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

New York Daily News: Matching funds tempt corrupt pols & cost plenty

.....Former New York Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin likely sighed with relief when a judge dismissed criminal corruption charges against him in December. But taxpayers aren’t so lucky. They’re still on the hook for funding the money pit encouraging these corrupt politicians, New York City’s matching funds program.

Federal prosecutors claimed that Benjamin went to criminal lengths to rake in the tax dollars...

This isn’t unique to New York. Everywhere politicians enact tax-funded campaign schemes, slimy candidates across the country exploit them.

Daily Caller: Red State Business School Threatened Professor Over Conservative Views, Lawsuit Alleges

By Alexa Schwerha

.....A tenured University of Texas at Austin (UT) McCombs School of Business professor sued school leaders on Feb. 8 for allegedly threatening his career because of his public conservative views, the lawsuit reads.

Richard Lowery, McCombs School of Business associate professor of finance, publicly spoke out in various publications and on social media criticizing the school’s use of Critical Race Theory (CRT), Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) and affirmative action, according to the lawsuit. He began self-censoring after several school leaders began an alleged campaign to silence his speech by threatening his job, his pay and opportunities at the school.

Mediaite: ‘Sir, Sir, Probable Cause for What?’ Ingraham Baffled by House Republican’s Claim ex-Twitter Employees Will Be Jailed

By Michael Luciano

.....Laura Ingraham questioned Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA) over statements he made during an Oversight Committee hearing on Wednesday. She seemed unconvinced and even confused by his response...

At one point, Higgins told the witnesses they are going to jail...

On Thursday’s edition of The Ingraham Angle, the host who has been a relentless critic of Twitter and its moderation policies, asked Higgins about his remarks after citing liberal pushback against his claim.

Reason: Can the Feds Prosecute Douglass Mackey for His Twitter Trolling?

.....In a first-of-its-kind case, the Justice Department is prosecuting an internet troll, using a Reconstruction-era law to claim that a series of misleading social media memes were an attempt to "deprive individuals of their constitutional right to vote."

Brennan Center: Comment to FEC: Adopt more equitable rules for candidate salaries and benefits.

By Daniel I. Weiner and Harry Isaiah Black

.....On February 10th, the Brennan Center submitted a comment to the Federal Election Commission concerning candidate salaries and benefits. The current regulations only allow candidates to pay themselves the lower of two options with campaign funds: the salary of the office sought by the candidate or the candidate’s prior salary before running for office. This disadvantages candidates who previously worked lower paying jobs or part time, or needed to forego paid work altogether, often to care for others. These individuals are disproportionately women, people of color, LGBTQ+, and/or working class. The Brennan Center’s comment urges the Commission to adopt new rules for candidate salaries and benefits that make running for office more accessible.

Election Law Blog: My New Paper: “Nonprofit Law as the Tool to Kill What Remains of Campaign Finance Law: Reluctant Lessons from Ellen Aprill”

.....I have written this draft for a festschrift symposium issue of the Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review honoring my dear friend, Loyola Law School professor Ellen Aprill. Here is the abstract:

Epoch Times: Military Investigates Mother for Facebook Post Objecting to LGBT Banners

By Jackson Elliott

.....New Jersey mom Angela Reading didn’t expect a single Facebook post would deem her a “security threat” in the opinion of U.S. military officials.

New York Times: DeSantis, Aiming at a Favorite Foil, Wants to Roll Back Press Freedom

By Ken Bensinger

.....Mr. DeSantis is the latest figure, and among the most influential, to join a growing list of Republicans calling on the court to revisit the 1964 ruling, known as The New York Times Company v. Sullivan.

National Review: Progressive Activist Scrubs Website Targeting Harry Potter Video Game Fans

.....In response to backlash, a progressive activist has scrubbed the custom website he created just days earlier to expose fans of a new widely anticipated Harry Potter-themed video game to an online pressure campaign.

Washington Examiner: The Left’s disinformation racket is defunding conservative voices

.....Democrats have successfully pressured online platforms to censor conservative opinions, and it is time Republicans started fighting back.

New investigative reporting from the Washington Examiner shows that well-funded international nonprofit organizations are systematically labeling conservative outlets such as the Washington Examiner as “disinformation,” all for having the temerity to suggest that there are established scientific differences between men and women.

Here is how the scam works. First, Democratic politicians such as former President Barack Obama , Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) , and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) threaten online platforms with regulation unless they crack down on “misinformation.”

Washington Examiner: Disinformation Inc: Microsoft removes conservative sites from blacklist 'defunding' outlets

.....Microsoft has removed negative flags for conservative media outlets that have blocked them from reaping key advertising dollars amid the corporation launching an internal review and suspending its subscription to a "disinformation" tracking group's blacklist used to "defund" disfavored speech, according to internal data obtained by the Washington Examiner.

Daily Beast: Thieves Have a New Target for Big Paydays: Political Groups

By Roger Sollenberger

.....James E. Lee, CEO of the Identity Theft Resource Center, told The Daily Beast that political groups are in some ways “tailor-made” targets for fraudsters.

A review of Federal Election Commission online data shows reports of fraud dating back to 2004. However, that rate has dramatically increased, especially in the back half of 2022. While it’s not clear whether there are truly more incidents or just more reports of incidents, the data indicates about 180 instances of reported fraud during the 2021-2022 midterm cycle, around 15 more than 2019-2020—a presidential cycle. The 2017-2018 midterm saw about 83 reported incidents.

New York Times: George Santos and the Case of the Missing $365,000

By Grace Ashford, Alexandra Berzon, Ken Bensinger and Alyce McFadden

.....Representative George Santos has spent his campaign money in plenty of conspicuous ways, from lavish hotel stays in Las Vegas and Palm Beach, Fla., to an unusual slew of payments for exactly $199.99 — two cents below the threshold where receipts would be required.

New Mexico In Depth: Lawmakers seek to close big transparency gap

By Marjorie Childress

.....There were bound to be gaps in a 2019 revision to New Mexico’s dense elections transparency law that sought to force independent groups who aren’t required to register as political committees to disclose the money they spend in elections. 

This year, Sen. Peter Wirth, a Democrat from Santa Fe who shepherded the decade-long effort to pass those 2019 revisions, hopes to close that loophole and other gaps in the law with Senate Bill 42, co-sponsored by Sen. Katy Duhigg, D-Albuquerque, and Rep. Matthew McQueen, D-Galisteo...

Sludge: Minnesota Democrats Pass Voting Rights Bill in Committee

.....[I]n the 2022 midterm elections, Minnesota Democrats won a trifecta in state government, flipping control of the House. This week, three committees of the Minnesota legislature advanced a bill that supporters say would increase voting access, combat secret spending by groups in elections, and more.

Titled the Democracy for the People Act, the bill was among the first legislative items introduced by Minnesota Democrats this year, a sign of its priority. The Senate Committee on Elections passed the bill on Feb. 7, with the House Committee on Elections and Senate Transportation Committee passing it the next day. The bill will be heard next week in the House Transportation, Finance, and Policy Committee before it can receive a vote by the full body...

The Democracy for the People Act has been buoyed by We Choose Us, a coalition of grassroots organizations, unions, and advocacy groups in Minnesota, and its provisions align with the coalition’s Expanding Democracy Agenda.

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.