William & Mary Law School | Election Law Society
State of Elections is taking a hiatus for the summer. We trust that all new election law cases, legislation, and events will also be going on hiatus as well.
We’ll return in Fall 2011, with new interviews and articles covering any election law events that may have had the audacity to occur during our vacation.
Alabama Republicans are back from the legislative wilderness after 136 years, and now it’s time for Dems to finally get their comeuppance—or is it simply ethics and campaign finance reform? Soon Republican Governor Bob Riley will likely sign into law several pieces of ethics reform legislation that his Republican-controlled legislature passed in last week’s special session. Senate Bill 2 amends Section 17-17-5 of Alabama Code to proscribe state employees from contributing to a political action committee or paying membership dues to any organization that uses any portion of its dues for political activity by payroll deduction or other payment.
To the chagrin of Alabama Democrats, SB 2 would disproportionately hurt public employee organizations and the Alabama Education Association, Alabama’s largest and most influential teacher’s union. According to figures from Bloomberg News, payroll deductions are a primary means for over 90 percent of Alabama teachers who wish to pay dues and support the AEA’s PAC. In the 2010 elections, AEA members’ contributions in excess of $8.6 million catapulted the teacher’s lobbying group as the state’s top spender. While SB 2 would still permit state employees to continue to use payroll deduction for any portion of membership dues not used for political activity, its certainly erects a new hurdle for AEA’s political fundraising efforts. Any Alabama Democrat mulling over a legal challenge would be wise to read the Supreme Court tealeaves by examining their decision in Ysursa v. Pocatello Education Association. In Ysursa, SCOTUS reversed the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals by upholding Idaho legislation similar to that of SB 2 that prohibited state payroll deductions for political activities.
While acknowledging the constitutional implications of the restriction, the Court ultimately recognized no affirmative right for groups to use state payroll deductions to sustain political speech or expression. In further justifying their decision, Chief Justice Roberts wrote “. . . Idaho is under no obligation to aid the unions in their political activities. And the State’s decision not to do so is not an abridgement of the unions’ speech; they are free to engage in such speech as they see fit. They simply are barred from enlisting the State in support of that endeavor.”
Furthermore, the Court cited Idaho’s interest in avoiding any appearance of combining government business and political activity. Pointing to precedent that upheld speech limitations to “avoi[d] the appearance of political favoritism,” and cases that found public confidence in government is susceptible to undermining through perception of political partiality, C.J. Roberts asserted “banning payroll deductions for political speech . . . furthers the government’s interest in distinguishing between internal governmental operations and private speech.”
Given Ysursa, any challenge by SB 2 opponents will likely be answered that the AEA has no affirmative right to gain access to potential political donors through government payroll operations. AEA donors may now easily write a personal check and even request payroll deductions for membership dues that will not go towards political activity. Questions of political motivations aside, it appears that the AEA and other Alabama organizations like it must recalibrate their operations in the face of increasing Republican capital and an ominous parallel decision from the Roberts Court.
Gregory Proseus is a second-year student at William & Mary Law School.
Permalink:
Senator John Miller of the Virginia Assembly introduced the William & Mary Law School Team’s winning Congressional Map as Senate Bill 5003. The team was asked to attend the Privileges & Elections Committee hearing yesterday where Senator Miller introduced the bill. Two team members, Nick Mueller and Meredith McCoy, attended the hearing to represent the WM Law Team. They were asked to speak about the map and then they fielded questions. They were lauded for the map’s concentric circle design. While the VA Senate may not adopt the map wholesale, it is now an official alternative, which is a big accomplishment for the team.
You can view the WM Law Team’s map and other proposals here. To find the Team’s map, select Congressional from the drop down box under “District Type” and then check the box next to SB5003. The VA Assembly is scheduled to come back on April 25 to adopt new Congressional redistricting lines.
Lincoln Chafee, a former United States Senator, emerged as the winner of this year’s Rhode Island gubernatorial race. Chafee received only 36% of the vote in a close election that featured three viable candidates. Additionally, a fourth candidate finished with 6.5% of the vote, which represents about twice the amount of Chafee’s margin of victory. Few can argue that Governor-elect Chaffee lacks the experience necessary to govern, but the real question in Rhode Island is whether a candidate who receives less than 40% of the vote should be deemed the winner of a statewide election. Some states’ laws require an additional runoff election that whittles down the number of candidates when no one candidate receives a majority. Many Rhode Islanders, including term-limited outgoing Governor Donald Carcieri, called for the institution of a runoff election following this year’s race. [Read more…] about The Runoff Debate Intensifies in Rhode Island Following Governor’s Race
Joan Mandle, executive director of Democracy Matters, was kind enough to share with us her thoughts on some of the important issues confronting the American election process at this time. Democracy Matters is a national nonpartisan organization dedicated to getting private money out of elections. It is the student branch of Common Cause, and in partnership these groups seek to remove the corruptive influence of money in politics, and ensure the accountability of elected officials, by establishing a viable system of publicly financed (or “clean”) elections on the state and national levels.
Democracy Matters’ staff and student organizers have been at work since 2001, when NBA player Adonal Foyle founded the organization. Six states and two localities already have clean elections, and Democracy Matters hopes to expand that list in its campaign to deepen democracy. [Read more…] about Interview with Joan Mandle, Executive Director of Democracy Matters