This is the Daily Media Update published by the Institute for Free Speech. For press inquiries, please contact Luke Wachob at [email protected].
|
|
In the News
By Scot Bertram
.....A new study on state laws that regulate political speech argues Illinois could do better in some key areas.
According to the Institute for Free Speech, which produced the report, “The Free Speech Index” examines how well each state supports the free speech and association rights of individuals and groups interested in speaking about candidates, issues of public policy, and their government.
“How much burden does the state put on groups that want a forum to talk about issues?” said Scott Blackburn, research director at the Institute for Free Speech. “How much burden does the state put on campaigns? Does it try and prohibit different avenues of speech and different timing of speech?” ...
The Institute ranked the states in ten categories including issues involving lobbying, electioneering, coordination, and campaign finance.
Blackburn said Illinois also falters by not allowing more donors to remain private.
“Their thresholds for disclosure are very low, meaning a very low standard for when someone's private giving switches over into information that's available to the public,” Blackburn said. “The Institute's general position is that private giving for private speech is an important part of sort of the democratic fabric of how the nation works.”
|
|
By Elizabeth Nolan Brown
.....The Free Speech Index is "a first-of-its-kind analysis of laws restricting speech about government in all 50 states."
|
|
The Courts
By Gary D. Robertson, AP news
.....The campaign committee for North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein, facing trouble for a TV ad aired against a rival in 2020, plans to ask a federal court to block enforcement of a state law making it illegal to knowingly circulate false reports to damage a candidate’s election chances.
The notice of appeal to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was filed Wednesday by the campaign’s attorney. It comes a day after a trial judge refused to bar Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman from potentially using the law to prosecute anyone over the disputed commercial. Lawyers for Stein have argued the law is overly broad and chills political speech.
|
|
FEC
By Cristiano Lima
.....Democratic officials are mounting a last-minute push to tank a plan by Google that would make it easier for campaign emails to bypass spam filters — which the tech giant proposed after facing allegations from Republicans that it was censoring their messages.
The Federal Election Commission is slated to weigh in Thursday on whether the proposal would break federal rules prohibiting companies from giving campaigns illegal non-monetary contributions...
Last week, agency staffers issued a draft opinion greenlighting the proposal and affirming that it “would not result in the making of a prohibited in-kind contribution.” The staffers wrote that the program would be offered “in the ordinary course of its business.”
If four of the agency’s six commissioners — split evenly between the two parties — approve the opinion, Google would have legal cover to proceed with the plan.
But the agency circulated another opinion at the behest of two Democratic commissioners late Wednesday calling for the plan to be shot down.
The draft argues that Google would be committing an illegal in-kind contribution by enhancing its existing service “only for certain political committees,” which would not be in its ordinary course of business. The opinion also suggests that “political considerations may have factored into the proposal.”
|
|
Free Expression
By Eugene Volokh
.....Last Tuesday and Wednesday, I blogged the Introduction and the beginning of the argument in favor of such statutes, followed by an explanation of why such statutes usually don't violate employers' constitutional rights. This week, I've discussed some other arguments against such statutes (and you can see the whole article right now, if you'd like, by looking at the PDF). Say, though, that we do conclude that there should be some protection for private employee speech. Just what sort of protection should this be?
|
|
Online Speech Platforms
By Zach Schonfeld
.....Twitter on Thursday said it was rolling out plans to combat misinformation on the platform ahead of the 2022 midterm elections.
Those plans include enforcing its civic integrity policy, which prohibits content that contains false or misleading information about the election or content that may suppress voting, preventing misleading tweets from being recommended to users, and protections for candidate and journalist accounts, Twitter said.
|
|
Candidates and Campaigns
By John McCormick
.....A top advertising-industry observer projects political ad spending during the current two-year election cycle will more than double as compared with the 2018 midterms and even exceed dollars spent in 2020 when the White House was in play.
AdImpact, a company based just outside Washington, says in a report that total spending is on pace to reach close to $9.7 billion. That compares with about $4 billion in the 2018 cycle and about $9 billion in the 2020 cycle, it said…
“An increasingly polarized electorate and easily accessible online fundraising tools have been major factors propelling this surge in spending,” the report says. “It no longer takes a presidential ticket at the top of the ballot to push a cycle near the $10 billion threshold.”
|
|
By Ben Kamisar
.....Wisconsin Republican Tim Michels, who had been backed by former President Donald Trump, won his gubernatorial primary Tuesday thanks in no small part to his own deep pockets.
Campaign finance reports show Michels gave his campaign at least $10.6 million, the vast majority of what he raised to fund his victory over former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch.
But while Michels' personal wealth helped to lead him to victory, that hasn't always been the case this election cycle. Wealthy, self-funding candidates have had a mixed record in primaries so far — only one of the five candidates in House and Senate primaries who loaned their campaigns at least $10 million advanced through their primary, per Open Secrets.
|
|
By Simon Schuster
.....Steve Liedel, an attorney with expertise in Michigan campaign finance law with clients including Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s campaign, said having a campaign helping to organize an event for a super PAC that later supports the candidate could be problematic, but it all depends.
“If you’ve got some indication that you know the campaign was involved in inviting people or doing anything at that event, or promoting the event, etc., then there’s an apparent issue and coordination,” he said. “Something folks can get sloppy.”
It still may not be against the rules, Liedel said, because what is considered improper coordination with a super PAC isn’t particularly clear in Michigan.
“It’s not defined really at all” in Michigan, Liedel said, noting advisers will often turn to federal rules in those instances.
Kenneth Gross, a former top attorney for the Federal Election Commission, said things aren’t much better defined in Washington, DC, but didn’t think Greene’s invitation from the campaign alone would be improper, though “It seems to me that if you’re going to assert independence, those are the kinds of things that you would try to avoid.”
“It’s just a very tough issue and it’s a very fact-sensitive determination. So it’s very hard to make coordination cases,” Gross said. “They’re among the most difficult cases to look into, under the best of circumstances.”
|
|
By Meryl Kornfield
.....Two Indiana officers were suspended after a stunning courtroom revelation that police thought a potential town council candidate was anti-police and arrested him, stopping him from running for office.
|
|
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 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
