Documents relating to the Hatch Act violation at GSA
beSpacific many more documents from the oversight hearings on the GSA Administrator's alleged political meetings on federal property.
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March 31, 2007
Scotland: Electoral Reform Society
The Electoral Reform Society Scotland's website has details about the two election systems to be used in Scotland's local and parliamentary elections. Go to Electoral Reform Society - Voting Systems.
March 30, 2007
Gonzales-8: connecting the dots
Scott Horton, speaking at the Ole Miss Law School, said: Eight US attorneys were dismissed by Alberto Gonzales on prodding from Karl Rove. We now know the fateful decision was taken on December 7 (an ironic day, as FDR said, "a day that will live in infamy"). As Gonzales and his deputies Paul J. McNulty and William Moschella trotted out various and contradictory after-the-fact rationalizations for this decision, it has become increasingly clear that the dismissals were politically inspired. Indeed, in the testimony that he has submitted to the Senate Judiciary Committee within the last two hours, Gonzales' chief of staff acknowledges as much.
The prosecutors selected for discharge come from "battleground states" which will be key to the 2008 presidential election: New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan, Washington and Arkansas. This is no coincidence. Shortly after the 2006 Congressional election, Karl Rove, licking his wounds over a serious defeat, indicated in a speech to Republican lawyers that the public perception of scandal surrounding GOP law-makers was key to that loss. Rove promised he would do something about it. Within a few days, a move to cashier these prosecutors was underway. It is tied to a plan to use their offices to go after Democrats, whether a basis existed or not, and to pursue a voter suppression program focused on prospective Democrats. In other words, it's pure politics. Not high politics in the sense that Aristotle uses the term. But the crude gutter politics of the partisan hack. This sort of politics is not the exclusive province of one party. But over the last years, one party has exercised a monopoly on political power, and this appears to have led to a particularly virulent strain of political hackery. -- Accountability and the Renegade Executive
March 29, 2007
Maryland: Senate approves National Popular Vote plan
The Washington Post reports: Maryland is poised to become the first state to agree to bypass the electoral college and effectively elect U.S. presidents by national popular vote under legislation moving briskly toward the desk of Gov. Martin O'Malley (D).
But the bill comes with a big caveat: It would not take effect until enough other states agree to do the same. "It's a long way from home," said Senate President Thomas Mike V. Miller Jr. (D-Calvert). "I don't know if it will happen in my lifetime."
The bill, which the Senate approved 29 to 17 yesterday, would award the state's 10 electoral votes to the presidential candidate who wins the most votes nationwide -- not statewide. A similar bill was approved yesterday by a House committee and is expected to come before the full chamber today, and O'Malley signaled his backing.
Supporters of the measure, being championed by a national nonprofit group, say deciding elections by popular vote would give candidates reason to campaign nationwide and not concentrate their efforts in "battleground" states, such as Florida and Ohio, that have dominated recent elections. -- Md. Senate Advances Bill To Dodge Electoral College - washingtonpost.com
"The Truth About Fraud"
The Brennan Center for Justice has opened a new website, The Truth About Fraud, explaining: Allegations of widespread fraud by malevolent voters are easy to make, but often prove to be inflated or inaccurate. Crying “wolf” when the claims are unsubstantiated distracts attention from real problems that need real solutions. Moreover, these claims are frequently used to justify policies – including restrictive photo identification rules – that could not solve the alleged wrongs, but that could well disenfranchise legitimate voters.
On a related note, the Washington Post publishes today an op-ed by Michael Waldman and Justin Levitt of the Brennan Center collecting the evidence for the tie-in between the firing of the Gonzales-8 and charges of "voter fraud."
March 28, 2007
Scotland: SNP pulls further ahead in latest poll
The Edinburgh Evening News reports: SCOTTISH Nationalists have increased their lead over Labour and are on course to become the biggest party at Holyrood, a new opinion poll showed today.
The Populus survey put the SNP ten points ahead on the constituency vote and seven points ahead on the regional vote.
This would give the Nationalists 50 of the Scottish Parliament's 129 seats, Labour 43, the Liberal Democrats 18, the Tories 17 and the Greens one.
But the poll also showed support for independence, the SNP's core policy, was just 27 per cent, well down on other recent polls. -- Edinburgh Evening News - Politics - SNP stretch lead over Labour but support for independence is falling
Ohio: "Liberal group challenges backers of 2004 gay marriage amendment"
AP Wire | 03/28/2007 | Liberal group challenges backers of 2004 gay marriage amendment
A liberal advocacy group asked the state's elections chief Wednesday to investigate whether backers of a 2004 gay marriage ban properly reported all the money they received and spent during the campaign.
