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Sep 14, 2007 -- Legal Center Weekly Report: September 14, 2007
Meredith McGehee, Campaign Legal Center Policy Director, participated in a press conference today with Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senators Barack Obama (D-IL) and Russ Feingold (D-WI) and other members of the reform coalition in commending the enactment of S.1, the Honest Government and Open Leadership Act of 2007.
She stated , "Especially notable in this measure are the new, tougher travel and gift rules that are already changing the way business is done in Washington, the requirement for a sortable, searchable and downloadable database for lobby disclosure, the first-ever requirements for bundling disclosure and the extension of meaningful penalties to lobbyists for violations of not only lobby disclosure laws but also congressional ethics rules."
The Legal Center also released a statement with members of the reform coalition, including Common Cause, Democracy 21, the League of Women Voters, Public Citizen, and U.S. PIRG.
Court Rules Against FEC Again in Shays III Case
This week, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly in the Shays III case ruled that the FEC's grossly strained interpretation of a number of BCRA provisions - including coordination standards - did not meet the basic requirement of "reasoned decisionmaking" in the Administrative Procedures Act.
J. Gerald Hebert, Campaign Legal Center Executive Director and Director of Litigation, stated , "There is no reason why Members of Congress should be forced to repeatedly sue the FEC in order to make the agency implement the laws passed by Congress. Time and again the Commission has abused its powers by taking actions that gut the law rather than enforce it effectively as written." Hebert went on to again urge the creation of a more effective and less politically partisan agency to enforce our nation's election laws.
The Campaign Legal Center serves as counsel to Senators John McCain and Russell Feingold, who are participating in the case as amici curiae.
Washington Supreme Court Upholds Regulation of 527 Organization as a "Political Committee"
The Supreme Court of the State of Washington issued its decision in Voters Education Comm. v. Wash. Public Disclosure Comm'n, affirming a lower court decision that a 527 organization funded entirely by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce could constitutionally be regulated as a "political committee" subject to Washington state campaign finance disclosure laws.
The Campaign Legal Center filed an amicus brief in support of the defendant Public Disclosure Commission.
On September 13, 2007, Judge White of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in Committee issued a tentative ruling in favor of plaintiffs in JOBS, et al. v. Herrera, et al. The case concerns a challenge to San Francisco's ordinance limiting contributions to political committees that make only independent expenditures in municipal elections. The plaintiffs challenging the contribution limits moved the court for a preliminary injunction against enforcement of the ordinance. Judge White's ruling "tentatively grants" plaintiffs' motion for preliminary relief, but sets forth a series of questions for the parties to address at oral argument, scheduled for next Monday, September 17, 2007. A final decision will not be issued until after oral argument.
The Campaign Legal Center has filed an amici brief supporting defendants on behalf of itself and four other non-profit organizations. The amici brief argues that San Francisco's limit on contributions to independent expenditure committees directly advances the City's interest in preventing corruption and the appearance of corruption, and is consistent with Supreme Court precedent. Joining the Campaign Legal Center as amici are the California Clean Money Campaign, California Common Cause, the Center for Governmental Studies and Demos: A Network for Ideas and Action.
Legal Center Blog Highlights
Each week, the Campaign Legal Center staff posts blog entries on its site, www.clcblog.org . Click to read this week's entries: " More "Unreasoned Decisionmaking" at the FEC, " " Washington Supreme Court Upholds Regulation of 527 Organization as a 'Political Committee' " and " Lobbying & Ethics Reforms Signed into Law ," or to sign up for the blog, click here .
To read a variety of this week's editorials and articles on a variety of Campaign Legal Center issues, please click here . |
