Good morning, here are political laws links for Friday, 9/14

MY EMAIL FROM BEYONCE. It looks like Ann Althouse got the same email that Beyonce sent to me… (I’m on the email list for tens of political organizations of all political stripes, because I’m a student of fundraising techniques and attendant legal rules). This has got to be the biggest year for political raffles, prizes, and trips. The small print on the Beyonce email:

No purchase, payment, or contribution necessary to enter or win. Contributing will not improve chances of winning. Void where prohibited. Entries must be received by September 13th, 2012. You may enter by contributing to Obama for America here, or click here to enter without contributing. One (1) winner will receive the following prize package: round-trip tickets for winner and a guest from within the fifty U.S. States, DC, or Puerto Rico to a destination to be determined by Sponsor; hotel accommodations; tickets for winner and a guest to an event of Sponsor; and the opportunity to meet with President Obama, Jay-Z and Beyonce at such event (approximate retail value of all prizes $1,600). Odds of winning depend on number of entries received. Promotion open only to U.S. citizens, or lawful permanent U.S. residents who are legal residents of 50 United States, District of Columbia and Puerto Rico and 18 or older (or age of majority under applicable law). Promotion subject to Official Rules and additional restrictions on eligibility. Sponsor: Obama for America, 130 E. Randolph St., Chicago, IL 60601.

Not only do you have fundraising rules to worry about, but also the law of raffles, etc. of all 50 states, DC, and Puerto Rico.

FREE SPEECH IN WY. Story here. “Free Speech’s case ended up in the courtroom of U.S. District Court Judge Scott Skavdahl after Free Speech and the Wyoming Liberty Group concluded they couldn’t get clarity from the six-member FEC.”

WHY CAMPAIGN FINANCE MATTERS. CBS. “Proponents of such looser rules say there should be few, if any, limits on what is essentially free speech. They say that not just the wealthy benefit; everyone can pool money to run ads. Some say even federal disclosure rules are anathema to anonymous speech.”

STOCK VIDEO ISSUES. HuffPo. “Deanna Moffitt, an actor, comedian and writer, said she was amazed to find out that she had become part of an effort from Karl Rove’s conservative 527 organization to bash President Obama on television.”

PLANE ISSUE FOR CAMPAIGN. The Post. “Romney sat on the plane in Richmond for four hours, as reporters on board sent out Twitter messages about the unfortunate situation. His aides eventually located a substitute aircraft — offered by a NASCAR team owner — and Romney arrived home at 2:31 a.m.”

POSNER IN MADIGAN. CFIF v. Madigan. Judge Posner had an interesting take on vagueness, a common challenge to laws regulating speech: “A vague statute can deter lawful activity. Cautious persons will want to avoid even a small probability of being found to have violated it, and the safest way to do that is to avoid lawful activity that is just across the line from the unlawful—to create a buffer zone around the statutory core, just as cautious men decide not to have sex with young-looking women who probably are not below the age of consent but may be. When the lawful activity likely to be deterred by a vague statute is not extramarital sex but the exercise of free speech—a right at the apex of modern constitutional solicitude—a finding of vagueness is apt to doom the statute. FCC v. Fox Television Stations, Inc., 132 S. Ct. 2307, 2317-18 (2012).”

AD CAMPAIGN IN THE NEWS.  The Times.  “With nearly two months before Election Day on Nov. 6, estimated spending on television ads promoting coal and more oil and gas drilling or criticizing clean energy has exceeded $153 million this year, according to an analysis by The New York Times of 138 ads on energy issues broadcast this year by the presidential campaigns, political parties, energy companies, trade associations and third-party spenders.”

STOCK ACT UPDATE.  The Post.  “The judge wrote that the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act appeared to illegally infringe on federal workers’ right to privacy. The injunction does not, however, affect the law from taking effect for members of Congress and their staffs.”

POLITICAL SOCIAL MEDIA ROI. The Times. “A study of millions of Facebook users on Election Day 2010 has found that online social networks can have a measurable if limited effect on voter turnout.”

NO MORE SOLYNDRAS ACT CONSIDERATION. The bill is on the calendar here. The bill is here.

THE MOST INTERESTING FUNDRAISER IN THE WORLD. The Hill. “The actor known as ‘the most interesting man in the world’ in a series of commercials for Mexican beer Dos Equis is fundraising for the president.”

CA: FINES FOR GROUPS. Story here. “The state Fair Political Practices Commission voted unanimously to impose a combined $80,000 in fines against the three groups that fought the gay-marriage measure: No on 8 — Equality for All, the Human Rights Campaign California Marriage PAC, and the Equality California Issues PAC.”

MD:  GAMBLING ADS.  Story here.  “A pitched TV ad war is underway in Maryland, pitting one out-of-state ­gaming-industry behemoth against another.”

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND.

Thursday’s political law links (9/13/12)

HATCH ACT ISSUES. Politico. “HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius violated the Hatch Act, which prohibits certain political activity, when she made ‘extemporaneous partisan remarks’ during a speech in her official capacity earlier this year, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel said Wednesday.”

POLITICS AND COMMITTEE WEBSITES. Point of Order discusses political content on websites run by House committees: “An article this week by Fortune senior editor Stephen Gandel questions whether certain House committee websites, particularly that of the Financial Services Committee, comply with rules and regulations established by the Committee on House Administration.”