Citizens for Community Values, the Cincinnati-based group behind the Ohio Campaign to Protect Marriage, immediately dismissed the claims by ProgressOhio.org as unfounded.
The constitutional amendment the group backed, which passed overwhelmingly, was credited with turning out Christian conservative voters who tipped the state's presidential results to President Bush.
In a letter to Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, ProgressOhio executive director Brian Rothenberg said the numbers didn't add up in a review the group conducted of campaign finance reports for various entities linked to the 2004 marriage campaign.
"Senate Committee Approves Bill to Speed Up Campaign Finance Disclosures"
CQPolitics.com reports: The Senate Rules Committee voted to expedite the Senate campaign finance disclosure process Wednesday after Republicans aired their growing frustrations with the limited opportunities for minority legislation.
The measure (S 223), approved by voice vote, would force members of the Senate to file with the Federal Election Commission electronically, which would shorten the process of making the filings available to the public by about a month.
Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein of California and other supporters of the legislation have argued that the bill’s only chance for enactment is to pass it as a stand-alone mueasure under unanimous consent. Identical bills failed to win Senate passage in the both the 108th and 109th Congresses.
When ranking Republican member Robert F. Bennett of Utah floated an amendment to eliminate the caps on party coordinated spending — a proposal that has some Democratic opposition — the bill’s large group of supporters accused him of trying to sink the measure. -- CQPolitics.com - From CQ Today: Senate Committee Approves Bill to Speed Up Campaign Finance Disclosures
North Carolina: House approves Election Day Registration
The Greensboro News-Record reports: North Carolinians would be able to register to vote on the same day they cast their ballot under legislation the state House tentatively approved Wednesday.
The measure only would apply to the period scheduled for early voting. Those wishing to vote on Election Day would have to register in advance. ...
Seven states have similar provisions. Turnout figures show election participation is about 10 percentage points greater there -- as high as 65 percent of eligible voters -- than in states with advance registration requirements. -- News-Record.com - Greensboro, North Carolina: News: Legislature: House tentatively backs voter registration change
White House official may have violated Hatch Act
Federal Times reports: Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee want to know whether a presentation given by a White House official to senior General Services Administration employees last January was also given at other agencies.
Democrats released the PowerPoint presentation at a Wednesday hearing called to address allegations of a series of improper actions by GSA Administrator Lurita Doan.
Slides list Democrat “targets” and vulnerable Republicans, along with other Republican electoral information. It was presented by Scott Jennings, White House deputy director for political affairs, at a luncheon teleconference for GSA senior staff and political appointees. Jennings, an aide to Bush administration adviser Karl Rove, also was involved in the firing of Bud Cummins III, one of the eight U.S. attorneys fired last year.
A Jan. 19 e-mail regarding the slideshow, sent from an unofficial e-mail address by Jennings’ assistant to Doan’s, says “Please do not email this out or let people see it. It is a close hold and we’re not supposed to be emailing it around.”
Democrats said the e-mail and the PowerPoint showed a violation of the Hatch Act, which bars federal employees from partisan political activity while on the job. -- Federal Times
TalkLeft has a link to an excerpt of the C-SPAN coverage of the hearing. Ms. Doan keeps insisting she does not remember ever seeing that Powerpoint slide before.
Update: NPR has the Powerpoint if you would like to read it without the "I honestly don't remember seeing that."
Pennsylvania: judge blocks referendum in Allegheny County
AP reports: Allegheny County voters will not get to decide in May whether the sheriff should be appointed rather than elected.
County Judge Eugene B. Strassburger III on Wednesday blocked the proposed referendum, saying the county has to wait five years after its last change to home-rule government to make any new changes.
The county amended its form of government in 2005 by allowing six of 10 previously elected row offices to be appointed. The county tried to bypass the five-year rule by having the decision on the sheriff's position take effect in 2010. -- PennLive.com: NewsFlash - Judge bars May vote on appointing Allegheny County sheriff
New Jersey: test of public financing to be run in 3 districts
AP reports: New Jersey will offer taxpayer cash to Assembly and Senate candidates in three districts this year in an effort to remove special-interest money from campaigns under a measure signed into law Wednesday by Gov. Jon S. Corzine.
Supporters hope the law will push New Jersey closer to having a statewide publicly funded campaign program, as Arizona, Connecticut and Maine have done. ...
Under the bill, candidates for the Assembly and Senate in three districts would be eligible for public campaign financing by first raising $10,000 in seed money _ all donations coming from individuals in amounts of $500 or less.
