Washington think tanks awash in dark money

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/01/03/foreign-money-think-tanks-00196252?mc_cid=341212f8b4&mc_eid=54a3614468

Money from the Pentagon, industries, and foreign governments power Washington think tanks. While investigators were able to identify over $100 million in such money, the true total is hidden.

Nancy Pelosi and husband got $28 million in Covid relief funds

https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2024/12/18/nancy_pelosi_profited_as_luxury_napa_resort_won_covid-19_bailout_1078263.html

How households experienced the end of pandemic aid programs

https://www.crisesnotes.com/one-election-takeaway-voters-hate-temporary-safety-nets/?ref=notes-on-the-crises-newsletter

Nathan Tankus explains clearly why lower income households experienced pain when Dems were touting so-called great economy and labor market. 

How gerrymandering decided control of House of Representatives

https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/how-gerrymandering-and-fair-maps-affected-battle-house

Gerrymandering in North Carolina alone provided Republicans with enough seats to win the House. Democrats won 7 seats by gerrymandering, and Republicans won 23 that way. The net margin may end up being as little as one seat.

Musk spent $277 on 2024 election

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/12/06/elon-musk-trump-campaign-spending-fec/

Some of the spending came after Election Day but will likely be used to pay expenses of other PACs spent prior.

Voter engagement laws nullified in Missouri

Missouri Court Permanently Strikes Down Unconstitutional Restrictions Criminalizing Voter Engagement Efforts  

"Civic engagement organizations play an essential role in encouraging and enabling all eligible Missourians to participate in our democracy."

  

Jefferson City, Mo. - A Cole County Circuit Court judge issued a permanent injunction against four provisions of Missouri House Bill 1878 that criminalized voter engagement efforts and chilled the freedom of speech of organizations whose priorities are to register and educate voters. The challenge was brought by the League of Women Voters of Missouri and the Missouri State Conference of the NAACP, who are represented by the ACLU of Missouri, Campaign Legal Center, and the Missouri Voter Protection Coalition. 

The four blocked provisions include a criminal prohibition on compensating non-governmental actors registering voters; a felony criminal penalty for soliciting a voter to obtain an absentee ballot application; criminal penalties for anyone other than Missouri registered voters who engages in voter registration; and a requirement of volunteers who will register more than 10 voters to apply with the Secretary of State's office. 

The court found these provisions violate the freedom of speech and association, are vague and content-based, and violate due process, concluding that unless these provisions were struck down, "plaintiffs will once again be forced to reduce and cease engaging in certain protected speech and expressive activities related to promoting voter registration and absentee voting, or face enforcement and criminal penalties, including fines, possible jail time, and possible permanent loss of the right to vote." 

 

Marilyn McLeod, President of the Missouri League of Women Voters stated:
"The League has worked since 1919 to educate and empower voters, but House Bill 1878 criminalized some of our work, including giving someone a blank absentee ballot request form or encouraging a new citizen to register to vote. We are pleased that the court recognized that these restrictions were unreasonable and violated our constitutional rights." 

Nimrod Chapel, Jr., President of the Missouri State Conference of the NAACP stated:
"The restrictions contained in House Bill 1878 were a direct attack on the NAACP's work to engage and empower communities of color at the ballot box. These restrictions would have heightened the existing disparities that Black voters face by removing a vital resource to navigating the legislative barriers to ensure people of color can exercise their fundamental right to vote." 

The restrictions of House Bill 1878 went into effect on August 28, 2022, just ahead of the 2022 midterm elections. The court issued a preliminary injunction on October 24, 2022, following the voter registration deadline. The Court's Order last week makes that injunction permanent.
  

Lawyers for the ACLU of Missouri, Campaign Legal Center, and Missouri Voter Protection Coalition issued the following joint statement:  

"This is an important decision reinforcing that civic engagement work is constitutionally protected speech. These restrictions had a chilling effect on political speech, voter engagement, and participation in our democracy by limiting this work and enforcing strict criminal penalties against those who work every day to engage and educate voters on how to exercise their fundamental right to vote. At one time or another, most people have registered to vote at a college campus, a community event, or helped a loved one secure an absentee ballot application because they were unable to make it to the polls. We are gratified that the court saw these sham restrictions as an unconstitutional attempt to stop civic engagement organizations from encouraging participation in our democracy."  

Read the full opinion.  

New from American Promise

https://americanpromise.net/campaign-finance-roundup-november-21-2024/

Compendium of articles on campaign donations/spending in the recent elections

Charlie Cooper

M: 410-624-6095

Big money driving Trump agenda

https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/trumps-new-cabinet-will-make-israel?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=304318&post_id=151625357&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=cw8n&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email

Miriam Adelson gave/spent over $100 million for Trump's election. She joins Musk and a few other ultra-wealthy donor driving a move to install neo-cons and pro-Israel officials.

