According to the Journal News:

U.S. District Court Judge Charles Brieant denied a preliminary injunction Thursday in the case [against the New Rochelle city council districts], which charges that the new lines violate the Voting Rights Act by shrinking the black population in one of the city's six council districts and thereby reducing their ability to elect a representative of their choice. The judge will still make a decision in the overall case that could affect future elections.

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Peter Overby had a report
this morning on NPR's Morning Edition about how the "money primary" and candidate's emphasis on how much they have raised each quarter is becoming like the emphasis on quarterly earnings reports of corporations.

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Sam Hirsch of Jenner and Block has provided me with copies of the two Motions to Affirm in the Vieth v Julelirer case: the one for the Governor and the one for the Legislative leaders.

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Howard Dean has raised the bar by announcing -- ahead of the end-of-quarter deadline -- that he has raised $6.2 in the second quarter, according to the New York Times.

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The Dallas Morning News has a long article on the GOP and corporate campaign that lead to the Republican takeover of the Texas House.

The emergence of corporate money – whether used to produce advertisements, pay administrators or hire consultants – in 22 key House races last year helped the GOP overrun the last Democratic bastion in Texas government, campaign experts said.

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More hearings were held over the weekend to give a veneer of public accountability to the railroad job that the Republicans are going to carry out at the special session starting tomorrow. Many Democrats were fighting mad at the hearings.

"This has nothing to do with black or brown people. That's just a red herring," [Rep. Garnet] Coleman [D-Houston] said of arguments based on race that have dominated debate over redistricting. "This has everything to do with increasing Republican power."

Austin American Statesman (about the Houston hearing). The Dallas hearing was just as raucous.

Shouting, name-calling and some unmentionable actions were the order of the day Saturday as more than 400 angry Democrats and a much smaller – but just as cranky – group of Republicans voiced opinions on a GOP-driven congressional redistricting plan.

"I've been to a lot of redistricting hearings," said Dallas lawyer Ken Molberg. "I've never seen anything quite like this."

Dallas Morning News. In Brazoria County, the crowd hissed each time Tom DeLay's name was mentioned.

State Rep. Garnett Coleman, a Houston Democrat, noted that voters had already elected congressmen from the districts drawn in 2001. Any change would violate the voters’ rights, he said.

“People have already elected the congressmen of their choice,” Coleman said. “These people would be replaced by a Republican affirmative action program.”

The Facts (Brazosport). In Brownsville, the hearing never "heard" anyone.

An angry group of activists and a Democratic state representative shut down a public hearing on congressional redistricting in Texas Thursday, hurling insults at Republican House leaders and turning the hearing into a boisterous and emotional pro-Hispanic political rally.

Knight Ridder news wire.

The GOP is dangling a carrot before blacks and Latinos in promising them increased membership in the Congressional delegation if they will support the GOP plan, according to the Dallas Morning News.

A flash point in the hearing Saturday was argument over whether blacks would benefit more from electing another black to Congress from Texas, or from retaining a delegation of white Democrats who are sympathetic to blacks' issues and rely on their support.

[Ron] Wilson [D-Houston], a [black] member of the House Redistricting Committee, has joined Republicans who say the plan that the committee approved would help blacks by giving them the opportunity to control a third congressional district.

Houston Chronicle. The effort to draw Hispanic support was evident at the Laredo hearing.

The main bait, Democrats claim, is the prospect of funding badly needed medical school complexes in El Paso and the Rio Grande Valley, both in Senate districts held by Democrats.

San Antonio Express-News.

The plan is apparently not final, according to the Austin American Statesman. The GOP is still trying to decide how many ways to divide Travis County (containing Austin). One Republican activist explained, "Redistricting is simple. It doesn't get difficult until you try to protect incumbents or get rid of someone."

What's the ultimate goal?

"The Republican goal is to eliminate all Democratic districts, except those where Hispanics or blacks are the majority," said Alford, who was an expert witness for Republicans in the 2001 lawsuit that redrew the districts to what they are today.

"That is what the DeLay plan is, basically, to create overwhelmingly Democratic districts by packing as many Democrats as possible into as few districts as possible."

San Antonio Express-News.

Finally, we can all rest easy now that the New York Times has weighed in with an editorial calling DeLay a "gunslinger."

Update: Charles Kuffner has a long eye witness report on Political State Report about the Houston meeting.

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AccessNorthGa.com reports that U.S. District Judge Charles Pannell has refused to dismiss the Republican suit against Georgia's legislative and congressional districts. Their theory is that the population of districts was manipulated so as to favor Democrats. Here's my earlier post on the case.