Candidates would then be required to collect only donations of $10. Upon collecting 400 donations, candidates would get $50,000 for campaign expenses, while collecting 800 donations would earn them $100,000. -- Corzine approves campaign finance reform - Newsday.com
Hebert, Rich, and Bickerstaff to discuss "DOJ politicization"
Press release: Two former Department of Justice officials will join a University of Texas law professor and election law expert to discuss politicization of the United States Department of Justice at an informal press event at the National Press Club on Friday.
The discussion will cover recent episodes of Department of Justice decision-making, including the dismissal of the eight U.S. attorneys, recent voter fraud cases, partisan enforcement of the Voting Rights Act, hiring of attorneys in the Department and approval of the 2003 congressional redistricting in Texas masterminded by former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.
The panel of three attorneys will discuss DOJ politicization under the present Administration. The panel includes two attorneys formerly with the Department of Justice -- J. Gerald Hebert, now Executive Director of the Campaign Legal Center and the lead attorney for the Congressional Democrats in the Texas Congressional redistricting suit, and Joseph Rich, who was Chief of the Division’s Voting Section from 1999 until 2005 and is now Director of the Fair Housing Project at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. Both Hebert and Rich served for decades in the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, spanning many Administrations.
University of Texas adjunct law professor and election law expert Steve Bickerstaff, joining Hebert and Rich on the panel, recently authored a book (Lines in the Sand) on the 2003 Congressional redistricting episode in Texas, the politicization of the DOJ and the downfall of Tom DeLay. He also was among the persons who wrote a recommendation letter calling for the confirmation of Alberto Gonzales as Attorney General in 2005, but has recently called for his resignation. Like Hebert and Rich, he has lengthy personal experience with the Department of Justice.
WHEN:
Friday, March 30, 9:30-11 a.m.
WHERE
Zenger Room, National Press Club
529 14th Street N.W., Washington, D.C.
Louisiana: Legislators ask AG to issue (or not issue) opinion on Breaux qualifications
The Shreveport Times
The Shreveport Times reports: A Republican and a Democrat on Tuesday jointly asked Louisiana Attorney General Charles Foti for a legal opinion on whether former U.S. Sen. John Breaux is a Louisiana citizen and eligible to run for governor this fall.
State Rep. William Daniel, R-Baton Rouge, and state Rep. Eric LaFleur, D-Ville Platte, chairman of the Legislative Democratic Caucus, asked Foti to respond "within the next five days if possible."
Later in the day, another bipartisan pair — state Sen. Noble Ellington, D-Winnsboro, and Rep. Jim Tucker, R-Metairie, chairman of the House Republican Caucus, who said they believe it's clear Breaux isn't a citizen — asked Foti not to issue an opinion, saying it would be improper because it is an issue likely headed for court.
Foti said his staff has been generally looking at the law since the question was raised by the Louisiana Republican Party through an ad campaign ironically developed by a media consultant who has worked for Foti. The attorney general said the research was merely preliminary and his office has only begun researching the specific question. His office will consider Ellington's and Tucker's issues, as well. --
Iowa: legislature adopts Election Day Registration
The Mason City Globe Gazette reports: Voter registration got a lot easier Tuesday as the Iowa Senate passed a bill that allows registration at the polls on Election Day, sending the measure to Gov. Chet Culver for an expected signature.
Also Tuesday, the Senate sent a bill to Culver that requires a paper backup for electronic voting machines.
Support for the Election Day registration bill was split 30-20 along party lines. Democrats said the measure would increase citizen participation, while Republicans warned that an easier process would lead to voter fraud. The current cutoff for registration is 10 days before an election. ...
Demos, a Washington D.C.-based advocacy group, issued a report Tuesday that says Iowa would have had 4.9 percent higher turnout in the 2004 general election if Election Day registration had been in place. Iowa set a turnout record in 2004, with more than 1.5 million ballots cast, which was roughly two-thirds of the voting-age population.
The report, written by faculty from New York University and the California Institute of Technology, says a disproportionate share of the new voters will be in the following categories: naturalized citizens, Latinos, African Americans, people ages 18 to 25, and people who have moved within the last six months. -- globegazette.com - Archived News Story
March 27, 2007
FL-13: ES&S memo shows company's "guidelines" in recount inquiry
The Bradenton Herald reports: Another memo from the maker of Sarasota County's touch-screen voting machines has mysteriously surfaced, with critics questioning whether this one showed the company tried to influence a review of the machines' source code.
In a Dec. 15 e-mail sent to a top Florida elections official, an Election Systems & Software vice president outlined several "guidelines" the company wanted an independent team of computer scientists to follow in its review. Among them were prohibitions against any statements about possible causes of more than 18,000 blank votes in the disputed 13th Congressional District race, which prompted the review.
