This is the Daily Media Update published by the Institute for Free Speech. For press inquiries, please contact [email protected].
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The Courts
By Paul Bedard
.....A pro-Trump political action committee went to federal court Thursday to force the Federal Election Commission to rule on a three-year-old claim that Michael Bloomberg’s 2020 presidential campaign “laundered” $18 million through the Democratic National Committee.
In its new lawsuit filed with the U.S. District Court in Washington, Great America PAC said it was tired of waiting for the politically divided FEC to act and was asking that the agency be forced to move.
“We’ve waited patiently, and now we’re not,” the PAC’s legal counsel, Dan Backer, told Secrets in previewing the suit.
At issue is Bloomberg’s mammoth contribution to the DNC that was used to help then-Vice President Joe Biden beat former President Donald Trump in 2020.
Despite dumping $935 million of his own money into his campaign, Bloomberg never caught fire in the election. When he got out after just a few months, he took all but $18 million back, transferring the remainder over to the DNC. The transfer was described as “historic” in glowing media reports.
Great America PAC, however, filed a complaint with the FEC, arguing that the money was essentially Bloomberg’s personal funds and that election rules put a $35,500 cap on personal contributions to political parties.
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By Ufonobong Umanah
.....The US Postal Service will not be ordered to distribute a stamp critical of the landmark Citizens United Supreme Court campaign finance decision, after the service shuttered its custom postage press, the D.C. Circuit ruled Friday.
Anatol Zukerman’s design featured Uncle Sam being strangled by a snake labeled “Citizens United” and configured as a dollar sign. The design was originally denied as too partisan by Zazzle Inc., operating as a contractor running USPS’ customized stamp program, despite the fact it had published other stamps with political messages in the past. USPS later moved to prohibit all political stamps before shuttering ...
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By David Thomas
.....A federal appeals court in Philadelphia on Thursday questioned whether a free-speech advocate and Pennsylvania attorney can pursue his First Amendment challenge against the state's adoption of an anti-harassment and discrimination professional rule for lawyers.
The 3rd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel pressed a lawyer for plaintiff Zachary Greenberg on the threshold issue of Greenberg's standing to sue, asking whether his presentations as a program officer for the non-profit Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression would violate the rule.
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FEC
.....At its open Meeting April 19, the Commission will consider approving a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Commission and the Department of Justice (the Department) as well as an accompanying Federal Register notice publishing the text of the MOU.
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Free Expression
By J.D. Tuccille
.....It's no secret that Americans fundamentally disagree over who should get to jam their vision of the good life down their opponents' throats. We're so at odds that some people even question whether the United States should continue as a unified country. Worse, these divisions are driven less by strong bonds among allies than by hostility to opponents and the institutions they control. As damaging as polarized politics are to domestic tranquility, the hate-based version is even more pernicious since it creates potentially insurmountable barriers.
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Candidates and Campaigns
By Alex Isenstadt
.....Former President Donald Trump’s 2024 fundraising has been turbocharged by his indictment, according to new figures provided by his campaign.
Trump raised a combined $18.8 million in the first quarter through his joint fundraising committee and his campaign, the latter of which is required to report its first-quarter financial activity on Saturday…
“In general, any time a candidate’s name is all over the media and dominating attention, it’s good for fundraising,” said Eric Wilson, a Republican digital strategist. “The wall-to-wall coverage just put him top of mind for donors.”
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By Steven Shepard
.....When Nikki Haley’s presidential campaign announced its first quarterly fundraising haul earlier this month, the figure sounded impressive.
The former U.N. ambassador’s campaign said it had raised $11 million between her mid-February launch and the end of the quarter on March 31. It got that figure by saying Haley’s campaign had $5.1 million in receipts, along with $4.4 million for Team Stand for America, a joint fundraising committee, and $1.2 million for Stand for America PAC, a Haley-launched leadership PAC.
But after Haley filed her first-quarter report to the Federal Election Commission late Saturday, an altogether different story has emerged. Her campaign’s math didn’t add up.
