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Early clues on Obama administration and the First Amendment
Published on November 24, 2008
Category: Enforcement, Internet Regulation, Lobbying
We at CCP are looking for early clues on what an Obama administration means for the First Amendment and the rights of citizens to freely speak out in politics and support the candidates and causes of their choice. Much to our delight, Obama seems to be abandoning his "lobbyists are bad" mantra from the campaign (reporting and carping about this here, here, and here, among other places), embracing not only experience (both good and bad, I suppose) but also the simple fact that lobbyists
Now the speech police are deputizing themselves
Published on November 21, 2008
Category: Enforcement, Faulty Assumptions, Taxpayer Financed Campaigns
Apparently Arizona's so-called "clean elections" program has led at least one Arizona State University student to deputize herself in order to combat "illegal" political speech, which she defines as "privately funded and... not paid for by [a] political party" From the Web site of the Sonoran Alliance:"Detective Miller recounted the episode in an official memorandum to Lieutenant Danny Wilkinson. The memorandum reads, in part: "... at about 104
Best Quote by a Judge... EVER?
Published on October 30, 2008
Category: Enforcement, Jurisprudence & Litigation
Our friends at the Institute for Justice have won a preliminary injunction against Florida's electioneering communications law, allowing citizen groups to speak without fear of sanctions this election season. In his ruling, District Court Judge Stephan Mickle noted that "The rights to speak and associate freely regarding issues of public concern are zealously guarded by the First Amendment. Unfettered and unregulated speech is the rule, not the exception."Congratulations to Bert Gall a
The Tie Didn't Go to the Speaker
Published on October 23, 2008
Category: Enforcement, Other
Today at the Club for Growth Blog, David Keating pokes fun at the Federal Election Commission by wondering whether the Supreme Court's instruction -- "Where the First Amendment is implicated, the tie goes to the speaker, not the censor" -- will prevail upon one or more Commissioners to switch their votes if the FEC finds itself deadlocked on a requested advisory opinion. Specifically, Keating's witty suggestion was prompted by an Advisory Opinion Request submitted by the Natio
It's the chilling effect...
Published on October 15, 2008 08:30 AM
Category: Enforcement, Political Committees & 527s
Last week, I had the privilege and pleasure of moderating a Federalist Society panel that examined the topic of "Election Finance and 527s," which is particularly relevant right now less than a month before the 2008 presidential and congressional elections. Specifically, the discussion centered on the "constitutional, statutory, and regulatory questions about the free speech rights of non-profit or tax-exempt groups," and included panelists from both sides of the
WWJD: What Would Jefferson Do?
Published on October 3, 2008
Category: Enforcement
Barack Obama is upset about lies he thinks are being told about him. CCP and others are alarmed by threats to resort to criminal and regulatory processes to silence his critics.In trying situations we sometimes ask what great leaders would do. In the case of Thomas Jefferson, founder of the Democratic Party, we don't have to guess.Jefferson was subject to outrageous attacks on his patriotism (too French), his religious beliefs (allegedly atheist), and his personal life. His pol
Bauer vs. CCP vs. Wertheimer vs. DOJ re 527 Enforcement
Published on September 29, 2008
Category: Enforcement, Political Committees & 527s
Bob Bauer suggests that this post by CCP Legal Director Reid Cox goes off course in its criticism of Fred Wertheimer, who has been trying to threaten folks - and get the Department of Justice to threaten folks - with criminal prosecution for alleged violations of campaign finance laws. Here it is Mr. Bauer who has, in a rather unusual slip, gone "off course," and a brief response is necessary. The quick background is thus: Fred Wertheimer is complaining that DOJ is no
Are they really safe?
Published on September 16, 2008
Category: Enforcement, Political Committees & 527s
In an important campaign finance story published today ($), the BNA's Money & Politics Report states in a headline that the Justice Department's top election crimes official told a conference last Friday that "DOJ Does Not Pursue Criminal Probes of Independent Groups." But did the director of DOJ's election crimes branch, Craig Donsanto, really take independent groups off the criminal hook, or just their donors? Although I wasn't at the conference, and
American Issues Project Ads Raise More Questions Than Probably Intended
Published on August 26, 2008
Category: Coordination, Enforcement
A relatively new group (perhaps so new it doesn't even, technically, exist yet) called American Issues Project has begun airing ads critical of Senator Obama and his connections to Bill Ayers, an unrepentant terrorist who helped to found the Weather Underground, a group active in the U.S. in the 60's and 70's (now largely defunct due to incarceration and a lack of reasonable workplace safety procedures in their bombmaking operations). The Obama campaign is not amused. A great deal of their
Required to ask 'Mother, may I?'
Published on August 25, 2008 03:00 PM
Category: Enforcement, Taxpayer Financed Campaigns
The lead news from the Federal Election Commission meeting last Thursday, as reported by the Associated Press , was that the six commissioners "voted unanimously ... to belatedly approve Republican presidential candidate John McCain's withdrawal from public financing for the primaries." And, while that certainly was the newsworthy result, for those of us who were in attendance and follow election law, perhaps the more important discussion (and decision) was buried as a stand-al