The company also said it wanted to review the team's findings before they were made public, and that anything that violated a confidentiality agreement would be "destroyed (all copies hard of (sic) soft) and rewritten."
Critics quickly pounced Monday on the memo, first posted on a Wired magazine reporter's blog last week. -- Bradenton Herald | 03/27/2007 | Company's memo involving District 13 draws criticism
Maryland: paper-trail for voting machines appears dead in Senate
The Baltimore Sun reports: The Maryland Senate effectively sank a bill yesterday that would have required voting machines to generate a paper record that could be reviewed prior to election results being certified as official.
"This is obviously a ploy to kill any hope of getting it done in time for an election," said Del. Sheila E. Hixson, the Montgomery County Democrat who sponsored a House version of the bill. The measure mandated that the paper records be kept at polling places at a cost of $17 million to the state for fiscal year 2008 and $1.5 million for fiscal year 2009.
Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. was reluctant to back the Senate measure, which differed in some details, at a time when the state faces the prospect of significant deficits. Rather than vote on the bill, senators decided to send it back to committee. With two weeks left in the 90-day session, the measure is unlikely to be resurrected. ...
Last year, the House of Delegates approved similar paper-trail legislation, but the proposal died in the Senate. Linda H. Lamone, Maryland's elections chief, has warned lawmakers that rushing to implement a new system could complicate ballot counting in the 2008 presidential election. -- Vote trail hits dead end in Senate - baltimoresun.com
Connecticut: some 17-year olds will be allowed to vote in primaries
The Yale Daily News reports: Seventeen-year-olds who will turn 18 before Election Day may soon be allowed to vote in state primaries, pending the ratification of an amendment to Connecticut’s constitution.
Backed by Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz and State Rep. James Spallone, the bill, if passed, would make Connecticut the 10th state to enact such a constitutional revision. Bysiewicz said the bill — which was unanimously approved by the Government Administrations and Elections committee — is designed to encourage youth participation in the political process and to increase the amount of attention paid to youth issues.
Spallone said the proposal addresses the need to bolster voting among young people — the age group that consistently has the lowest turn-out — in order to encourage them to assume a more active role in politics. ...
Currently, 17-year-olds are not able to vote in primary elections even if they will be eligible to vote before the associated general election. The amendment would not lower the overall voting age to 17. -- Yale Daily News - 17-year-olds could vote in primaries
Maine: one candidate still owes the Clean Election fund
The Portland Press Herald reports: Four unsuccessful legislative candidates who faced possible legal action for failing to return or account for thousands of dollars in state campaign funds by the December 2006 deadline have since paid up.
But a fifth candidate who apparently owes more than $4,500 from last year's campaign has yet to refund the money, according to the state agency that administers the Clean Election Act.
The lone holdout among the five candidates is Debra Reagan of Sanford, a Republican who lost her bid for the Maine House of Representatives last November.
Reagan has neither returned nor explained how she used the $4,518 that she received for her campaign from the Clean Election Fund, according to the state Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices. -- All but one reimburse state election fund
March 26, 2007
Utah: CRS says at-large district would be constitutional
beSpacific
The Congressional Research Services says: Among other provisions, H.R. 1433 (110th Cong.), the District of Columbia House Voting Rights Act of 2007, would expand the U.S. House of Representatives by two Members to a total of 437 Members. The first of these two new seats would be allocated to create a voting Member representing the District of Columbia, and the second seat would be assigned in accordance with 2000 census data and existing federal law, resulting in the addition of a fourth congressional seat in the state of Utah. This report is limited to discussing only the constitutionality of the creation of an at-large congressional district. Based on the authority granted to Congress under the Constitution to regulate congressional elections and relevant Supreme Court precedent, it appears that federal law establishing a temporary at-large congressional district would likely be upheld as constitutional. -- Congressional Redistricting: The Constitutionality of Creating an At-Large District, March 20, 2007
Office manager indicted for embezzlement from the Women's Campaign Fund
The Washington Times reports: The office manager for a D.C.-based political committee has been indicted on charges of embezzling more than $80,000 and covering up the theft by destroying financial records.
Monica J. Cash, when office manager of the Women's Campaign Fund, wrote 58 checks to herself, then forged signatures before funneling the money into her bank account or cashing the checks, according to a recent indictment in federal court in the District. Miss Cash was arrested Wednesday and has been released on bond. ...
