Thursday, December 31st, 2009
David W. Jones, THE NEWS HERALD, 12/30/09. WILLOUGHBY, OH — What’s next now that the 2010 Census year begins in the district of U.S. Rep. Steve LaTourette, with the count including all citizens and immigrants legal, illegal or known? Think all of Ashtabula, Geauga and Lake counties, big hunks of Summit and eastern Cuyahoga counties and small parts of Portage and Trumbull counties. . . . As reported repeatedly and to be told again, the national numbers could mean that Ohio will lose two of its 18 congressional districts. Read More
Thursday, December 31st, 2009
Joan Biskupic, USA TODAY, 12/29/09. WASHINGTON DC — At the unveiling this month of a marble bust of the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist, Justice John Paul Stevens saluted his former colleague as a model of efficiency. He noted that when the court had to issue a swift decision in 1981 related to the transfer of Iranian assets after the release of U.S. hostages in Tehran, the justices agreed that Rehnquist could get the job done.
Rehnquist, who was then an associate justice, finished the decision within eight days of oral arguments, and all justices signed the opinion upholding the president’s power to agree to the deal requiring transfer of U.S-seized assets back to Iran.
There was some irony in Stevens’ anecdote, told as all the current justices sat in the court’s Great Hall looking at the bust. They have another fast-track case before them, involving a less momentous yet still closely watched dispute, over campaign-finance regulation. Some hitch has emerged in the dispute that the justices heard in a special sitting in September and that could change governments’ ability to regulate corporate and labor union spending in political races.
The court recently left for a month-long winter recess — without a decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. That confounded legal analysts, including law professor Richard Hasen, who had predicted in the fall that the court would get the case done before 2010 to clarify constitutional rules at the beginning of the upcoming congressional election cycle. Read More
Thursday, December 31st, 2009
FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION, 12/29/09. WASHINGTON – House and Senate candidates seeking office in 2007-2008 reported over $1.42 billion in receipts, according to campaign finance reports filed with the Federal Election Commission. The 2,382 candidates who participated in primary and general election campaigns for the U.S. Congress spent a total of $1.38 billion during the two years. Total receipts of 2008 congressional candidates declined by more than 1% compared with 2006, while total disbursements declined by almost 3%. Read More
Thursday, December 31st, 2009
Greg Girou, CONGRESSIONAL QUARTERLY,12/30/09. WASHINGTON DC — For many Americans, Dec. 31 might involve party-hopping, watching the ball drop in Times Square or making some short-lived resolutions and promises. For those who operate in the political world, New Year’s Eve also is an important campaign finance deadline that spawns the kind of urgent-sounding, last-minute solicitations for political donations.
The national party committees and candidates for Congress like to bank as much money as they can by year’s end to project an image of financial strength to political opponents (and to the political reporters and pundits who analyze campaign finance documents). One such e-mail solicitation came Wednesday from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which is only slightly ahead of the National Republican Senatorial Committee in year-to-date fundraising despite having a large, 60-40 majority. Read More
Wednesday, December 30th, 2009
Mark Naymik, THE PLAIN DEALER, 12/29/09. CLEVELAND — State Auditor Mary Taylor officially begins her review of the Ohio Lottery Commission next week, two months after lottery officials tried to close the door on her by arguing that the attention is unwarranted.
Auditors and lottery officials are scheduled to sit together next Wednesday at kick-off meeting during which the approach and scope of the audit will be outlined. Read More
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