The Latest News from the Institute for Free Speech May 9, 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 Raw Story: A government fund nobody uses just grew by another $4.7 million — here's why By Alexandria Jacobson .....The Presidential Election Campaign Fund — a once-popular resource for White House aspirants that hasn’t been used regularly in 15 years — is funded by a $3 check box that taxpayers encounter when filing their annual tax returns. Even though less than 4 percent of taxpayers checked the box in recent years, the fund continues to grow, now reaching $434.9 million as of March 31... During the early 2000s, “one could say that the fund was dying,” said Bradley A. Smith, a professor at Capital University Law School who served on the Federal Election Commission from 2000 to 2005, including one year as chairman. “You might say that it was starting to break up during that period at the beginning of the century.” ... “I think the Democrats realize nobody's using the fund, but it's almost like the dream is still there,” Smith said. “If the fund’s abolished completely, then you’ve got to reestablish the whole thing and pass on new legislation, whereas now, I think there's this hope that maybe it can spring back to life. They can amend it to get more money to the fund.” ... “To take the money almost is like putting a sign up saying, ‘I don't think I can win,’” said Smith, who also serves as chairman of the nonprofit Institute for Free Speech, which opposes many campaign finance regulations. “If you're running against Joe Biden … you know you’ve got to spend a lot of money, a lot more than you're going to get from the matching funds program, and the same thing on the Republican side. If you're going to match Trump or even [Florida Gov. Ron] DeSantis, who's sitting on a huge war chest, not all of which he can convert directly into running, but he's got huge fundraising capabilities, obviously, you have to realize that the matching funds program just probably is not going to give you enough to do it.” The Courts Deadline: Disney Cites Ron DeSantis’ Latest Comments And Actions In Updated Lawsuit Against Florida Governor By Ted Johnson and Dominic Patten .....The Walt Disney Co. filed an amended lawsuit against Florida governor Ron DeSantis after the state legislature moved to void a 30-year theme park development agreement. In the latest round of a escalating battle between the company and the prospective presidential candidate, Disney is citing some of DeSantis’ recent comments to make its claim that the governor’s moves are retaliatory strikes due to its opposition to a parental rights bill last year. Disney’s amended complaint — read it here — opens with a DeSantis quote from last week, in which he said, “[T]his all started, of course, with our parents’ rights bill.” Reason: School Mandates Milk Propaganda at Anti-Dairy Event By Emma Camp .....A California high school student wanted to pass out literature critical of the dairy industry outside her school's cafeteria—but the school administration wouldn't let her, fearing that, unless she passed out pro-dairy flyers as well, the school would be found in violation of U.S. Department of Agriculture rules that bar anti-dairy speech on school grounds. The student has now filed a First Amendment lawsuit—challenging both the school's policy and the UDSA's pro-dairy regulations. Axios: Judge places limits on Trump's social media posts about hush-money case By Sri Ravipati .....The New York judge in the hush-money criminal case against Donald Trump issued a protective order Monday that limits what evidence the former president can share publicly. Trump, who's running for president again, is barred from posting on social media about the case after his previous comments led prosecutors to demand limits... Trump cannot disseminate information about the case on "any news or social media platforms," including Truth Social, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Twitter, Snapchat and YouTube "without prior approval from the Court," per the order. FEC Campaigns & Elections: FEC Revises Auditing Process to Give Low-Budget Campaigns, Groups And State Parties a Better Chance to Comply By Sean J. Miller .....The FEC is in full agreement on this: It wants to make its auditing process easier for candidates, committees and state parties to comply with without having to engage a high-priced attorney or compliance firm. On May 4th, it passed by a 6-0 margin a new audit process for PACs that don’t receive public funds while at the same time revising other audit procedures. During C&E’s CampaignTech East conference last week at the MGM National Harbor, Commissioners Shana M. Broussard and James E. “Trey” Trainor III weighed in on the new process. Broussard emphasized that if the committee, candidate or party is being audited and they’re in “substantial compliance” then it should be an easier process for them to complete. The new auditing process has “definitely” made it “easier for people to access the information,” Broussard said. The Media New York Post: White House bans The Post from Biden event as Hunter indictment looms By Steven Nelson .....The White House press office barred The Post from attending President Biden’s only daytime public event Monday as federal prosecutors near a decision on criminally charging first