JOHNSON ON BALLOT.  Politico.  “The Libertarian Party reports that Gary Johnson will be on the ballot in at least 47 states, plus the District of Columbia.”

PRES. OBAMA AND FUNDRAISING.  The Times.  “In the race for cash, Mr. Obama often praises his millions of grass-roots donors, those die-hards whose $3 or $10 or $75 contributions are as much a symbol of the president’s political identity as they are a source of ready cash. But his campaign’s big-dollar fund-raising has become more dependent than it was four years ago on a smaller number of large-dollar donors and fund-raisers.”

CENTER FORWARD.  The Post.  “The nonprofit group, called Center Forward, has poured nearly $4 million into broadcast commercials aimed at helping conservative House Democrats keep their seats. Unlike previous groups that have focused solely on Democrats, Center Forward has also given a boost to several Republican moderates in its ad buys as well.”

DC: MORE ON BROWN MATTER. DCist.com: “Lawyer of Man Accused of Stealing D.C. Campaign Funds Fires Back in Epic Fashion.”

IN: DANIELS ETHICS ISSUE. Story here. “A Democratic lawmaker filed a complaint Wednesday seeking an ethics investigation into whether Gov. Mitch Daniels overstepped his role when his office sent out a statement about renovations to Purdue University’s president’s office –the post Daniels will assume in January.”

MT: CHALLENGE TO LAW. Story here. “Conservative groups told a judge Wednesday that campaign contribution limits in Montana get in the way of running effective political campaigns.”

NE: CAMPAIGN FINANCE CASINO. Story here. “More specifically, [AG] Bruning says [State Sen.] Council withdrew more than $63,000 in campaign funds at various casinos between January 2010 and July 2012.”

PA:  TIMES ON ID LAW.  Here.  “On Thursday, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments about the state’s strict new photo ID law, which is allegedly intended to prevent voter fraud. A voter must present a government-issued or other approved photo ID at a polling place to vote or can file a provisional ballot, which must be validated later by a submission of a photo ID or proof that the voter is indigent.”

HAVE A GREAT DAY.

Good morning, here are today’s political law links (9/12)

ROBOCALL REMINDER.  FCC.  “The TCPA and the Commission’s rules set forth restrictions that govern the use of prerecorded voice messages and automated telephone dialing systems, which may include certain political calls. These restrictions vary according to whether a call is delivered to a business or residential landline telephone, a cell phone, or some other category of protected telephone lines such as toll-free lines, emergency lines, or those lines servicing hospitals, nursing homes, and paging systems.” (H/T Shaun Dakin.)

RYAN ADS.  Story here.  “Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan plans to begin airing ads in Wisconsin as he asks voters to elect him to an eighth House term that he hopes to never serve.”

EXPIRING OCE.  Roll Call.  “Now, the terms of at least half of the office’s eight board members will expire at the end of this Congress, and they cannot be reappointed, creating the first mandated turnover since the office was created.”

EC’S ON ICE.  The Van Hollen argument is Friday.

POST-PUBLIC FINANCING.  The Times.  “Say goodbye to the traditional fall fund-raising slowdown, when big-dollar bundlers could go back to their day jobs, major donors could put away their wallets and candidates could focus on shaking hands and kissing babies on the campaign trail. For the first time since the inception of public financing, each party’s candidate is declining the money for the general election.”

IL LAW UPHELD. Story here. “A federal appeals court on Monday upheld an Illinois state law that requires advocacy groups to disclose their donors, even in the case of an organization whose main purpose is unrelated to elections.”

PRO-MACK SUPER PAC. Politico. “Freedom PAC, the super PAC supporting Rep. Connie Mack in his Senate run in Florida against incumbent Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson, is going on air for the next two weeks with a spot featuring the Republican hopeful speaking.”

DC: BROWN CAMPAIGN MISSING. The Post. “D.C. Council member Michael A. Brown reported late Monday that more than $100,000 is missing from his campaign treasury, essentially wiping out his account and prompting questions about his reelection bid.”

MD: ETHICS IN PG COUNTY. Story here. ”The expanded ethics office, which would have a budget of about $375,000, would for the first time have a full-time executive director and two investigators to probe criminal acts in county government.”

MN:  STATE OF PLAY.  Story here.  “Minnesota’s campaign watchdog says corporations and other groups are still required to reveal campaign fundraising and spending later this month after a federal appeals court found part of the state’s disclosure law probably unconstitutional.”

NM: NEW SUPER PAC. Story here. “Labor unions and a retiring Democratic legislative leader have provided nearly $400,000 to a newly formed political group planning to make independent campaign expenditures in New Mexico, including races that will determine whether Democrats retain control of the Legislature.”

NM: LAS CRUCES CLOSER. Story here. “The Las Cruces City Council was presented Monday with the findings of a Campaign Finance Ad-Hoc Committee formed to recommend changes to the existing municipal campaign finance reporting system.”

RI: TRAVEL DISCLOSURE. Story here. “The Rhode Island Ethics Commission has voted to take a step toward creating a new rule requiring the disclosure by elected officials of out-of-state travel.”

HAVE A GREAT DAY.