The group was not accused of wrongdoing. However, the purported theft resulted in the group apparently misstating expenditures in mandatory disclosure statements on file with the FEC, according to the indictment. -- Fund's ex-staffer indicted in fraud - Metropolitan - The Washington Times, America's Newspaper
March 25, 2007
Scotland: party policies preview
The ScotlandVotes website (produced by Weber Shandwick Public Affairs agency) describes the four principal parties' policies on several issues. Click on the "Party Policies" tab at the top of the page.
Scotland: SNP reveals details of its independence proposal
The Sunday Herald reports: SNP LEADER Alex Salmond would give Scots a vote on independence in 2010 should he replace Labour's Jack McConnell as first minister.
The Banff and Buchan MP has today confirmed, for the first time, the timing of the referendum, its cost, and the exact wording of the question, following talks with the civil service.
His plans, which have so far been kept secret, are revealed in an exclusive interview with the Sunday Herald, in which he sketches out the details of his referendum plan.
Salmond, whom opinion polls claim is in line to be the next first minister, has made a referendum on independence the number one priority of an SNP-led Scottish Executive. ...
Salmond also addressed the process by which he intends to deliver a referendum. A white paper, setting out the details of independence, would be laid within the first 100 days of the next parliament. An SNP-led Executive, he hopes, would then pass an enabling bill to give Scots the choice of independence in a referendum held in 2010.
However, in recent talks with the SNP, civil service officials expressed concern that the wording of the referendum question might not be covered by the powers of the parliament. ...
"Any talks with the civil service are private, but the wording on the ballot will be, The Scottish parliament should negotiate a new settlement with the British government, based on the proposals set out in the white paper, so that Scotland becomes a sovereign and independent state'. The responses would be Yes I agree' or No I disagree'."
In other words, a "Yes" vote would give Holyrood the right to negotiate an independence settlement, rather than a straight endorsement of a separate state.
As for the definition of independence in an SNP-led Executive's white paper, Salmond is keen to stress a separate state would involve ending the 1707 Treaty of Union, not the 1603 Union of the Crowns. -- The Sunday Herald - Scotland's award-winning independent newspaper
Scotland: who wants to run the country? -- Labour
Labour is the principal partner in the coalition government that leads Scotland now (the Liberal Democrats being the small, junior partner). Labour's leader, Jack McConnell is the First Minister (equivalent to the Prime Minister).
What does Labour want to do in the next term? Hard to tell right now from its website. The header across the top says, "More teachers More nurses More police," but there is no link from that to anything else. The headlines below that give the flavor of Labour's position now:
Translation: the Scottish Nationalists' program will leave you nasty, brutish, and broke.
Maybe we will learn more when the party releases its "manifesto" -- the party platform.
March 24, 2007
District of Columbia: Fenty to push DC voting rights bill, while Dem leadership pausing
The Washington Post reports: D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty is scheduled to meet with a top Bush administration official Monday to press for congressional representation for the city, a goal that has grown more complicated in recent days as House Republicans and the White House have stepped up their opposition to a pending bill.
Fenty announced his meeting with White House Chief of Staff Joshua B. Bolten as supporters of a D.C. vote bill hashed out strategies to send it back to the House floor for passage.
The Democratic leadership of the House had expected that the measure giving the District its first full-fledged seat in the chamber would pass easily Thursday. But, at the end of a lengthy debate, Republicans moved to send the bill back to committee with new language that would overturn the city's strict gun laws.
The surprise maneuver was aimed at winning support from conservative Democrats from pro-gun areas. Fearful they would defect, Democratic leaders pulled the bill from the House floor. -- Fenty to Meet With Bush Official to Push Measure - washingtonpost.com
March 23, 2007
New U.S. Attorneys have worked on voting-related cases before appointment
McClatchy Newspapers wire reports: Under President Bush, the Justice Department has backed laws that narrow minority voting rights and pressed U.S. attorneys to investigate voter fraud - policies that critics say have been intended to suppress Democratic votes.
Bush, his deputy chief of staff, Karl Rove, and other Republican political advisers have highlighted voting rights issues and what Rove has called the "growing problem" of election fraud by Democrats since Bush took power in the tumultuous election of 2000, a race ultimately decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Since 2005, McClatchy Newspapers has found, Bush has appointed at least three U.S. attorneys who had worked in the Justice Department's civil rights division when it was rolling back longstanding voting-rights policies aimed at protecting predominantly poor, minority voters.
Another newly installed U.S. attorney, Tim Griffin in Little Rock, Ark., was accused of participating in efforts to suppress Democratic votes in Florida during the 2004 presidential election while he was a research director for the Republican National Committee. He's denied any wrongdoing. -- KRT Wire | 03/23/2007 | New U.S. attorneys seem to have partisan records
Massachusetts: Springfield trial suspended for legislative action
The Springfield Republican reports: A federal judge today suspended a voting rights trial while legislation to reform the election system in Springfield is pending in the Legislature.
