This is only the second presidential election in which super PACs, which can raise unlimited money as long as they don’t coordinate directly with candidates, will play a role.Source: What Happens to Surplus Super PAC Money?...
Augustus and Julius, Khan and Macedon, Roosevelts and Kennedys, Bushes and Clintons—what is it that makes rival family dynasties so compelling? Across time, across cultures, across political systems, there is a common theme of dominant families rising to power for decades or centuries on end.Source: What’s With American Political Dynasties?...
Former U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold — long a champion of campaign finance reform — founded a political action committee that has given a mere 5% of its income to federal candidates and political parties. Instead, nearly half of the $7.Source: Feingold’s PAC funded fees, salaries for himself, ex-staffers...
The latest Sacramento proposal to spur voter turnout would radically reduce the number of polling places and would send ballots to every registered voter. Voters could then mail them back, drop them off or vote at one of the remaining polling placesSource: Proposal to mail ballots to all voters targets low turnout in California...
MIAMI — Jeb Bush, a scion of the most recognizable family in Republican politics who fashioned an image as a sober-minded conservative truth-teller while governor of Florida, is running for president.Source: Jeb Bush launches 2016 presidential bid...
The two-year prison sentence imposed on disgraced GOP operative Tyler Harber is the first step toward greater scrutiny of the consulting industry, federal prosecutors said Friday. The government credited Terry Wear, who runs the 11th district GOP in Virginia, with blowing the whistle on Harber.Source: Republican strategist sentenced to two years for illegal coordination...
Jonathan Zucker and Joshua Tauberer have developed a website where political donors can give money to the campaigns of sitting lawmakers or their future reelection challengers based solely on how those lawmakers vote on legislation. Just don’t confuse it with “bribery,” they say.Source: This Web site allows political donors to give money based on how lawmakers vote. Just don’t call...
[Image by Bahri Altay courtesy of nmhc] UC-Irvine's Rick Hasen has a new opinion piece in Slate in which he takes issue with Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's new aggressive stance on election reform - not because of its content but because of its approach: Hillary Clinton spokeSource: Putting Out a Fire with Gasoline: Partisan Election Reform Push Likely Makes...
WASHINGTON — Two Democratic members of the Federal Election Commission, who say they are frustrated by the agency's failure to rein in campaign-finance abuses ahead of the 2016 presidential race, are making what amounts to a drastic move Monday in the staid world of federal election law.Source: Exclusive: Two FEC officials implore agency to curb 2016 election abuse...
