The Center for Competitive Politics (CCP) blasted Justice at Stake for providing misleading advice to legislators and other West Virginia officials about the campaign finance jurisprudence of taxpayer funded elections.
Justice at State—a national nonprofit research and advocacy group, like the CCP—has repeatedly provided flawed legal advice to West Virginia lawmakers as they consider a bill to create a pilot program for taxpayer financed campaigns for state Supreme Court candidates. House Bill 4130 has passed the House of Delegates and is under consideration in the Senate Finance Committee.
“Justice at Stake’s legislative advice on this pilot program amounts to a lot of hot air and wishful thinking,” said CCP President Sean Parnell, who sent a letter to West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin and legislators Thursday clarifying the legal record and precedents at issue. “If the legislature accepts this phony advice, it would be the legal equivalent of directing the state to hold out a tin cup and beg for a lawsuit in these troubled economic times.”
Bert Brandenburg, the executive director of Justice at Stake, has defended the legal footing of taxpayer financed campaigns with “rescue funds”—which punish independent groups and nonparticipating candidates by subsidizing participating candidate speech based on their spending—by noting that the Fourth Circuit upheld a similar program in North Carolina.
“Mr. Brandenburg’s selective omission of key facts in this issue, such as the Supreme Court ruling striking down a similar scheme known as the Millionaires’ Amendment after the Fourth Circuit case and two federal judges striking down similar programs recently, amounts to poor legal advice,” Parnell said. “Lawmakers should tread with caution, and not force taxpayers to spend money defending a law that is almost certain to be struck down in court.”
“If West Virginia decides to continue electing its judges, the constitution and Supreme Court precedent mandates that it afford candidates and voters full First Amendment rights in their elections,” Parnell added
