On April 23, the Democratic Governors Association filed a federal lawsuit against certain Connnecticut campaign finance laws. The Association wants to make independent expenditures this year in support of Connecticut Governor Dan Malloy, a Democrat who is running for re-election. The lawsuit says that Connecticut laws on independent expenditures provide that spending isn’t “independent” if the group and the candidate have had close contact in the recent past. The Democratic Governors Association says that it understands that its decisions about spending in the Connecticut race itself must be completely uncoordinated with Governor Malloy. But it says that the state, unless restrained by a court, will simply presume that the expenditures aren’t independent, just because Malloy has been active in the organization.

The case is Democratic Governors Association v Brandi, 3:14cv-544. It was assigned to U.S. District Court judge Janet C. Hall, a Clinton appointee. See this story for more details.