son Hunter Biden for tax fraud and other crimes. Politico: Trust the Media? Don’t Believe the Latest Poll By Jack Shafer .....The research and analytics company YouGov published a new poll Monday designed to goose the commentariat into re-debating the whole “trust in media” question. YouGov asked respondents to rate the trustworthiness of 56 different print, broadcast, digital and social media outlets from “very trustworthy” down the scale to “very untrustworthy.” The poll produced a mountain of data, but whatever you do, don’t trust it to tell you anything meaningful about trust in media. The States Miami Herald (via Aol): County commissioners want to ban candidate faces from bus ads. Exception: Their own By Douglas Hanks .....Miami-Dade commissioners on Monday endorsed legislation strengthening the ban on county bus ads featuring candidates running for office but with one notable exception: Miami-Dade commissioners running for office. The county already bans campaign ads from Metrorail trains, buses and bus benches. Legislation filed by Commissioner Juan Carlos Bermudez would close a loophole on that restriction by also prohibiting ads that aren’t officially political but include a photo of an active candidate, such as one promoting the business of someone running for office. At Monday’s meeting of the board’s Policy Committee, Anthony Rodriguez, the commission’s vice chair, raised a concern that the Bermudez resolution would cover county advertisements with photos of incumbents in them. That could include transit promotions for rodeos, holiday gatherings and other events put on by commissioners themselves in the five months between the June deadline for candidates filing for office and the November elections. “It would preclude elected officials — us —if we’re having an actual county event after qualifying, from advertising on bus benches,” Rodriguez said. He requested the committee “ask the attorneys to amend the language to just exempting us, as elected officials, for county events.” New Jersey Globe: Two ELEC commissioners who quit look to rescind resignations By David Wildstein .....Two former members of the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission have pulled back their resignations and plan to hold a meeting to discuss plans to implement the Election Transparency Act that some say effectively gutted the agency. Stephen Holden and Marguerite Simon resigned in March in protest of the legislature’s passage of a controversial bill that raised campaign contribution limits, increased reporting requirements, and established a two-year statute of limitations on campaign finance violations. The new law allows Gov. Phil Murphy to directly appoint four new commissioners with a one-time exemption on confirmation by the State Senate. Holden and Simon, both retired Superior Court judges and Democrats, are seeking to withdraw letters of resignation sent to Murphy on March 30 since the resignations were never accepted. Another commissioner, Republican Eric Jaso, is not seeking to regain his seat. “Because you have used political blunt force to neuter and co-opt this venerable and honorable agency, I can no longer faithfully serve the purposes the Legislature originally intended,” Jaso, the now-former commission chairman, said in a scathing letter to Murphy. “Accordingly, I hereby resign, effective immediately.” New Jersey Globe: ELEC commissioner seats are vacant after resignations, governor’s office says By David Wildstein .....A spokesperson for Gov. Phil Murphy says that they view three seats on the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission to be vacant after the commissioners resigned on March 20. Washington Post: When should investigations into political candidates become public? By the Editorial Board .....Twelve days before Election Day 2022, D.C.’s Office of Campaign Finance (OCF) rebuked Council member Elissa Silverman (I-At Large) for allegedly misusing public campaign funds. The news spurred critical media coverage, including from this editorial page. Ms. Silverman lost her race for reelection. Seven weeks later, the District’s Board of Elections overturned the judgment. Ms. Silverman no longer had to pay the city $6,277.52. In her view, though, the damage had been done. While it’s impossible to know whether this episode cost Ms. Silverman her reelection, the case raises some thorny questions: What are the rules for government bodies when it comes to surfacing charges of candidate wrongdoing late in a campaign? How do authorities balance the need for voter information against the risk of unfairly tarnishing candidates? In Ms. Silverman’s case, it seems clear that D.C. officials got this balance wrong — and that this Editorial Board was too definitive in its assessment that the campaign office’s rebuke would be the final word on the law. At this point, the most productive course is to use Ms. Silverman’s case to spur thinking about safeguards in D.C. and beyond. As campaign regulations become ever more complex, city, state and federal officials should prepare to face similar dilemmas. 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 ‌ ‌ ‌ The Institute for Free Speech | 1150 Connecticut Ave., NW, Suite 801, Washington, DC 20036 Unsubscribe [email protected] Update Profile | Constant Contact Data Notice Sent by [email protected]