U.S. District Judge Michael A. Ponsor said he did not want to interfere with a home rule petition providing limited ward representation on the City Council and School Committee. The petition was approved by the council and mayor last year. If it clears the Legislature, the measure will be decided by voters in the November election.
"I think that process should go forward in its pure form," Ponsor said at a hearing in U.S. District Court today.
Ponsor said he will stay the trial until one week after the November election. Either side may move to lift the stay in the meantime. -- Judge suspends Springfield voting rights trial
Louisiana: Breaux will run ... if he gets the AG's OK
AP reports (and reminds me of a story about former Earl Long): Former U.S. Sen. John Breaux said Friday he will run for Louisiana governor if the state attorney general determines he meets the legal requirements to enter the race.
Breaux told The Associated Press he'll give up his lobbying job in Washington, D.C., and begin campaigning if the ruling is in his favor. He said he's aware that he would face tough attacks from Republicans but wants to be governor so he can help Louisiana recover from the 2005 hurricanes. -- NOLA.com: NewsFlash - Breaux: I'll run for governor if AG opinion says it's legal
As soon as I read that first paragraph, I was reminded of one of Earl Long's campaigns. Earl had been committed to the Southeastern Louisiana State Hospital on grounds of mental instability during his last term as governor. While later running for a seat in Congress, Earl is reputed to have said, "I am the only candidate in this race who has a certificate that he is sane." (As a friend used to say, "If it ain't true, it ought to be.")
Scotland: who wants to run the country? -- SNP
In the years before the Scottish Parliament was established, I always thought of the Scottish National Party as a party working for the independence of Scotland. Perhaps I was wrong. Let's look at what they are campaigning on now.
The SNP still talks about independence (and it is linked from the home page), but the three main issues mentioned on its home page are:
Will the SNP push independence if it wins the election? The Sunday Herald reports:
A NATIONALIST-LED Executive at Holyrood [*] would stage an independence referendum in its first term, according to SNP deputy leader Nicola Sturgeon.In a keynote speech to her party's conference in Glasgow yesterday, Sturgeon denied reports last week that the SNP would "park" their principal policy.
Where does the SNP get its campaign funds? I will have to track that down, but a big donation just came from a controversial source. Again, as reported in the Sunday Herald:
SNP LEADER Alex Salmond was last night accused of pandering to "homophobia" by accepting a £500,000 donation from an anti-gay businessman.The SNP yesterday confirmed that Brian Souter, who financed a high-profile campaign to keep Section 28, which banned "promoting" homo-sexuality in schools, was bankrolling their election hopes with a cheque for £500,000.
Can the SNP win? In early March, Angus Reid Global Monitor, a polling organization reported:
The Scottish National Party (SNP) remains the top political organization in Scotland, according to a poll by ICM Research published in The Scotsman. 34 per cent of respondents would give their local vote to the SNP in this year’s Scottish Parliament ballot.
The figures for all the parties were as follows (the first figure is for the local constituency vote, the second for the regional vote):
Scottish National Party ........34% 32%
Scottish Labour ...................29% 28%
Scottish Conservatives .......16% 15%
Scottish Liberal Democrats ..16% 17%
Scottish Green ........................ -- 5%
[*] "Holyrood" is the location of the Scottish Parliament.
Scotland: prison inmate loses in quest for release to vote
BBC News reports: A judge has refused to free a prisoner who wanted to register to vote in the Scottish Parliament elections.
However Donald Birrell - who complained that his human rights had been breached - may still be able to win damages.
Birrell was let out on licence in May last year but is now back in jail after the licence was revoked last month. ...
Under current laws - the 1983 Representation of the People Act - a ban on voting is imposed on all prisoners being held under a sentence.
Remand prisoners and those freed on licence are allowed to cast their vote. -- BBC NEWS | UK | Scotland | Judge denies inmate's voting bid
FEC splits over whether Bush '04 campaign overspent
The Washington Post reports: The three Democrats on the Federal Election Commission revealed yesterday that they strongly believe President Bush exceeded legal spending limits during the 2004 presidential contest and that his campaign owes the government $40 million.
Their concerns spilled out during a vote to approve an audit of the Bush campaign's finances, which is conducted to make sure the campaign adhered to spending rules after accepting $74.6 million in public money for the 2004 general election. ...
