Common Cause has filed a lawsuit in a bizarre attempt to end the Senate practice of filibustering. The pro-regulation group partnered with Democratic Representatives John Lewis and Hank Johnson of Georgia, Michael Michaud of Maine and Keith Ellison of Minnesota, as well as three DREAM Act students as plaintiffs in the case. Common Cause is [...]
The Bizarre Common Cause Lawsuit
Published on May 17, 2012
Filed Under: Blog, Disclosure, Featured Content, Uncategorized, District Of Columbia, Georgia, Maine, Minnesota
Shareholders can continue to speak for themselves
Published on May 16, 2012
There have been a number of stories hitting the news cycle concerning an activist group called Change to Win — who most recently, according to this Wall Street Journal piece, actively sang about successfully bullying of businesses into dropping their support of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Now, according to the WSJ, they are [...]
Filed Under: Blog, Citizens United, Disclosure, Featured Content, Uncategorized, free speech, ISS, proxy season, shareholder votes, WellPoint, District Of Columbia
Public Broadcasting Must Also Follow the First Amendment
Published on April 13, 2012
Yesterday, the 9th Circuit Court struck down a ban on political and issue advertising in public broadcasts. The opinion, which targets the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) ban on non-profit and political advertising, leaves intact bans on commercial advertisements. The opinion concluded that the ban on political and issue advertising violated the First Amendment’s free speech clause. Although the [...]
Filed Under: Blog, First Amendment, Independent Speech, Uncategorized, ban on advertising, free speech, PBS, District Of Columbia
Taking on the State Integrity Investigation
Published on April 4, 2012
CCP Academic Advisor David Primo and the Institute for Justice’s Paul Sherman have an op-ed in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal discussing “good government” groups’ claims about political corruption. The article looks at the State Integrity Investigation, spearheaded by the Center for Public Integrity, which ranked New Jersey as the state with the lowest risk of [...]
Filed Under: Blog, Contributions & Limits, Taxpayer Financed Campaigns, Uncategorized, David keating, David Primo, New Jersey, State Integrity Investigation, Virginia, New Jersey, Virginia
Poll: Voters, Fueled by Media Reports, Show Misunderstanding of Citizens United
Published on March 23, 2012
Poll analysis here: CU Poll FinalMarch22 1 Introduction: Two years and two election cycles into the Super PAC era, the media firestorm against free speech and association has been palpable. A Google search of the term “Super PAC” reveals dozens of articles warning about the evils of such entities and their supposed negative impact on [...]
Filed Under: Blog, Uncategorized, Faulty Assumptions, District Of Columbia
Daily Media Links 3/20
Published on March 20, 2012
Independent groups Roll Call: Rules of the Game: Bad News for Nation’s Nonprofits by Eliza Newlin Carney In an election that until lately has been dominated by super PACs, politically active nonprofits are the new bad guys, drawing ethics complaints, letters to the IRS and legislative action. Read more… LA Times: Federal contractors’ parent [...]
Filed Under: Uncategorized
Are Super PACs really “destroying the Republican Party”?
Published on March 6, 2012
The terrible reporting on Super PACs continues, and today we’ll use Bill Schneider’s op-ed in Politico to illustrate the point. Under the headline “Super PACs are ruining Republicans,” Schneider, a man who has never before shown much concern for the Republican Party, complains that Super PACs are, well, “destroying the Republican Party.” (It’s always nice [...]
Filed Under: Blog, Citizens United, Featured Content, Uncategorized
Are Super PACs taking over?
Published on February 27, 2012
Given all the hysteria about “Super PACs” – for an antidote, check out Wendy Kaminer in the Atlantic – here’s a tidbit worth passing along: through February 22, all Super PACs combined had raised a total of $130,330,844. Through January 31, President Obama’s re-election campaign alone had raised a total of $136,886,599. From the Atlantic [...]
Filed Under: Featured Content, Super PACs, Uncategorized, District Of Columbia
Justice Ginsburg on Montana: This is speaking truth to power?
Published on February 21, 2012
Rick Hasen comments in Slate on Justice Ginsburg’s short statement regarding the Supreme Court’s decision to grant a stay in Western Tradition Partnership v. Bullock, the case in which the Montana Supreme Court held that Citizens United was not applicable to Montana, constitutes “speaking truth to power. Recall Ginsburg’s short statement concurring in the stay was, ” Montana’s experience, and [...]
Filed Under: Uncategorized, Independent Speech, Other Litigation
Brad Smith to debate Sen. Jeff Merkley Live at noon
Published on February 15, 2012
Center for Competitive Politics founder and chairman Brad Smith will take part in an on-air debate with Senator Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon) on the role of money in politics in the 2012 election. The debate begins at noon today and is live streaming at the Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) radio station website. The show is called [...]
Filed Under: Blog, Contributions & Limits, Featured Content, First Amendment, Independent Speech, Super PACs, Uncategorized, Oregon