Have a great Election Day – Here are today’s political law links

ELECTION “DAY” NO MORE.  The Post.  “So it was inevitable that Election Day would become a relic of community solidarity. This is the year it’s finally, irrefutably, finished.”

SEC PAY TO PLAY REFORM URGED. Mark Renaud addresses the topic here. “This deep incursion into First Amendment freedoms that are the result of the SEC’s Rule is unacceptable.”

WAGNER ALERT. Venable’s recent alert on Wagner is online here. “On November 2, 2012, the District Court for the District of Columbia, two days after oral argument, upheld the long-standing ban on political contributions from federal government contractors.”

DOOR-KNOCKER FINANCING. Politico. “There’s so much secret money in conservative politics that even volunteers are getting paid — and paid well.”

CREDIT FOR CAMPAIGNING. The Times. “Campaign semester, which began in 2008 (when Occidental’s most famous former student, Barack Obama, was running for the presidency), is apparently the only program of its kind in the country, college officials said. And this year, it has offered students a front-row view of one of the tightest presidential contests in memory.”

POST ON MONEY CHASE. Here. “Outsized contributions by a wealthy few threaten to distort the political system. Secret contributions threaten to corrupt it. In light of wrongheaded rulings by the Supreme Court, these problems will be difficult to fix. But at the very least, ramped-up disclosure rules and limits on what super PACs can do in coordination with particular candidates would improve a system in critical condition.”

MORE MILITARY BALLOT ISSUES. The Hill. “A group of Republican senators said Monday that thousands of voter ballots are unlikely to reach military service members until after Nov. 6.”

WILLIAMS MULLEN ADDS. BLT. “Williams Mullen’s government relations practice has grown with the addition of a new top lobbyist in Washington.”

LEGAL BATTLES. The Times. “President Obama and Mitt Romney hunted for last-minute support on Sunday in a frenetic sprint across battleground states, even as their parties faced off in the first of what could be a growing number of legal disputes over presidential ballots and how they are counted.”

SOCIAL MEDIA AND 12. Politico. “The 2012 race marks the first time a new type of high-level campaign staffer — the digital director — had a seat in the top tier of the presidential campaigns as well as most major congressional races.”

CORPORATE DONOR FOCUS. Story here. “The biggest corporate contributor in the 2012 election so far doesn’t appear to make anything — other than very large contributions to a conservative super PAC.”

CA: LATEST ON ARL CASE. USAT. “California’s political watchdog on Monday accused a Republican-run Arizona group of money laundering after it admitted funneling an anonymous $11 million contribution from two other conservative organizations to influence the outcome of ballot initiatives.”

HAVE A GREAT DAY.

Good morning, here are today’s political law links (11/5/12)

LESSONS OF 12. Too soon? Politico: “This is the new normal in congressional politics, where money, power and control have shifted away from party committees and candidates to deep-pocketed outside groups that — thanks to Citizens United and other recent court decisions — aren’t restricted by contribution limits.

DISABLED VOTING ISSUES. Story here. The report discusses possible exploitation of disabled voters.

MILITARY VOTER ISSUES. Story here. “Local service members who have spent years serving the country are discovering this fall that they aren’t allowed to vote in the presidential election.”

CA: FPPC DENIED. Story here. “Ann Ravel, who heads the state Fair Political Practices Commission, said her agency will now ask the state Supreme Court to force ARL to comply.”

CO: LOBBYING LAW ANALYSIS. Volokh. Eugene Volokh discusses a law purporting to “forbid[] pretty much any statement to a Colorado legislator, whether by a volunteer or a professional, and whether on behalf of oneself, an advocacy group, a business, or anyone else, in which the speaker ‘threat[ens] a political reprisal’ if the legislator does or doesn’t do something.”

MT: FRONTLINE FALLOUT. Here: “Helena law enforcement officers are investigating a Wednesday night break-in at the office of the Montana Commissioner of Political Practices. Staff at the office are not yet sure if anything has been taken.”

