRS’s Requirement for Disclosure”
Bloomberg BNA: “Organizations receiving money from so-called anonymous donors are supposed to tell the Internal Revenue Service what they know about the donors’ identity. While no one else may know who they are, IRS does. But even then, there… Continue reading
“Saving throw: securing democracy with stats, spreadsheets, and 10-sided dice”
Ars Technica offers this extensive report, which begins: “Armed with a set of 10-sided dice (we’ll get to those in a moment), an online Web tool, and a stack of hundreds of ballots, University of California-Berkeley statistics professor Philip … Continue reading
Super PAC/C4 Now Wants to Do Joint Fundraising with Candidates
Keep your eye on this advisory opinion request to the FEC from the American Future Fund and related entities (h/t Marc Elias).
The next frontier/battle.
Breaking News: CA Appellate Court Rejects New Challenge to Prop. 13 in Unpublished Opinion
The rejected claim was that part of Prop. 13 “changed the fundamental structure and foundational powers of the legislative and executive branches of government” and therefore was really a revision of the CA constitution and not a permissible amendment. The… Continue reading