Anthony Pollina, a former state chair of the Vermont Progressive Party, will run for Vermont State Senate this year from Washington County. He will seek both the Progressive Party nomination and the Democratic Party nomination. The primary is in August.
Currently Washington County elects three State Senators at-large. Two are Republicans and one is a Democrat. Vermont State Senators have two-year terms. Washington County contains Montpelier, the state capital.
Vic Rawl has filed paperwork necessary to open an investigation into last week’s Democratic primary for U.S. Senate. Rawl had lost that race to Alvin Greene. Rawl is suspicious that the vote-counting equipment may have done a bad job of counting the votes. He notes that the machines were purchased from Louisiana after Louisiana decided not to use them any more, because they do not provide an audit trail. See this story. Thanks to Gene Platt for the link.
On June 14, the 9th circuit rejected an attempt to open up a loophole in campaign finance, concerning individuals who want to give more than the maximum donation permitted under federal law. The defendant in a criminal case was charged with arranging for his friends and associates to give campaign contributions to a particular federal candidate, at the maximum limit permitted. Then, the instigator of the idea promised to reimburse those friends and associates.
The 17-page decision is called USA v Pierce O’Donnell, 09-50296. The 9th circuit interpreted federal campaign restrictions to mean that the behavior is illegal. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link. In this particular case, the defendant had caused the 2004 John Edwards for President campaign to be the beneficiary of $26,000, because the Defendant had arranged for 13 of his associates to each contribute $2,000 to that campaign.
On June 10, the Rhode Island legislature passed H.7894. It makes it possible for voters to sign petitions for two or more candidates running for the same office.
For federal and state office, Rhode Island law already lets voters sign for as many candidates for the same office as they wish. The bill says that cities and towns must follow the same policy.
Several Rhode Island towns have their own laws that do not permit voters to sign for more than a single candidate for the same office. But the new bill overrides those restrictive town ordinances. Assuming the Governor signs the bill, that will settle the pending lawsuits Monteiro v City of East Providence (now pending in U.S. District Court) and Fontes v City of Central Falls (now pending in the First Circuit).
The U.S. Supreme Court will consider whether to hear Republican National Committee v Federal Election Commission, at its June 24, 2010 conference. The Court will probably say on June 28 what it decided. Observers feel the Court is likely to hear the case.
The case challenges the parts of the McCain-Feingold law set limits on how national political parties may spend money.
