Amicus brief by the Campaign Legal Center in support of Plaintiffs' Motion for Summary Judgment and in defense of Texas’ campaign finance laws. Amicus urges the Court to reject KSP’s baseless challenge to Texas’s campaign finance laws and to grant summary judgment in favor of plaintiffs Texas Democratic Party et al. (“TDP”) with respect to KSP’s counterclaim.

On September 4, 2019, CLC submitted the attached letter to the Government Audit & Oversight Committee of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. The letter urges the Committee to support a proposed ordinance that would increase both the rate of public-to-private matching funds in the city's public financing program and the total amount of public funding available to local candidates. CLC's letter highlights how New York City and other localities have successfully broadened citizens' participation in local elections through similar changes to their public financing programs. 

CLC asked the Department of Justice to investigate whether former U.S. Representative Jeff Miller violated federal law’s revolving door ban at 18 U.S.C. § 207(f) by registering as a foreign agent of Qatar less than one year after leaving Congress.

CLC filed an FEC complaint alleging that WeBuildTheWall’s solicitation violated the federal prohibition on corporate facilitation of contributions to candidates. The WeBuildTheWall corporation solicited its email subscribers for contributions to the United States Senate campaign of Kris Kobach.

CLC submitted written comments to New Mexico's Secretary of State regarding a proposed rulemaking on campaign finance. Our comments include recommendations to help ensure the Secretary's final rule provides meaningful disclosure of independent expenditures and prevents the circumvention of contribution limits. 

CLC filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) alleging that Bill de Blasio’s presidential campaign committee, de Blasio 2020, and two other political committees affiliated with de Blasio violated the law. The complaint cites evidence showing that, by routing money through a federal committee and a state committee, de Blasio 2020 allowed a small number of wealthy donors to support de Blasio’s candidacy above legal contribution limits.

On August 2nd, CLC filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to challenge the FEC’s failure to require disclosure and enforce the law against a multi-million dollar scheme run by the super PAC Correct the Record to coordinate its expenditures with Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign in violation of federal contribution limits and reporting requirements.

The Clinton-supporting super PAC, Correct the Record, asserts it can coordinate directly with the Clinton campaign as long as it doesn’t run paid advertising. CLC filed a complaint with the FEC alleging Correct the Record has violated federal election law by coordinating with Hillary Clinton.

The FEC dismissed CLC's complaint against Hillary for America and Correct the Record after a vote taken on June 4. The case files were made public 30 days after that.

A new report released today by CLC, in collaboration with the Daily Beast, reveals how multiple former Members of Congress who registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) have used their old campaign accounts to contribute tens of thousands of dollars to the same legislators they have lobbied on behalf of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and other foreign governments. CLC’s report, developed using FARA records and campaign finance reports from the past five years, underscores the importance of the Federal Election Commission (FEC) issuing clear rules for so-called “zombie campaigns,” such as requiring that old campaign accounts be shut down.

On July 11, 2019, the Supreme Court of the State of Washington affirmed a lower court decision upholding Seattle’s innovative democracy voucher public financing program. Plaintiffs challenged the public funding program as an unconstitutional use of tax dollars. The State Supreme Court rejected this argument holding that the program does not restrict plaintiffs’ First Amendment rights.

Campaign Legal Center, joined by Issue One, submitted comments to the Federal Election Commission on July 10, 2019 regarding proposed rules for disclaimers on digital political advertising.

CLC submitted joint comments with W.V. Citizens for Clean Elections to West Virginia's State Election Commission regarding its proposed campaign finance rulemaking. The comments make a number of recommendations that are intended to improve the rule's anti-coordination provisions, strengthen West Virginia's prohibition on foreign national election spending, and clarify other regulatory requirements. 

Federal law requires political committees to publicly disclose all of their receipts and disbursements, but the Federal Election Commission has issued a series of opinions that ignore these requirements and unlawfully exempt committees from disclosing their receipt and disbursement of valuable lists they exchange with other committees. CLC has filed a rulemaking petition asking the Commission to amend its regulations to clarify that a political committee’s receipt or disbursement of mailing lists and other valuable information must be reported.

On June 17, 2019, CLC submitted comments to the Wisconsin Ethics Commission regarding its proposed rulemaking on political advertising disclaimer requirements. We recommend that the Ethics Commission limit its interpretation of state law's exemption for certain online ads from disclaimer requirements, and also suggest adding "safe harbor" criteria for including disclaimers on different types of political advertisements.

CLC submitted a comment to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) regarding a draft interpretive rule about political parties paying for cybersecurity services.

On May 30, 2019, a unanimous 6th Circuit panel upheld all challenged provisions of Kentucky’s ethics and campaign finance laws. The appellate court found that the provisions barring state legislators from receiving gifts and campaign contributions from state lobbyists were constitutional, and that plaintiffs—one sitting state senator and one legislative candidate—lacked standing to challenge the corresponding restrictions on lobbyists themselves.

CLC urged the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate whether multiple individuals violated campaign finance law’s foreign national contribution ban and straw donor ban, as alleged in CLC’s complaint to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) on the same matter. 

CLC filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) alleging repeated violations of the foreign national contribution ban and the straw donor ban. The complaint outlines a two-year pattern of Chinese nationals being invited to U.S. political fundraisers at six-figure costs, often with promises of photos with President Trump, and then appearing at those fundraisers. The evidence suggests that U.S. nationals are being reimbursed for their political contributions with funds paid by Chinese nationals participating in these political tourism packages, in apparent violation of multiple provisions of U.S. campaign finance law.

CLC, Issue One, and five former members of Congress submitted a letter to the FEC urging it to proceed with a rulemaking on extending the personal use prohibition to politicians’ leadership PACs. Included with this letter was a copy of CLC and Issue One’s new report, All Expenses Still Paid, which documents the ongoing abuses of leadership PAC funds.

Read our original July 2018 report here, our July 2018 rulemaking petition here, and our November 2018 comments to the FEC here.