3-13 political law links

YESTERDAY’S LINKS.  Due to a technical glitch, yesterday’s set of political law links sent by email were incomplete.  Here they are in their entirety.

FCC OPEN INTERNET ORDER.  FCC.  “Our rules governing the practices of broadband providers differ markedly from the statutory restrictions on political speech at issue in Citizens United. Our rules do not impact core political speech, where the ‘First Amendment has its fullest and most urgent application.’ By contrast, the open Internet rules apply only to the provision of broadband services in a commercial context, so reliance on the strict scrutiny standards applied in Citizens United is inapt.”

SUPER PAC LAUNCH.  WSJ.  “Phil Cox, the former executive director of the Republican Governors Association who worked closely with Mr. Christie during his tenure as chairman, has formed a super PAC, America Leads, to raise large sums from wealthy donors in order to advertise and conduct voter outreach on behalf of the New Jersey governor, in what most expect to be a prolonged and expensive nominating fight.”

BLURRED LINES.  NYT.  “Mr. Bush’s team has hired a communications director, a policy director, a liaison with religious conservatives, a chief fund-raiser, and field specialists in New Hampshire and Iowa. But because he has not formally declared his candidacy, his aides believe that there are few limitations on his involvement with the super PAC.”

BLURRED LINES II.  WS.  “Under federal election law, candidates are not allowed to coordinate with the super PACs that support them. But since Hillary Clinton is not yet an official candidate, she’s been coordinating with Correct the Record, a project of the Democratic-aligned super PAC American Bridge 21st Century.”

BLURRED LINES III.  WP.  “Campaign finance lawyers said the close ties between the likely candidates and their super-PAC allies pose serious legal questions, including whether the groups could later be considered affiliated with the eventual campaign or viewed as an entity created by the candidate. That could limit their ability to spend money raised outside candidate contribution limits, which stand at $2,700 per person for the 2016 primaries.”

SCHOCK ETHICS.  ABC.  “In a clip from the seventh season [of ‘Top Chef’], the Illinois Republican teaches the chefs about the guidelines governing the acceptance of food and beverages by members of Congress, or the ‘toothpick rule,’ during the show’s visit to Washington, D.C.”

ID:  SCHOOL BOARDS AND CAMPAIGN FINANCE.  JRN.com.  “School board candidates in about half of Idaho’s districts will have to file campaign finance reports under a new bill pitched as enhancing transparency.”

MA:  LAW SET TO FALL.  Boston Globe.  “The sheer unfairness of such regulations speaks for itself.”

NJ:  REFORM STAB.  Northjersey.com.  “How about taxing campaign donations?”

OR:  REFORM PROPOSED.  Reuters.  “Oregon Governor Kate Brown, a Democrat who took office last month after her predecessor resigned in an influence-peddling scandal, is promoting a package of ethics and public records reform bills, the governor’s office said on Thursday.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.

3-12 political law links

RAMPING UP.  USAT.  “If federal prosecutors lodge corruption charges against Sen. Robert Menendez, it will mark the latest in a string of high-profile political cases from the U.S. Justice Department, including last year’s conviction of former Virginia governor Bob McDonnell.”

FAST TRACK FREEZE.  WSJ.   “Dozens of major labor unions plan to freeze campaign contributions to members of Congress to pressure them to oppose fast-track trade legislation sought by President Barack Obama, according to labor officials.”

RELATIVE FINANCING.  11alive.com. “More than $70,000 in campaign money has gone from Congressman Hank Johnson’s campaign into the pocket of the congressman’s wife, Mereda Davis Johnson. Rep. Johnson says his wife has earned every penny.”

CRAIG APPEAL.   McClatchy.  “The brief and accompanying documents filed late Tuesday at the  U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit move the long-simmering Craig case closer to the day of reckoning. A three-judge panel could order an oral argument after the Justice Department files its own brief in several weeks.”

NM:  ABOLISH LIMITS.  SF New Mexican.  “With bipartisan support, the Senate Rules Committee passed Senate Bill 689, sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez, D-Belen. Sanchez said in an interview after the vote that he introduced the bill in an effort to get contributors to give directly to candidates’ campaigns rather than to independent expenditure groups, such as super PACS and nonprofits, which are neither subject to contribution limits nor required to disclose the names of donors.”

NY:  CFR CONSIDERATIONS.  Times Union. “This month, in the midst of arrests and investigations by federal prosecutors, and facing a showdown with the Legislature on his controversial and unpopular-with-the-public education proposals, Cuomo has gotten back on the reform wagon, at least for the next few seconds.”

WV: DISCOSURE FIGHT.  PNS.  “A $100,000 per plate breakfast benefitting a secretive conservative group was cancelled Sunday night after reporters received a copy of an invitation. Then, late Sunday, donor disclosure provisions were stripped from a campaign finance bill at the Legislature.”

UK: DODGY DONATION.  Telegraph.  “An undercover reporter posing as a wealthy Indian businessman was told he could donate money to the party via a ‘cousin’. He was also advised to spread gifts among other family members and even backdate a cheque to the party. This would allow the true source of the donation to remain hidden on the official register of political donations.”

UK:  WHAT ELECTIONS LOOK LIKE.    NPR.  “America experiences a long, drawn-out election fever, while the U.K. hardly shows any symptoms at all. That is to say, almost none of the events most strongly associated with an American presidential campaign are part of a typical British national election.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.

Political law links for today

POLITICAL LAW ENFORCEMENT RESURGENCE.  WSJ.  “You know the 2016 election is heating up when the Justice Department announces it’s gearing up to prosecute campaign-finance ‘coordination’ between candidates and outside groups. If you thought the IRS targeting of conservative nonprofits was troubling, watch what Justice can do to criminalize political speech.”

CONTRIBUTION V. BRIBE.  Marketplace.  “Members of Congress give campaign donors special access, at least according to what Berkeley Ph.D. student Josh Kalla found in a 2013 study.”

GRAHAM ON CFR.  Bloomberg.   “I would like to control the money in politics to the extent it will destroy the political process,” Lindsey Graham said.

SON SUPER PAC HELP.  TX Tribune.  “George P. Bush is headlining a fundraiser Thursday in Austin for the super PAC that can collect unlimited amounts of money to support Jeb Bush if he decides to run for president, according to an invitation.”

CA:  ELEPHANT SUIT.  Sacbee.com.  “Last week, the state Republican Party sued the Asian Small Business PAC, claiming it is illegally using the Republican Party’s elephant symbol in its mail.”

FL:  WHO SENT MAIL?  Bocamag.com.   “Over the weekend, the last flurry of campaign mailers hit mailboxes in Boca Raton and Delray Beach.”

MD:  MARCH/APRIL 2015 BAR JOURNAL ELECTION SPECIAL.  This month’s edition features a number of interesting articles on election law topics.  It’s only available for download by members, however.

MT:  HOUSE SENDS BILL.  Helenair.com.  “After a flurry of motions, some House Republicans and most Democrats voted Monday to send the session’s major campaign finance bill to a committee considered more likely to support it than the panel where election measures usually go.”

PA:  MORE CHARGES.  Mcall.com.  “Two state lawmakers from Philadelphia and an ex-legislator have been charged with pocketing cash in an influence-peddling case taken up by the city’s top prosecutor after being dropped by the state attorney general.”

VA:  SUPPORT FOR MCDONNELL.  Politico.  “A group of 44 former state attorneys general has filed an amicus brief supporting former Virginia governor Bob McDonnell’s appeal of his conviction on federal corruption charges.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.