NOTICE:  Posting will resume on Mon., Oct. 13.

More on Term Limits, from Rick Pildes and Elizabeth Garrett

     Rick Pildes and Elizabeth Garrett have written an outstanding post for Balkinization on  the experience with term limits.  They discuss the difficulties limits present for the experience and “time horizons” needed for effective legislative performance, one example (among others) being the crafting of budgets. They note that politicians remain politicians and that, barred from seeking additional years in one office, they devote their energies, with palpable effects on governance, to the next offices available to them. 

James Bopp and the Legal Significance of His "Truth" in Issue Advertising

     Jim Bopp and the editorialists at the New York Times are not of one mind on the issues of the day and if there is an exception here or there, no one would expect to find it in the realm of campaign finance doctrine.  And yet now, it seems that just that has happened:  a strange and expected convergence in their perspectives of 527 and other "issue advertising."  It has shown up in their beliefs that what an organization may or may not do legally depends, somehow and unexpectedly, on whether by one measure or the other, what it says is true.

The Fate of Term Limits as Reform

     The New York Times never liked term limits for the City and this is true now more than ever, when limits stand in the way of a third term for a "an effective and popular mayor."  Michael Bloomberg now wants another term, his third.  The Times agrees that he should have it, and Bloomberg is ready to spend hand-over-fist to win the term if the legal impediment can be removed.

"Voter Fraud" as Wedge Issue: the DOJ Report on the US Attorney Firings

     The Department of Justice Inspector General and Office of Professional Responsibility’s Report on the US Attorney firings is not a full-dress treatment of the topic, having been hampered by key witnesses’ refusal to submit to interviews.  It is a measure of the crudity and clumsiness of these firings that, on only the information that could be gathered, a clear picture of illicit motives and grubby tactics emerges.  In this election season, as we hear more about "fraud", the report is a reminder of the raw politics behind these assertions

Also...

Brad Smith Replies on Criminal Enforcement of the Campaign Finance Laws  9/30/08

CCP v. Democracy 21, on 527 Enforcement and the Role of DOJ  9/29/08

Now Mum on Caging Plans—But the Silence Tells All  9/25/08

The Times and the Issue of "527" Enforcement in 2008  9/24/08

McCain and His Anger  9/23/08

Fraud on the Election Law Listserv  9/19/08

Objections  9/17/08

On Change in Presidential Primary Financing  9/16/08

A Brief Editorial  9/15/08

This is the New York Times, And It Disapproves of John McCain's Message  9/12/08