MT: FRONTLINE FILE FALLOUT. Story here. “A consultant to a conservative group claims in court that a state official gave ‘Frontline’ access to stolen documents suggesting that the group illegally coordinated with Republican candidates.”

NV: TWICE AS NICE. Story here. “FBI agents arrested a woman Friday in Las Vegas on charges that she tried to vote twice in the presidential election, Secretary of State Ross Miller said.”

OH: VOTER REGISTRATION ISSUES. Story here. “The case echoes multiple voter registration fraud allegations against the now defunct community-organizing group ACORN, and FieldWorks says it has fired two workers in Cincinnati whom they suspect may have been forging cards.”

TX: ETHICS FINES DELAY. Story here. “Two of Texas’ top judges have been able to put off paying huge ethics fines for more than two years, and neither case stands to be resolved before Election Day when both are on the ballot for new six-year terms.”

VA: FAIRFAX COUNTY LAWSUIT UPDATE. The Post. “In the end, even the Fairfax County judge deciding a last-minute lawsuit over the rights of poll watchers on Election Day wasn’t sure what the parties were fighting over.”

HAVE A GREAT DAY.

Political law links, 11/2/12

RELEASE THE ORCA. Story here. “Project ORCA will rely on 34,000 volunteers in swing states on Election Day, in an effort to keep track of who is voting at key polling places. Romney staffers will use the data to help them target their get-out-the-vote efforts before the polls close, in hopes of gaining an edge over Obama’s grassroots operation.”

VOTING MACHINE LETTERS. Story here. “The Republican National Committee sent letters to election officials in Nevada and three other swing states on Thursday alleging ‘a significant number of cases’ where voting machines cast ballots for President Barack Obama when the vote was intended for his Republican challenger, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.”

EMANUEL AND SUPER PAC. Politico. “Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has been calling labor unions over the past week and making a forceful case that they contribute six-figures and up to President Barack Obama’s super PAC, multiple sources tell POLITICO.”

MENENDEZ ALLEGATIONS. DC. “The executive director of National Republican Senatorial Committee said Thursday that New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez ‘may have violated Senate ethics rules and federal campaign finance laws’ with his alleged sex trip to the Dominican Republic.”

AFJ ON IS REPORT. Here. “The Independent Sector report is a well-intentioned effort to bring to the fore the often neglected subject of the importance of funder support for advocacy work, and to inspire greater activity by both grantmakers and the full range of nonprofit organizations themselves. However, from our reading we think the report has some weaknesses in its methodology and conclusions.”

AL: CONTRIBUTION ISSUE. Story here. “Alabama Republican Party Chairman Bill Armistead this morning accused Democratic chief justice candidate Bob Vance of failing to disclose a 2008 contribution to Barack Obama.”

CA: LOBBYIST EMPLOYER FIGURES. LA Times. “California’s 10 biggest-spending special interest groups paid lobbyists about $57 million to lobby the Legislature, the governor’s administration and other state agencies.”

CA: CASE A TEST. Story here. “The court case involving an Arizona group’s $11 million contribution to two California ballot measure campaigns may not be resolved by Election Day. But it’s turned into a crucial test of California’s campaign finance system.”

ME: MORE ON MAINE MATTER. Story here. “The Democratic state Senate candidate whose participation in the online game World of Warcraft became the subject of Republican Party attacks last month has been cleared of wrongdoing by the state ethics commission in response to a Republican complaint that she improperly coordinated with two political action committees to solicit campaign contributions.”

ND: RECOUNT PROSPECTS. Story here. “Both Democrats and Republicans are busy preparing to wake up Wednesday having to wage legal fights in both North Dakota and Montana, which share small electorates and very close Senate races. North Dakota has the prospect of being a much more open-ended mess if lawyers for candidates Rick Berg and Heidi Heitkamp start challenging the eligibility of those who cast ballots: The state is the only one with no voter registration.”

AUSTRALIA: FAMILY LOBBYING ISSUES. Story here. “A Queensland government minister has banned his son from lobbying his office, saying he believed such contact would be inappropriate.”

HAVE A GREAT DAY.