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Tomorrow's New York Times has an op-ed by Thomas Friedman, "Is Google God?" He includes this point toward the end:

"The key point is not just whether people hate us," says Robert Wright, the author of "Nonzero," a highly original book on the integrated world. "The key point is that it matters more now whether people hate us, and will keep mattering more, for technological reasons. I don't mean just homemade W.M.D.'s. I am talking about the way information technology — everyone using e-mail, Wi-Fi and Google -- will make it much easier for small groups to rally like-minded people, crystallize diffuse hatreds and mobilize lethal force. And wait until the whole world goes broadband. Broadband -- a much richer Internet service that brings video on demand to your PC -- will revolutionize recruiting, because video is such an emotionally powerful medium. Ever seen one of Osama bin Laden's recruiting videos? They're very effective, and they'll reach their targeted audience much more efficiently via broadband."

Now, turn that around and think about mobilizing people for your political campaign -- like, say, Howard Dean -- and think about the power of the Internet. Throw in Wi-Fi, and you have the ability to reach people where they are, even if they are not sitting at a desk. Throw in handheld Wi-Fi devices like the kind of phones people are using in Asia and Europe with text messaging, and look out, 'cause the times they are a-changing. (See my post on Christmas Eve about this.)

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Several third party presidential candidates have filed an FEC complaint alleging that the Commission on Presidential Debates should not be allowed to take corporate contributions for its 2004 debates and should return millions in contributions it has made to the major parties in 2000 (in the form of the debate events).

The complaint was filed by the 2000 candidates of the Greens, the Natural Law Party, the Constitution Party, and the Reform Party. The National Voting Rights Institute and a Boston firm are representing the complainants, according to a press release from NVRI.

The complaint and some of the exhibits are also on the NVRI site.

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AP reports N.C. Rep. Hayes Returns Westar Donations.

Begins to sound like a loan from the company. Pretty good deal; they don't have to buy a "seat at the table," just rent it.

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AP reports, Do-Not-Call List Logs 735K Phone Numbers.

Sign up today online. If you sign up online, they are supposed to send a confirming email, but mine still has not come after about 18 hours.

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In the Washington Post's article, Democrats Discovering Campaign Law's Cost, is this paragraph:

A report released yesterday by the Center for Responsive Politics, a watchdog group, found that, contrary to common perceptions, Republicans have a big advantage over Democrats in donations from small donors, while Democrats are king among only the biggest.

Here is the report.

Why? Is that because fewer Democrats give or they give less per person? If the latter, do Democrats feel they have less disposable income?

What's your answer?

Posted by Ed at 10:50 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

In all the hoopla over Howard Dean winning the MoveOn.org PAC online straw poll, most (but not Nathan Newman) have overlooked the second question:

Please select all of the candidates who you would enthusiastically support in the 2004 general election against George W. Bush, if chosen as the Democratic Party nominee next summer after the Democratic Primaries:

(Choose as many as you like.)

That is a classic use of the Approval Voting system. It allows voters to choose among several candidates, express their approval for more than one, and come up with a result showing the most approved candidate.

The MoveOn "first past the post" results were Dean, Kucinich, Kerry. But the MoveOn members were willing to support enthusiastically the following: Dean, Kerry, Kucinich, Edwards, Gephardt, and Braun.

So for all the spin about Kerry losing big among the supposedly leftist voters of MoveOn is this fact, 3/4 of all the MoveOn voters would enthusiastically support him.

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The Washington Post reports in tomorrow's paper, "D.C. Groups Divided Over Davis's Plan."

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Surely this headline in tomorrow's Dallas Morning News is exaggerated:
GOP accused of trying to fix remap hearing. Here's the lede:

Some of the behind-the-scenes wrangling over redistricting spilled onto the stage Friday when Democrats accused Republicans of secretly trying to rig a Dallas hearing with manufactured text and planted speakers.

State Democratic Party chairwoman Molly Beth Malcolm said an e-mail by Collin County GOP chairman Rick Neudorff sent to fellow Republicans was proof that legislative hearings on redistricting are "nothing but a sham."

The AP reports that some Democrats are trying to break up the "neck tie party" (my term; think of the old Westerns) by means of "voter protests, lawmaker walkouts and blistering accusations."

We can only hope that this movie turns out like they did when I was a kid: the guy on the big horse rides up and saves the damsel on the railroad tracks.

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Today, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the appeal of the plaintiffs in Vieth v Jubelirer. Sam Hirsch of Jenner & Block (who represents the plaintiffs) provided the link to the Jurisdictional Statement and the Brief Opposing Motions to Affirm. If anyone has the Motions to Affirm, please send them to me.