AG backs off on mailers

https://marylandmatters.org/2024/11/01/attorney-general-will-not-pursue-legal-action-against-mailer-of-threatening-voter-letters/

Attorney General Anthony Brown backed off on a cease and desist order on mailers issued by the Voter Participation Center that show that individuals' voting participation records can be widely publicized.

MAGA justices again misuse the "Shadow Docket"

https://www.stevevladeck.com/p/106-the-supreme-court-and-the-2024?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=1174827&post_id=151009247&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=cw8n&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email

 

The recent ruling allowing the Republican governor of Virginia to continue a program that removes people from the voter roll based on the possibility that they are not citizens was issued on the "Shadow Docket" with no explanation as to the rationale or why the higher court thinks the lower court erred in staying the program. [Democrats allege that some of the people being removed are citizens.]

Maryland AG orders halt to GOTV letters

https://marylandmatters.org/2024/10/31/state-orders-halt-to-mailings-that-left-voters-intimidated-shocked-and-ill-at-ease/

Some voters had complained that the letters, which show that individuals' voting participation records can be widely publicized, are intimidating. The Voter Participation Center says that the language in the letters is proven effective at encouraging people to register and vote.

[The Washington Post] Massive influx of shadowy get-out-the-vote spending floods swing states

Massive influx of shadowy get-out-the-vote spending floods swing states

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/10/17/get-out-the-vote-campaigns-election/

Independent spending, often by dark money groups, is trying to increase voter turnout with creative techniques. People are being paid to contact their friends and neighbors and ask them to vote.

Well, some of this activity may be positive, it is difficult to determine where lines may be crossed, and there is no chance of regulating this activity prior to the election. People would not know who is behind these. Get out the vote efforts in many instances.

 

Texas governor exaggerates to stir up fear about non-citizen voting

https://www.propublica.org/article/texas-noncitizen-voter-roll-removal-included-americans 

Fewer than 600 people have been removed from Texas voting rolls as non-citizens, but Governor Greg Abbott claimed it was 6,000 people.

Supreme Court declines to hear challenge to San Francisco's disclosure law

https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/4919230-supreme-court-dark-money-disclosure/ 

A Pair of Billionaire Preachers Built the Most Powerful Political Machine in Texas. That’s Just the Start. — ProPublica

https://www.propublica.org/article/tim-dunn-farris-wilks-texas-christian-nationalism-dominionism-elections-voting 

Ginni Thomas Email Praised Group Opposing SCOTUS Reform — ProPublica

https://www.propublica.org/article/ginni-thomas-email-scotus-ethics-reform-first-liberty-institute 

Documentary on Electoral College and January 6

https://www.salon.com/2024/09/30/one-person-one-vote-finally-a-film-that-explains-the-electoral-college-in-an-engaging-way/

Maximina Juson was making a film about the 2024 presidential election, focusing on the grassroots people (e.g., electors). She got caught up in the riot at the Capitol on January 6 and had contact with MAGA people there. She seeks to explain how the Electoral College system works.

Schweiker leads PA Republican group to encourage confidence in elections

https://www.meadvilletribune.com/news/barletta-schweiker-lead-republican-group-aiming-to-restore-faith-in-pennsylvania-elections/article_aae8864e-7b62-11ef-b4df-8fa0e7a11658.html

Former Republican governor of PA Mark Schweiker and others are defending election workers, encouraging confidence in elections procedures, and trying to boost the vote. He is saying that more safeguards than ever are in place. He said it was "fantasy" to think Pennsylvania's elections were "fraught with fraud." While Trump has said that mail-in voting is subject to fraud, there are separate GOP efforts to encourage Republican voters to use it.

[The Washington Post] Sweeping bill to overhaul Supreme Court would add six justices

Sweeping bill to overhaul Supreme Court would add six justices

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/09/26/supreme-court-reform-15-justices-wyden/

Sen. Ron Wyden's bill seeks to attack the problem of legitimacy that has plagued the supreme Court in a comprehensive way, addressing the number of justices and their terms as well as binding ethics requirements. In addition, it has some innovative provisions to keep the court from overstepping its bounds, for example, by requiring a super majority to overturn, a law passed by Congress.

 

Expiration of Trump tax cuts a rare opportunity for equity

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/tax-the-rich-2025

Huge capital gains tax breaks for the rich will expire, and Republicans will probably need a Trifecta to renew them.