The dispute centered on the use of what the commissioners called "hybrid" ads, which were intended to promote both the president and Republican members of Congress. The Bush campaign argued that it should not bear the full cost of these ads, so it split the tab with the Republican Party.
As a result, only half of the cost would count toward spending limits imposed on the campaign when it agreed to take public funds. -- FEC Democrats Say Bush Violated Limits - washingtonpost.com
Alabama: House passes campaign disclosure bill, despite charges of Bible-trampling
AP reports: The Alabama House continued its efforts Thursday to reform the way election campaigns are financed.
The House voted 105-0 for a bill that requires disclosure of those paying for advertisements about a candidate, including material sent by mail and calls from a phone bank. The sponsor, Rep. Randy Hinshaw, D-Meridianville, said the bill is aimed at anonymous ads, phone calls and flyers that say disparaging things about a candidate, but include no disclosure of who paid for the material.
Current Alabama law requires financial disclosure only for ads that specifically ask people to vote for a certain candidate, Hinshaw said. ...
Hinshaw received a warmer reception than he has in past years for similar legislation that would have forced nonprofit organizations to disclose the source of funding to influence votes on issues such as creating a lottery or tax increases. That bill elicited a negative response from some lawmakers, who said the bill was aimed at forcing the Alabama Christian Coalition to disclose the sources of its money.
Several lawmakers questioned Hinshaw at length Thursday about whether this bill would force churches to disclose the names of contributors.
"I want to make sure we are not restricting any religious freedom," said Rep. DuWayne Bridges, R-Valley. "I just want to make sure the Bible is not being trampled on by this bill or any other bill." -- House passes bill requiring disclosure of money for campaign ads
Alabama: Senate leaders send PAC bill to new committee
AP reports: A House-passed bill to ban PAC-to-PAC transfers of campaign funds got assigned to a fresh committee in the state Senate Tuesday by two leaders pushing for its passage.
Lt. Gov. Jim Folsom Jr., the Senate's presiding officer, and Senate President Pro Tem Hinton Mitchem, D-Union Grove, teamed up to assign the bill to the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, where they said it will have the best chance of winning approval.
In recent years, the House has passed the bill and watched it die in the Senate Constitution, Campaign Finance, Ethics and Elections Committee or get approved so late in the legislative session that it never came up for a vote in the Senate. -- AP Wire | 03/20/2007 | Senate leaders send PAC transfer bill to friendlier committee
March 22, 2007
Scotland: Who's in Parliament now
The Scottish Parliament has 129 members -- some elected from constituencies and some elected on a proportional basis from party lists in regions. Here are the numbers for the biggest parties:
The regional seats are used to provide overall proportionality to the allocation of seats in the Scottish Parliament. Note that the Conservatives and LibDems have the same number of seats, but got them in very different ways.
Finally, the Labour and LibDem parties are in the governing coalition.
Joe Rich ties in the Gonzales-8 with earlier DOJ treatment of voting rights staff
Joe Rich, the former chief of the Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department, testified at the House oversight hearings on the Civil Rights Division. His testimony is here.
More on the Bilbray decision
Paul Lehto writes exclusively for Votelaw.com: I was lead counsel in this case along with Ken Simpkins assisting in this unpublished 2-1 decision, and at trial and on appeal we expressly argued and pointed to the various and severable kinds of relief available in an election contest, and we expressly waived one small part of that relief, that of an order directing Congress to unseat Bilbray -- since that would be unconstitutional for any Court to do under Art. I, sec. 5.
But despite carving this out of the case, many other issues remain, like vindicating the strong public policy in accuracy in elections, and the many other issues that could be summed up by saying: THE TRUTH IN ELECTIONS STILL MATTERS. The voters still have a California constitutional right to have their votes counted properly and tabulated properly, and time has not run out to have a look at vindicating those rights. The Court of Appeals ignored them, however, thus ignoring the voters.
Also, the question of legitimacy and accuracy are ones that are relevant even now, were we to discover evidence about this or even some ancient election. Moreover, without substantive review, in any case the Registrar of Voters is going to repeat most of the same mistakes in all of future elections and indeed already has in the November 2006 election.
One fact that this article and the North County Times omits but that the opinion references is that fully 68,500 votes were still uncounted according to the Congressional Record for the date of the premature swearing in, according to the letter therein sent by the California Secretary of State. (the number may be somewhat less because it was dropping daily, but still substantial numbers of votes had not been counted even once at the time Bilbray was sworn in, in a close race separated by around 4000 votes in final numbers but there were more suspicious absentee ballots than that margin, alone, without discussing other problems.)
