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Jul 21, 2006 -- Legal Center Weekly Report: July 21, 2006 Legal Center Presses for Support on Shays-Meehan Lobbying Reform
In a letter sent today to all House Members, the Campaign Legal Center urged Members to co-sponsor the Ethics and Lobbying Reform Act of 2006 (H.R. 5677) and provided a detailed comparison of the various reform proposals before Congress. Introduced by Representatives Christopher Shays (R-CT) and Marty Meehan (D-MA), H.R. 5677 offers a set of needed ethics reforms that would address some of the most egregious ethics and lobbying abuses. Accompanying the letter is a chart which compares current law with the proposals currently before Congress.
To view the chart comparing current law to the various reform proposals, click here .
To view the full press release and letter sent to all House Members, click here .
Legal Center Hosts Media Roundtable
On Monday July 17, 2006, the Campaign Legal Center hosted a roundtable discussion entitled "The Media and the 2006 Elections." Participants included policy experts, regulators, industry insiders and practitioners in the area of politics, communications, and campaigns. T he conversation examined the many ways the media will cover and shape this election season including discussions of: election coverage by cable and network television; the role of the internet for fundraising and advertising; regulation and disclosure changes since 2004; trends in political advertising; the role of 527 organizations in this year's elections; and looking beyond 2006 to the political media landscape of 2008.
Earlier this week, the FEC announced fines imposed on Americans for a Republic Majority (ARMPAC) and its closure in connection with the PAC's misreporting of its financial dealings. Meredith McGehee, Policy Director at the Campaign Legal Center, said, "The news that Tom DeLay's ARMPAC was violating election laws should come as no great surprise to anyone. This news is yet another example that reveals the dangerous and growing role of leadership PACs as slush funds for Members and as additional conduits to obscure from public view the "pay-to-play" atmosphere that prevails on Capitol Hill." McGehee also stated that this again shows the need to pass meaningful and effective ethics and lobbying reform legislation.
To read the full statement, click here.
On July 14, 2006, CLC in its capacity as co-counsel for the Intervening Defendants in Wisconsin Right to Life (WRTL) v. FEC filed a motion for summary judgment and a response to WRTL's motion for summary judgment. This case involves an as-applied constitutional challenge brought by WRTL to the electioneering communications provisions of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA). WRTL had proposed to run ads back in 2004 attacking federal candidate Senator Russ Feingold. In our filings we argued that WRTL's challenge as applied to its proposed ads in 2004 was moot. We further argued that even if the three-judge court were to reach the merits of WRTL's claim, the challenge should be rejected because WRTL's proposed ads were similar in all material respects to the ads the Supreme Court reviewed in McConnell, when the Court upheld the electioneering communications provisions against a facial attack of unconstitutionality. The Intervening Defendants' papers also argued that WRTL's proposal to run some unidentified broadcast ads in the future was not ripe for decision and in any event was precluded by the Supreme Court's decision in McConnell.
The intervening Defendants in this case are Senator John McCain, and Representatives Tammy Baldwin, Chris Shays and Marty Meehan. Other co-counsel for the defendant-intervenors include: attorneys at the law firm of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr; Donald Simon of Sonosky, Chambers, Sachse, Endreson and Perry; Scott Nelson of Public Citizen Litigation Group; and Fred Wertheimer of Democracy 21.
The United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has granted the Campaign Legal Center's motion to participate as amicus curiae and file a brief in the case of United States v. Valdes. The Campaign Legal Center's amicus brief will support the position of the United States in a case that could potentially undermine the gratuities statute.
Nelson Valdes, a former D.C. Metropolitan Police Department detective, was convicted in the District Court of accepting illegal cash gratuities in exchange for disclosing vehicle registration and arrest warrant information. Valdes obtained the information and gave it to an acquaintance, who turned out to be an FBI informant. The information Valdes obtained was taken from a database accessible only to law enforcement personnel like Valdes. On appeal, a split D.C. Circuit panel ruled that Valdes' actions were not a sufficiently "formal" part of his job and thus did not constitute an "official act" within the meaning of the gratuities statute. The case is being watched closely because a ruling in Valdes' favor would significantly weaken the federal anti-gratuities statute and could have far-reaching implications. U.S. v. Valdes will be reheard by the D.C. Circuit sitting en banc in September of 2006.
Legal Center Tax Policy Director Addresses PACs, 527s, and 501(c) s
Fran Hill, Tax Policy Director at the Campaign Legal Center, spoke earlier this week at an event sponsored by the Campaign Finance Institute and the Urban Institute entitled " Nonprofits in Federal Elections: 527s, 501(c)s, and the Debate over Federal Campaign Finance and Tax Policies." Hill was part of a panel discussion on how interest groups use campaign finance vehicles like PACs, 527s, and 501(c)s to influence federal elections and their implications on current campaign finance law. Other panelists with Professor Hill included Steve Weissman of the Campaign Finance Institute and Fred Wertheimer of Democracy 21.
Legal Center Blog Highlights
Each week, the Campaign Legal Center staff posts blog entries on its site, www.clcblog.org. To read this week's entry "Justice Delayed In Congressional Scandals," or to sign up for blog updates, click here.
To read a variety of this week's editorials and articles on campaign finance, please click here. |
