Campaign finance regulation
October 25, 2013 — John Hinderaker
The Left’s obsession with Charles and David Koch continues unabated. Today’s exhibit: this New York Times article on a press conference by California campaign finance officials on a fine that they levied against an Arizona group called the Center to Protect Patient Rights. For the Times, the Kochs are the story; the article is headlined, “Group Linked to Kochs Admits to Campaign Finance Violations.” The violation occurred in connection with
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October 9, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Yesterday, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in McCutheon v. Federal Election Commission. At issue is the constitutionality of a limit on the total amount of money an individual can spend in support of federal candidates. Currently, the limit is $48,600 during a two-year election cycle. Meanwhile, at his news conference, President Obama asserted a connection between the overturning of campaign financing restrictions and the current shutdown showdown. He said:
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September 8, 2013 — Scott Johnson
The First Amendment protects the right of Americans to publish their political views against infringement by Congress. On this point the constitutional language is about as clear as language can be made. Yet the Supreme has hemmed and hawed and created purported exceptions that threaten to swallow the rule. Brad Smith brings us the latest case study in the tyranny licensed by the Supreme Court. Consider the case of Ed
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August 17, 2013 — Scott Johnson
Bradley A. Smith holds the Josiah H. Blackmore II/Shirley M. Nault Designated Professor of Law position at Capital University Law School and Visiting Judge John T. Copenhaver, Jr. Chair of Law at West Virginia University College of Law. A 2010 recipient of the Bradley Prize, he is one of the nation’s leading authorities on election law and campaign finance. In 2000, he was nominated by President Clinton to fill a
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May 19, 2013 — Steven Hayward
CBS News reported yesterday that senior officials in the Treasury Department knew of the IRS targeting of conservative groups during the 2012 campaign. While this doesn’t yet place the matter inside the West Wing, it assures another leg to the scandal at least. To paraphrase an old Watergate-era slogan, “Follow the money-grubbers.” (CBS News) WASHINGTON – There were new questions Saturday night concerning if anyone in the White House was
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February 21, 2013 — Steven Hayward
Massachusett’s Democratic Rep. Edward Markey is currently a front-runner to succeed John Kerry in the Senate from the Bay State, and he’s perhaps the only candidate who can make Elizabeth Warren seem intelligent and probative by comparison. I’ve always thought Markey’s advocacy of low-wattage light bulbs is obviously congruent with his low-wattage intellect, and who can resist thinking of him as Rep. Malarkey? He’s one of those kind of politicians
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February 12, 2013 — Scott Johnson
Henry Ford is reported to have said that “History is bunk.” Reviewing Paula Baker’s new book, Brad Smith reminds us of some history made by Ford: Ninety-five years ago Truman Newberry, a modest, well-mannered scion of an old-money Detroit family, suddenly found himself under federal indictment and his very name synonymous with political corruption. Newberry’s “crime”? He had run for the United States Senate as a long-shot underdog against the
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October 20, 2012 — John Hinderaker
Last June, Mitt Romney conducted a conference call with a group of small business owners, in the course of which he urged his listeners to talk to their employees about how political decisions can affect their companies: I hope you make it very clear to your employees what you believe is in the best interest of your enterprise and therefore their job and their future in the upcoming elections. And
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July 18, 2012 — John Hinderaker
On the floor of the Senate yesterday, Frank Lautenberg did something that to our knowledge is unprecedented: he called publicly for a boycott of his own constituents. The context was the “DISCLOSE Act,” which would require 501(c)(4) entities to disclose the identities of their donors. The bill is opposed by a coalition that includes the ACLU and the NRA, and likely is unconstitutional, but the Democrats think it is good
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July 17, 2012 — Steven Hayward
From The Hill: Reid: Lack of Campaign Finance Reform Turns US Over to “Angry Old White Men.”
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June 17, 2012 — Scott Johnson
I previewed Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell’s AEI address on threats to the First Amendment in “McConnell at the bridge” in advance of the speech on Friday. Senator McConnell’s office has now posted the text of the speech. The video is below. The American Glob’s Aleister G. breaks down the video with a timeline here. This is an important speech on an important subject. Please check it out.
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June 14, 2012 — Scott Johnson
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has long been a supporter of the First Amendment rights of citizens in the face of what goes under the name of campaign finance reform. He knows what he is talking about and he has been a stalwart on the subject. Tomorrow he will be giving a major address at the American Enterprise Institute on “Growing Threats to the First Amendment” at 11:15 a.m. (Eastern).
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