This morning, a unanimous federal appeals court overturned a lower court’s invalidation of an FEC regulation dealing with donor privacy. The lower court had ruled that organizations making electioneering communications – broadcast communications mentioning a candidate’s name within 60 days before a general election – must disclose all of their donors, even those unconnected to the ads [...]
Van Hollen Reversal a Victory for Free Speech
Published on September 18, 2012
Filed Under: Blog, Citizens United, Disclosure, Independent Speech, Super PACs, Hispanic Leadership Fund, reversal, Van Hollen, Other Litigation, District Of Columbia
Media Watch: New York Times levels serious — and incorrect — charges
Published on September 14, 2012
Eric Lipton and Clifford Krauss of the New York Times wrote an article about fossil fuel advertisements in the run up to the election. Titled “Fossil Fuel Industry Ads Dominate TV Campaign,” the article claims: The surge in energy-related political spending partly reflects the rise in overall election spending after the Supreme Court lifted limits [...]
Filed Under: Blog, Citizens United, Faulty Assumptions, First Amendment, Media Watch, Pay to Play, Super PACs, koch brothers, New York Times, oil and coal industry, Romney, District Of Columbia, New York
Money and Politics: CCP Defends Speech
Published on September 14, 2012
This week, CCP President David Keating participated in the Intelligence Squared debate “Two Cheers for Super PACs: Money in Politics is Still Overregulated.” Keating and Reason Senior Editor Jacob Sullum argued in favor, while Campaign Legal Center’s Trevor Potter and Jonathan Soros argued against, the motion. The debate can be watched here. In addition, CCP Chairman [...]
Filed Under: Blog, Citizens United, Disclosure, Faulty Assumptions, First Amendment, Independent Speech, Super PACs, Intelligence Squared debate, Jacob Sullum, Jonathan Soros, Trevor Potter, District Of Columbia, New York
Media Watch: Six Degrees of Campaign Finance Connections
Published on September 13, 2012
Laurie Bennett, co-creator of the influence-tracking website Muckety, has written a piece featuring a handy chart showing some of CCP’s connections to various individuals and foundations. Although she disagrees with our position on further limiting disclosure, we thank Ms. Bennett for demonstrating that current disclosure practices leave little to the imagination in terms of connections [...]
Filed Under: Blog, Citizens United, Faulty Assumptions, First Amendment, Independent Speech, Media Watch, Center for Competitive Politics, chart, Muckety, District Of Columbia
David Keating to join Reason Senior Editor Jacob Sullum in IQ2 Debate in New York
Published on September 11, 2012
On Wednesday, September 12, CCP President David Keating will take part in the estimable Intelligence Squared (IQ2) debate live in New York City at 6:45 pm at the Kaufman Center located at 129 West 67th Street (between Broadway and Amsterdam). The title of the debate is “Two Cheers for Super PACs: Money in Politics Is [...]
Filed Under: Blog, Citizens United, First Amendment, Independent Speech, Super PACs, David keating, debate, intelligence squared, Jacob Sullum, New York, District Of Columbia, New York
CCP and IHS collaborate on video series
Published on September 10, 2012
The Institute for Human Studies (IHS) at George Mason University and the Center for Competitive Politics (CCP) have recently concluded a series of videos as part of IHS’ LearnLiberty.org, an effort that seeks to answer the following questions: What is the nature of man and society? What are the best ways to organize human society? [...]
Filed Under: Blog, Citizens United, First Amendment, Independent Speech, Super PACs, Brad Smith, George Mason, Institute for Humane Studies, Learn Liberty Series, videos, District Of Columbia
Super PAC apps: The intersection of disclosure and technology
Published on September 5, 2012
Stories started appearing roughly two weeks ago that a couple of scientists from MIT had developed a “super PAC app”. Super PAC App, the brainchild of Jennifer Hollett, M.C./M.P.A. ’12, and her MIT classmate Dan Siegel, gives voters information about the big money behind presidential campaign ads with just a single touch on an iPhone. [...]
Filed Under: Blog, Citizens United, Super PACs, Disclosure, Lifehacker, MIT, super PAC apps, District Of Columbia
CCP Legal Team Files Suit Challenging Sub-Aggregate Limits Under Buckley v Valeo
Published on August 31, 2012
CONTACT: Sarah Lee, Communications Director, Center for Competitive Politics, 770.598.961 ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Today the Center for Competitive Politics legal team, led by Legal Director Allen Dickerson, filed a complaint in the US District Court for the District of Columbia challenging the biennial aggregate limits on contributions to federal candidates as a violation of the First Amendment. The case stems [...]
Filed Under: Blog, Featured Content, First Amendment, Legal, Press Releases, Super PACs, aggregate limits, buckley, CCP Legal Team, Litigation, District Of Columbia
Media Watch: Moyers and Weisberger’s Intellectual Hyperventilations
Published on August 30, 2012
Journalist and perpetual exaggerator Bill Moyers teamed up with Bernard Weisberger to, once again, complain that neither party is removing money from politics in the Huffington Post (Where Is the Outrage): Let’s begin with the judicial legerdemain of nine black-robed magicians on the Supreme Court back in the l880s breathing life into an artificial creation called [...]
Filed Under: Blog, Citizens United, Media Watch, Bill Moyers, black-robed magicians, media watch, money in politics, District Of Columbia