The Questions Presented are:

1. Whether the District Court erred in effectively concluding that voters affiliated with a major political party may never state a claim of unconstitutional partisan gerrymandering, thereby nullifying this Court's decision in Davis v. Bandemer, 478 U.S. 109 (1986).

2. Whether a State presumptively violates the Equal Protection Clause when it subordinates all traditional, neutral districting principles to the overarching goal of drawing a congressional redistricting map that achieves maximum partisan advantage for members of one political party.

3. Whether a State exceeds its delegated power under Article I of the Constitution when it draws congressional-district boundaries to ensure that candidates from one political party will consistently capture a supermajority of the State's congressional seats even if those candidates win less than half the popular vote statewide.

The plaintiffs brought one-person-one-vote and gerrymander claims against the Congressional districting plan adopted by the GOP-majority Pennsylvania legislature. The federal court held that the population claims were sustained by a plan that has a variation of no more than 19 people from the norm. So the Legislature moved thousands of people to correct this minor deviation. The court essentially refused to hear the gerrymander claims. There were three opinions: 188 FSupp2d 532, 195 FSupp2d 672, and 241 FSupp2d 478. (My links are to the federal court's website.)

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The FEC has published the Advisory Opinion to The Home Depot: Federal Election Commission Advisory Opinion Number 2003-14. My previous posts explain the request and draft opinion (adopted without changes). See here and here.

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According to AP:

No matter who finishes first in the [MoveOn.org] online presidential primary, the Democratic candidates are counting on thousands of potential volunteers, donors and campaign dollars from the Internet event.

"This could be the biggest volunteer day of the entire cycle," said Wes Boyd, co-founder of MoveOn.org. "The primary benefit for candidates is to broaden their base of support, put new supporters on their rolls."

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According to AP:

The U.S. Justice Department is investigating the role of federal officials in last month's hunt for Texas lawmakers who fled to Oklahoma to block passage of a redistricting bill.

Democrats have been asking for a full accounting of the search, and U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett told The Associated Press the late announcement of the investigation is another attempt to avoid his and other House members' requests for documents.

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Rep. Tom Davis (D-Va.) is working on a plan to add two seats to the House of Representatives -- one for the District of Columbia and one for Utah (which lost a seat in the last reapportionment), according to the Washington Post.

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The decision on homosexual rights sucked all the air out of the room. Nina Tottenberg gave one sentence to Georgia v Ashcroft in the midst of a long piece on the Lawrence v Texas decision. There is some press coverage however. The Fulton Daily Report, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

AP reports that Attorney General Baker will ask the Georgia Supreme Court to dismiss Gov. Perdue's suit seeking to wrest control of the case from him.

The Charlotte News & Observer said, "The decision could come into play when North Carolina redraws its legislative districts again, which it probably will do before the 2004 elections."

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Alabama black leaders held a press conference yesterday to blast the decision of Governor Bob Riley to veto the bill restoring the voting rights of most ex-felons. The word"betrayal" was used several times. Sen. Rodger Smitherman said that the veto would not affect his support for the Governor's tax reform and accountability package which faces a 9 September referendum. The Black Caucus said that it will oppose preclearance of the voter ID bill which was passed in tandem with the ex-felon bill.

See the coverage in the Birmingham News, AP, Montgomery Advertiser, NBC13, and Mobile Register.

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"Staff members of a commission looking at the future of elections in New York City will recommend dramatic changes, including a move to nonparty elections and a fast timetable that will make the changes effective either in time for the 2005 elections or, at the latest, four years later."

Panel Staff to Urge Big Change in How Elections Are Handled, New York Times. (thanks to Taegan Goddard's Poltical Wire for the link.)

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Even though Georgia v. Ashcroft is a pro-Democratic decision, the Democrats have not won yet because the case has been remanded. They have two hurdles: first, the three-judge district court could get creative with its fact-finding and rule against the preclearance again; second, the Georgia Supreme Court could rule that the governor can control the attorney general's handling of litigation.

The article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution makes oblique reference to the state supreme court case in the penultimate paragraph. (The last paragraph is just bizarre.)

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Unlike the Governor of Alabama, who wants to keep the ballot box "pure ... mostly" (as Garrison Keillor describes Powder Milk Biscuits), the Governor of Arizona has had the guts to veto the voter ID bill. See the

story in the Arizona Republic.

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The complete decision in Georgia v Ashcroft is on the Supreme Court's website. Once again, as with so many other voting rights cases, this is a 5-4 decision with Justice O'Connor in the majority. In fact, she is the author of the majority opinion.