What Haley’s campaign and two affiliated groups actually raised was about $8.3 million. The discrepancy between the Haley campaign’s public statements and the numbers on the filings appear to be a case of double-counting.
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Independent Groups
By Gabe Kaminsky
.....Democratic members of Congress have raised concerns over the influence of dark money and co-sponsored legislation that aims to require greater disclosure of campaign spending. Still, a handful of these same lawmakers received support from ads and mailing services during the November elections from a super PAC affiliated with Climate Power, a project of a left-wing dark money group called Fund for a Better Future that has ties to Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss.
"When it comes to political campaign finance, fundraising, and donations, everyone's a hypocrite," David O'Brien, policy director for the nonpartisan ethics watchdog RepresentUs, told the Washington Examiner. "That's just the system we've got. Even if you really care about this stuff, you have to engage with the system to some extent. You have to make these compromises. And that's the problem."
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The States
By Katie Bernard
.....Kansas’ ethics watchdog agency will have its subpoena powers curbed after seeking information from numerous Republican activists and leaders last year.
Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly signed a bill Friday that alters the power of the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission, most notably requiring the agency to earn the permission of a judge before filing a subpoena.
The bill is a compromise Kelly’s administration brokered between the ethics commission, Republican lawmakers and the attorneys of a GOP consultant under investigation.
Earlier this year, Republican lawmakers initially pursued wide-ranging legislation that would have dramatically changed Kansas’ campaign finance law and stripped many of the commission’s powers.
Lawmakers supporting the original bill said the goal was to ensure due process for those investigated by the commission but the bill came as the commission was midway through an investigation into alleged campaign finance violations involving a wide range of Republican officials.
The most controversial pieces of the bill were removed before the Kansas House and Senate voted with bipartisan majorities to send the bill to Kelly. But lawmakers have promised to revisit the concepts in an interim committee on campaign finance law.
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By Jim Small
.....The Arizona Supreme Court on Friday unanimously affirmed First Amendment protections for political commentators, ruling that lower courts should have swiftly rejected a defamation lawsuit that a failed Republican U.S. Senate candidate brought against a talk-radio host.
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By Michael R. Wickline
.....With no fanfare in this year's regular session, the Legislature repealed an 8-year-old state law barring a candidate or public official from displaying one or more campaign banners, campaign signs or other campaign literature larger than 12 inches by 12 inches on a vehicle belonging to the candidate or public official while on state Capitol grounds.
Three former candidates for state-elected offices have challenged the constitutionality of the law in Pulaski County circuit court.
Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed House Bill 1600 by Rep. David Ray, R-Maumelle, on April 4, according to records in the secretary of state's office. The bill is now Act 456 of 2023. It will become effective 90 days after the Legislature adjourns its regular session. The Legislature may adjourn May 1 or sooner.
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By Heather Lauer
.....But a curious thing happened in Idaho: Senate President Pro Tempore Chuck Winder and other leaders killed [the Personal Privacy Protection Act (PPPA)] , refusing to even allow it to be presented to the public.
There is not another state in the country where the PPPA has been blocked from being considered. It’s a bad look for Idaho.
It’s also deeply disappointing because the PPPA would protect the privacy and First Amendment rights of all Idahoans — regardless of their beliefs. It would protect someone who donates to Planned Parenthood Action Fund from having their name and home address collected and publicized by a state agency, which could lead to a supporter being targeted at their home or fired from their job. Donors to Idaho Chooses Life would enjoy the same protections.
We can and should debate each other on policy issues, but as Americans, we must agree on the right to disagree.
In fact, the PPPA is supported in states across the country by a broad-based coalition of nonprofits, including the ACLU, Americans for Prosperity, Americans for Tax Reform, NAACP, environmentalists, family policy groups, LBGTQ groups, family policy councils, right to life groups and chambers of commerce.
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Read an article you think we would be interested in? Send it to Tiffany Donnelly at [email protected]. For email filters, the subject of this email will always begin with "Institute for Free Speech Media Update."
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