May 4, 2023

Click here to subscribe to the Daily Media Update.

This is the Daily Media Update published by the Institute for Free Speech. For press inquiries, please contact [email protected].

In the News

Freedom of the Press Foundation: More than 45 orgs call to drop charges against Asheville journalists

.....Last month, an Asheville, North Carolina, judge convicted two journalists of trespassing for doing nothing more than recording police conducting a homeless encampment sweep at a public park on Dec. 25, 2021. The journalists, Matilda Bliss and Veronica Coit, are entitled under North Carolina law to a second trial, this time with a jury.

Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) led a coalition of over 45 organizations calling on Buncombe County District Attorney Todd Williams to drop the prosecution immediately. The letter, sent on World Press Freedom Day, explains that “[t]he journalists should be commended — not tried — for spending Christmas away from their families to perform the public service of documenting important news.”

Congress

House Committee on Oversight and Accountability: Grassley, Comer Demand FBI Record Alleging Criminal Scheme Involving Then-VP Biden

.....Senate Budget Committee Ranking Member and long-time whistleblower advocate Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) today are demanding the FBI produce an unclassified record alleging a criminal scheme involving then-Vice President Joe Biden and a foreign national. The document, an FBI-generated FD-1023 form, allegedly details an arrangement involving an exchange of money for policy decisions. Comer issued a subpoena today following legally protected disclosures to Grassley’s office.

Fundraising

Politico: Leonard Leo used Federalist Society contact to obtain $1.6B donation

By Heidi Przybyla

.....Leonard Leo, who helped to choose judicial nominees for former President Donald Trump, obtained a historic $1.6 billion gift for his conservative legal network via an introduction through the Federalist Society, whose tax status forbids political activism.

Daily Beast: Emails Reveal ‘Jaw-Dropping’ Herschel Walker Money Scandal

By Roger Sollenberger

.....When Herschel Walker emailed a representative for billionaire industrialist and longtime family friend Dennis Washington in March 2022, he seemed to be engaging in normal behavior for a political candidate: He was asking for money.

But unbeknownst to Washington and the billionaire’s staff, Walker’s request was far more out of the ordinary. It was something campaign finance experts are calling “unprecedented,” “stunning,” and “jaw-dropping.” Walker wasn’t just asking for donations to his campaign; he was soliciting hundreds of thousands of dollars for his own personal company—a company that he never disclosed on his financial statements.

Emails obtained by The Daily Beast—and verified as authentic by a person with knowledge of the exchanges—show that Walker asked Washington to wire $535,200 directly to that undisclosed company, HR Talent, LLC.

And the emails reveal that not only did Washington complete Walker’s wire requests, he was under the impression that these were, in fact, political contributions.

The States

Texas Tribune: House committee advances tweak to free speech protection law, prompting fear from First Amendment advocates

By Matthew Watkins

.....A state House committee on Wednesday voted to move forward with a proposed change to the way Texas protects news organizations and individual people from certain frivolous lawsuits, drawing fears from advocates that a critical free speech protection could soon be weakened.

Senate Bill 896 would revise the 2011 Texas Citizens Participation Act, known as the anti-SLAPP law, which is designed to protect people and companies from lawsuits aimed at intimidating or punishing them for exercising their First Amendment rights.

Gotham Gazette: Budget Includes $39.5 Million for New State Public Campaign Finance System

By Ethan Geringer-Sameth

.....State lawmakers this week approved Governor Kathy Hochul's proposed $39.5 million allocation to New York's new campaign finance system, including base funding for a small-dollar public match.

The funding includes $25 million for public matching funds that will be available to participating candidates running for statewide and legislative offices beginning in 2024. It also includes the full $14.5 million sought by administrators to run the program.

The new system, passed by Democrats in 2020, lowered individual contributions limits and will multiply small, in-state or in-district donations starting at a 6-to-1 match for contributions below $250. Modeled on New York City's decades-old system and the Campaign Finance Board that runs it, good government groups say the new state system will make outsider candidates more competitive, help increase diversity among state-level elected officials, and incentivize candidates to engage with more voters.

Spectrum News: Maine state senator decries ‘carnival of corruption,’ calls for ban on foreign government spending

By Susan Cover

.....Sen. Rick Bennett is urging fellow lawmakers to fight back against what he described as a “carnival of corruption” in politics that is sometimes fueled by foreign money.

The Oxford Republican supports LD 1610, a citizen-initiated bill that would prohibit campaign spending by foreign governments in referendum elections...

The Maine State Chamber of Commerce and Maine Forest Products Council are opposed to the measure, according to comments submitted to the Legislature’s Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee.

Ben Lucas, a chamber representative, said the bill “would present serious operational difficulties for Maine businesses and impede their ability to protect and advocate for their legitimate interests.”

“Additionally, we believe that this legislation is targeting a specific company, Hydro-Quebec over the New England Clean Energy Connect,” he wrote. “This is not a reasonable way to make policy and it sends a troubling signal to companies that may be looking to invest in Maine that they could be the subject of targeted legislation like this.”

FIRE: Florida just doubled down on the Stop WOKE Act, and the new bill is just as unconstitutional

By Joe Cohn

.....The Florida House of Representatives voted today to send Senate Bill 266, approved by the Florida Senate on Friday, to Governor Ron DeSantis’ desk.

The legislation doubles down on the Stop WOKE Act, which unconstitutionally bans ideas a majority of Florida lawmakers disfavor from college classrooms, despite the fact that FIRE, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and the American Civil Liberties Union secured a preliminary injunction from a federal court last November blocking Florida’s public universities from enforcing the law.

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."

The Institute for Free Speech is a nonpartisan, nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that promotes and defends the First Amendment rights to freely speak, assemble, publish, and petition the government. Please support the Institute's mission by clicking here. For further information, visit www.ifs.org.

Follow the Institute for Free Speech