To my mind, the most important part of the decision is found on pp. 16-19 of the majority opinion. The Court notes that a State may seek to maximize minority electoral success either by choosing to create safe minority districts or by choosing "to create a greater number of districts in which it is likely—although perhaps not quite as likely as under the benchmark plan—that minority voters will be able to elect candidates of their choice." The Court holds, "Section 5 does not dictate that a State must pick one of these methods of redistricting over another." It also discusses the political science literature ("various studies have suggested that the most effective way to maximize minority voting strength may be to create more influence or coalitional districts") and holds,

Section 5 leaves room for States to use these types of influence and coalitional districts. Indeed, the State’s choice ultimately may rest on a political choice of whether substantive or descriptive representation is preferable. The State may choose, consistent with §5, that it is better to risk having fewer minority representatives in order to achieve greater overall representation of a minority group by increasing the number of representatives sympathetic to the interests of minority voters.

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The Supreme Court has vacated and remanded Georgia v Ashcroft. The syllabus is here. Majority opinion here, concurrences by Kennedy and Thomas, and dissent by Souter, Stevens, Ginsburg, and Breyer.

More details when I have a chance to read the opinions.

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The FEC General Counsel has circulated a draft advisory opinion to the questions posed by the National Association of Home Builders. The opinion is hedged about with so many qualifiers that it is not easy to summarize. Basically, NAHB wanted to invite members of Congress and the HUD Secretary to some of its meetings and wanted to make sure it was not violating the FECA by doing so. The draft AO explains how NAHB can do so with some limitations.

{corrected the title of the post}

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The Hill reports PAC cupboard nearly bare.

Panicked lawmakers are going to extraordinary lengths to raise as much money as they can by the end of the month in the face of a drought of political action committee (PAC) funds.

Individual lawmakers are holding up to seven fundraising events this month, making hundreds of phone calls a week, and even scheduling events beyond the traditional three-day congressional workweek, a departure from past custom.

The director of one political action committee said he has had to hide in the closet so that his assistant could tell prowling lawmakers that he was not in the office.

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The campaign to recall Gov. Gray Davis of California is still short of its own goal of 1.2 million signatures by 2 September, according to Mercury Newsl.

Meanwhile, the AP is reporting that Rep. Darrell Issa is facing a renewal of the charges that he was involved in a car theft in 1980 (but the charges were dropped).

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Texas state House members will hold six hearings around the state on the proposed re-redistricting of congressional districts. Three hearings will be held simulataneously on each of two days, Thursday and Saturday. According to San Antonio Express-News, some Democratic legislators are complaining that they have been assigned to hearings outside their congressional districts.

The Senate's hearings will begin on Saturday and end after the special session is over, according to News 8 Austin.

Sen. Jeff Wentworth will be proposing again that redistricting be turned over to a citizens commission after the 2010 census, the Houston Chronicle.

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The bills requiring voter ID and automatic restoration of voting rights to most ex-felons passed the legislature this year because black and Republican legislators made a deal that the bills would travel in tandem and that neither group would block the other's bills. After passage, however, Republican legislators asked Gov. Bob Riley (R) to veto the bill. Riley announced yesterday that he would pocket veto the ex-felon bill but has approved the voter ID bill. He said that he had never been a party to the deal.

Stories are in the Birmingham News, Mobile Register, and AP.

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Daily Kos explains "The Ashcroft/Westar connection." One of the ringleaders of the "contributions for a place at the table" scheme was "Westar Executive Vice President Carl Koupal (who left the company in 2001). Koupal ran Ashcroft's 1976 campaign for MO attorney general and his 1984 race for governor of Missouri. He also served in some official capacity or other for all eight years of Ashcroft's administration."

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Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) has sent to a letter to Attorney General John Conyers requesting the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the contributions on Westar to Republican members of Congress.

Thanks to Alfredo Garcia for the tip.

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The Denver Post reports that 44 attorneys general from other states and Guam have filed an amicus brief supporting Attorney General Salazar's right to sue to block the new re-redistricting law. The Rocky Mountain News also a story.

Jim Spencer, Denver Post Columnist, has suggested a long list of free parking days. One of them is this:

State Redistricting Day(s): In honor of the Republicans' unilateral redrawing of congressional districts to keep themselves in power, members of the GOP park free whenever and wherever they please without asking members of the public what they think.

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The Texas legislature is beginning its hearings on re-redistricting. According to the Houston Chronicle, "The Senate Jurisprudence Committee tentatively set public hearings in Laredo, San Angelo, Houston, McAllen and Dallas, beginning Saturday." Other hearings (apparently by the House) are set for Lubbock on Thursday (Amarillo Globe-News) and Nacogdoches on Saturday (Paris News).

