According to the Sacramento Bee, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has just transferred $500,000 from his campaign account, to the campaign in favor of Proposition 14. See this story.
Also, Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix, this week gave $257,328 to the campaign for Prop. 14. I have just canceled my membership in Netflix.
On March 25, the Vermont legislature passed S.117, which moves the primary from September to August. Unfortunately, the bill also moves the deadline for independent candidate petitions to the second Thursday after the first Monday in June. Even presidential independent petitions would be due on that date in mid-June. The bill takes effect immediately. This year the deadline is June 17.
Courts in four states have ruled that June is too early for independent presidential petitions. The cases are from Arizona, South Dakota, Kansas, and Nevada. The Secretary of State’s office acknowledges there is a legal problem with a June petition deadline for independent presidential candidates, but says that can be fixed in 2011.
A Nevada District Court in Carson City has set a new hearing date in Fasano v Ashjian and Miller, the case over whether the Tea Party’s candidate for U.S. Senate should be removed from the ballot because he changed his registration from “Republican” to “Tea Party” one day too late. Neither the candidate, Scott Ashjian, nor his attorney, appeared in court on March 26. The new hearing date is April 14. See this story.
On March 25, the Tucson city council voted 5-2 to appeal the case known as City of Tucson v State of Arizona. The issue is whether the state government has the authority to tell Tucson not to use partisan elections for its own city elections. The lower court had ruled in favor of the state, on March 4, 2010. Thanks to Nancy Hanks for this news.
On March 26, two important campaign finance decisions were handed down by federal courts in Washington, D.C.
The U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit, ruled that committees which wish to make independent expenditures, commenting on candidates for federal office, are free to raise as much money as they wish from individuals. SpeechNow.Org v Federal Election Commission, 08-5223. The decision is from the entire panel of full-time judges on the D.C. circuit. The vote was 9-0. The decision strikes down federal laws that limit political committees to receiving no more than $5,000 from any one individual in any year. However, the decision is limited to groups that make independent expenditures. “Independent expenditures” means that the group writes and publicizes its own opinions, and does not coordinate with any particular candidate.
The decision is 21 pages. The decision upholds federal laws that require such groups to register as a political committee, set up a separate bank account for its independent expenditures about candidates, and disclose its contributors and expenditures.
The other decision of March 26 is Republican National Committee v FEC, U.S. District Court, D.C., 08-1953. It is 20 pages long. It upholds federal campaign laws that prevent anyone from giving more than a specified amount of money to political parties. The decision acknowledges that political parties are now the only groups that cannot receive unlimited amounts of contributions from individuals, for the purpose of making independent expenditures. But the judges say that the U.S. Supreme Court already upheld limits on donations to political parties in 2003, in McConnell v FEC, and that if the parties want relief, only the U.S. Supreme Court can give them any relief. The three judges in this case are Brett Kavanaugh, Richard Leon, and Rosemary Collyer, all three appointees of President George Bush, Jr.
