On December 12, the Seventh Circuit struck down a Wisconsin campaign finance law that makes it illegal for individuals to contribute more than $10,000 per calendar year to groups that make independent expenditures in election campaigns. Wisconsin Right to Life State PAC v Barland, 11-2623. Here is the 29-page opinion. The author is Judge Diane S. Sykes, a Bush Jr. appointee; the other two judges who signed the opinion are Richard Posner and Joel Flaum, both Reagan appointees.
On the evening of December 11, radio host Frank Morano on New York city interviewed Elliot Ackerman, CEO of Americans Elect, for 15 minutes. At three minutes into the interview, Morano asks Ackerman to comment on Newt Gingrich’s recent comment that if he is the Republican nominee, he will not debate anyone in the general election except President Obama. Here is the link.
Unfortunately for those who are intensely interested in the issue of exclusionary general election presidential debates, Morano combined his question on debates with a question about whether Americans Elect should be considered a “spoiler”. Ackerman then responded to the part of the question about “spoiling”, and did not comment on the part of the question concerning debates. Morano did not follow up.
Perhaps Ackerman’s most interesting comment is his statement that in 2014, Americans Elect will be on ballots for all partisan office, not just President as is the case for 2012. Ackerman suggested, but did not state explicitly, that in 2014, Americans Elect will have nominees for a full range of all partisan offices.
Every week, Americans Elect posts a new national signature total on its web page. The new figure is 2,196,247, which is an increase of 43,357 over the last seven days. Every week, fairly consistently, the group collects another 40,000 to 50,000 signatures around the nation.
On December 9, Ralph Nader filed this very clear, non-technical, and highly readable brief, asking a U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., to reconsider its decision in Nader v Federal Election Commission, 1:10-cv-00989. The brief is 12 pages and is well worth reading.
Nader had filed the lawsuit on 2010, after the FEC had refused to investigate his complaint that Democrats in 2004 spent millions of dollars to keep him off the ballot in 2004, and did not list these expenses in campaign finance reports. The complaint also lists other entities that acted in a similar manner. On November 9, the U.S. District Court had dismissed the lawsuit, even though the decision acknowledges that the FEC did not follow the law. The decision says the FEC had committed “harmless error.”
On December 5, the Tennessee Secretary of State released the names of candidates who will appear on presidential primary ballots. In Tennessee, the state automatically lists candidates who are discussed in the news media.
The Democratic ballot will only include President Obama. The Republican ballot will list nine names: Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich, Jon Huntsman, Gary Johnson, Ron Paul, Rick Perry, Buddy Roemer, Mitt Romney, and Rick Santorum. Tennessee’s list, unlike the Republican list in certain other states, takes note of the fact that Herman Cain has suspended his campaign.