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Six election-related statewide bills passed the Alabama Legislature in the Regular Session; four have been signed by the Governor.

Act 2003-337 polling place hours Download file

Act 2003-339 automatic recount Download file

Act 2003-311 change the date for qualification for presidential ballot Download file

Act 2003-313 Help America Vote Act modifications to Alabama election code Download file

HB 104 restoring the right to vote for certain ex-felons Download file (Governor is considering a veto)

HB 193 requiring voter ID before voting Download file (Governor has said he will sign this)

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Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall has a point by point refutation of the National Review Online article on the great Texas manhunt for the Killer D's. As usual, Marshall is witty, precise, and wonderful.

Posted by Ed at 7:29 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports:

Prominent Georgia Democrats on Saturday urged black leaders to focus on unregistered African-American voters to reverse historic gains by Georgia's Republican Party. There are about 600,000 unregistered black voters in Georgia, and tapping that reservoir of potential ballots is key to putting Democrats back in power, officials told the summer meeting of the 700-member Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials.

Thanks to Paul McCord of Political State Report for the link.

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Tom Edsall has this article, Westar a Saga of Money's Role on Hill, in today's Washington Post.

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In the second part of the "hire a congress member's relatives as a lobbyist" series, the Los Angeles Times today dissects the relationships of the Reids of Nevada to practically everyone else in the state. See In Nevada, the Name to Know is Reid.

Posted by Ed at 10:17 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

The special session dealing with redistricting will not have to rewrite the budget. Strayhorn, Perry reach budget deal.

Posted by Ed at 11:05 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

He will if the Republicans in the legislature and party leadership have any sway with Riley.

Republican lawmakers sent Riley a letter last week expressing opposition to the felon bill. Alabama Republican Party Chairman Marty Connors called Riley, arguing for a veto.

"There's no more anti-Republican bill than this," Connors said. "As frank as I can be, we're opposed to it because felons don't tend to vote Republican."

UPDATE: The quotation is from the Birmingham News.

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The DC Circuit has held in AFL-CIO v FEC,

At the close of such investigations [of alleged violations of the FECA], a Commission regulation has long required public release of all investigatory file materials not exempted by the Freedom of Information Act. In this case, the subjects of a now-closed investigation challenge the regulation as inconsistent with both the Federal Election Campaign Act and the First Amendment. We hold that the regulation, though not contrary to the plain language of the statute, is nevertheless impermissible because it fails to account for the substantial First Amendment interests impli- cated in releasing political groups' strategic documents and other internal materials.

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After Maryland adopted a congressional redistricting plan which divided Anne Arundel County among 4 congressional districts, Duckworth and others in the Republican Party sued on several theories. The district court dismissed and Duckworth took an appeal in which he raised only one claim: that the 14th Amendment forbids a state from diluting the political voice of the county using bizarrely-drawn districts. The 4th Circuit has now affirmed in Duckworth v State Administration Board of Election Laws.

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The Los Angeles Times has a story in its Sunday edition that begins,

Two years ago, when regional phone companies wanted Congress to make it easier for them to compete in the high-speed Internet market, they did what special interests usually do with billions of dollars at stake: They amassed an army of experienced lobbyists.

But one of the so-called Baby Bells didn't stop there. BellSouth also hired a pair of lobbyists distinguished by their family trees -- John Breaux Jr. and Chester T. "Chet" Lott Jr.

Hiring the members of the family of the Senator or Representative is an indirect way to get on the Senator's good side or to get "access."

A negative influence on a decision maker is found when a litigant hires a firm because of its ties to the judge and thereby force the recusal of the judge. The Eleventh Circuit just upheld Judge Lynwood Smith's decision to bar BellSouth from hiring a firm with a partner who is the nephew of the judge to whom the case was assigned. The case is In re BellSouth Corp.

(Thanks to Howard Bashman for the link. And congratulations to Howard on having 1.5 million page views.)

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MyDD has this great headline, The Freeloading Welfare Bush. The post is about Bush not contributing to the Presidential campaign financing fund (through the check-off box on his Form 1040), yet he takes public financing in the general election. "Disconnect? No, there's no disconnect. Just unpatriotic greed on display in the Bush administration. This is how Bush and his ilk view the system-- take whatever you can, and give back however little you can."

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Everyone has been assuming that Bob Graham will have to make a decision whether to run for the Senate or continue to seek the presidential nomination, but that has been thrown in doubt by a lawyer in Tallahassee. The Orlando Sentinel has both sides of the story.

Frankly, I don't think it will be much of a problem for Graham. We will probably know the Democratic nominee long before then. Take a look at the