Also, the court dismissed on mootness grounds in a 2-1 opinion EVEN THOUGH the defendant appellee Bilbray did not brief or argue mootness, even at oral argument on January 8, 2007, which was after the close of the Congressional term that allegedly created the mootness. This makes sense that Bilbray failed to argue mootness because there are many other issues at stake besides the question of who sits in the seat of power, indeed the lawsuit for the election contest explicitly waived the right to an order directing Congress to unseat anybody.
So, the only circumstance that occurred through the passage of time (expiration of the term and thus the availability of a seat-change) was the same thing that was waived all along (namely that of seat-change, because Constitutionally not available). If the court's opinion is correct, then, the suit was moot on the day it was filed because it could not directly change the seat in Congress. This would mean that all citizen election contests are barred on the day they are filed because they don’t DIRECTLY change who sits in Congress. But states still have an independent right to police their own election machinery, and existing judicial opinions already contemplate the procedure of a state court proceeding to judgment and then directly forwarding its decision to the House, which can adopt it or else conduct its own recount. In this sense, what might be considered an "advisory" opinion is expressly affirmed in the context of elections where state sovereignty is considered strong along with federal sovereignty... The Congress can still learn and act by not prematurely swearing in candidates in the future because it terminates the democratic process prematurely, changes the rules and expectations after the election compared to before, and upsets the balance of powers between state and federal jurisdictions in what is sometimes indelicately called a “power grab.”
The CA Constitution contains an express provision providing CA citizens with the right to have their votes counted properly and tabulated properly. This was entirely ignored in the opinion.
The Court, which implicitly treats congressional seats NOT as being from, by and for We the People, but as being the personal property of candidates whose concession is often considered of great weight if not dispositive, when really it has little or no weight from the standpoint of democracy. The 50th Congressional seat is owned by the People of the 50th, and only subletted to the legitimate winner of that seat, and then only for two years. The landlord of the 50th Seat, as it were, should not be treated this way.
What this UNPUBLISHED 2-1 opinion seems to allow, as a secondary effect, is a state of affairs where short term special elections are free for the stealing or for swearing-in abuses -- because surely the clock will run out either by the first or second appeal in a short term.
In fact, we asked for expedited appeal in September, but the Court of Appeals only offered December dates and later January dates, both of which would result in opinions being issued when the case was "moot." In effect, the Court's own scheduling decision resulted in the mootness opinion. If abortion cases were decided this same way, we'd never have a decision on an abortion case either, because that right lasts a maximum of 6 months, just like June 6 to early January special term is just over 6 months...
We hoped to be more enlightened about the Interplay of Art I, esc 4 and Art. I sec. 5 of the federal Constitution, but that will have to wait for the next court that hears this issue, either in this case or the several other places around the country where this argument has been used to terminate recounts or vote counts in mid-stream (by Congress) just as the US Supreme Court issued a stay in 200 that terminated Florida recounts in mid-stream. Issues of election termination have a profound public interest attached to them and should not be the subject of failures to decide via “mootness” opinions.
Arizona: petition drive starts to amend Independent Redistricting Commission law
Capitol Media Services reports: Some former state lawmakers and their allies want voters to revamp a 7-year-old law on how congressional and legislative districts are drawn in hopes of creating some more competition at the general election ballot box.
But the head of the Arizona Republican Party said it's simply an effort by a well-heeled Democrat to get more members of that party elected.
An initiative drive formally launched Wednesday would revamp the Independent Redistricting Commission which actually draws the lines every decade, adding four new members. That change will ensure there are people from more parts of the state.
But the real change would be to require that the commission pay more attention to creating "competitive" districts -- those where the Democratic and Republican candidates have relatively equal chances of getting elected. -- More 'competitive' districts wanted in revamp of law | www.azstarnet.com ®
Wisconsin: Madison to consider public financing of council elections
The Capital Times reports: Agreeing to let a committee with expertise in election finance reform draft a city election public financing ordinance for the Madison City Council to consider in September proved painful Tuesday night.
As Ald. Brenda Konkel, who supported the proposal to work toward publicly financed local elections, said during the emotional hour and a half debate: "There is a lot of anger in the room." ...
The successful resolution requires the mayor to appoint, with the approval of the council, seven citizens with a demonstrated interest and expertise in election financing. The committee will have six months to come up with recommendations on public financing of election campaigns for City Council, mayor and municipal judges. Then, the council will have to decide if it wants to implement the recommendations or even a modified version of them. Union Corners, etc.: In other business, the council voted 17-1, with Konkel dissenting, to grant a $4.9 million tax increment financing loan for Union Corners, a mixed-use development on 15 acres bounded by East Washington Avenue, Winnebago and Milwaukee streets. -- The Capital Times