skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

CT Campaign Finance Limits in the Legal Balance

play audio
Play

Friday, May 16, 2014   

HARTFORD, Conn. – You might call it Connecticut's version of Citizen's United – and the case could be headed for oral arguments next week.

The Democratic Governors Association (DGA) wants an injunction to prevent the state from enforcing campaign finance law, because the governors say it violates their free-speech rights.

Cheryl Dunson, co-president of the League of Women Voters of Connecticut, says at issue are unlimited campaign contributions, which Connecticut does allow – but only if they are independent expenditures.

"The bedrock of an independent expenditure is that it be independent,” she says. “So it has to be without the consent, or coordination, or consultation with a candidate."

Gov. Dan Malloy is a member of the association, and as finance chairman helped the group raise $20 million in 2011.

Dunson says the DGA is demanding a blanket guarantee that this kind of fundraising may never serve as an indication of coordination under state election laws.

She says this case goes to the heart of the law and whether the state can place reasonable requirements for groups and individuals that seek to make unlimited contributions.

"In 2013, changes were made to Connecticut's Campaign Finance Law, and among the changes were revisions to the definition of independent expenditure,” Dunson explains. “This lawsuit is going to the core of whether rules governing coordination with campaigns will survive."

Dunson says a ruling in the DGA's favor could spell the end of the requirement that unlimited campaign expenditures in Connecticut be independent.

"What they are seeking, in essence, is to make unlimited expenditures in support of Connecticut Gov. Malloy's candidacy at that same time that Gov. Malloy is fundraising for the Democratic Governors Association," she says.

The League of Women Voters of Connecticut joined Connecticut Common Cause and The Campaign Legal Center in a friend-of-the-court motion in support of the current law.






get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021