[Lnc-business] Suing the FEC...again

[Joshua Katz]

The following is what strikes me:
1.  Annual contribution limits, while they aren't ideal, appear to be
applied relatively uniformly, with the exception that the old parties,
due to size, have more "tricks" to get around them - but if money were
left to them in a will, they'd be in roughly the same boat.
2.  Getting annual contribution limits overturned would not be in the
political best-interest of the LP.  It can be objected that we
shouldn't want government intervention even when it is in our benefit,
and I agree.  However, I'm not sure there is a 'principled'
libertarian answer to contribution limits.  It's not like we're
talking true free-market entities when we talk about the old parties.
3.  We are in a cash-crunch, and could use that money now.  However,
we won't get it now even if we sue.  What we'll get now, or shortly,
is a lawyer's bill.  We will get the money, in a lump-sum (probably
subject to taxation at higher rates) in 1 or 2 years, if I read the
original message correctly, so it won't help us out of our current
situation, it may even exacerbate it.
4.  The amount of the bequest is greater than the cost of the lawsuit,
but we will still get it if we do not sue, we'll just get it over
time.
5.  It's quite nice to have regular, predictable income.

So from my standpoint, it's hard to see the value of filing a suit,
other than pure principle - but I'm not convinced that there is a
principle at stake here.  However, I could potentially be convinced
that there is a libertarian principle at stake in contribution limits
if someone wants to make the case.

Joshua Katz
Joshua A. Katz
Westbrook CT Planning Commission (L in R seat)


On Tue, Nov 11, 2014 at 11:54 AM, Sam Goldstein
<goldsteinatlarge at gmail.com> wrote:
> Do we need this money in a lump sum now or can we just treat the future
> annual contributions from the bequest as an annuity?   In the prior case did
> the bequest earn interest while we were waiting for it and did we receive
> the interest?
>
> Sam
>
> On Tue, Nov 11, 2014 at 2:34 AM, Nicholas Sarwark <chair at lp.org> wrote:
>>
>> On Mon, Nov 10, 2014 at 11:16 PM, Scott L. <scott73 at earthlink.net> wrote:
>> >
>> >
>> > Mr. Chair:
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > How much is the new bequest for?
>> >
>> At least $50K, but probably closer to $250K.  The exact amount depends
>> on the sale of assets from the estate and some other things.
>>
>> >
>> >
>> > Which court found that the issue was moot?
>> >
>>
>> D.C. District court heard the evidence, D.C. Circuit found that the
>> certified question was moot, as I understand it.
>>
>> >
>> >
>> > What is your  **estimated** likelihood that the ultimate deciding court
>> > will
>> > decide in our favor?
>> >
>>
>> Pretty good.  The Federal courts are leaning toward knocking down
>> contribution limits, see, e.g., McCutcheon (
>>
>> http://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/mccutcheon-v-federal-election-commission/
>> ) that invalidated the aggregate limit for an individual to multiple
>> committees.
>>
>> Alan Gura, who you may also know argued and won D.C. v. Heller (
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/District_of_Columbia_v._Heller ), wants
>> to bring this follow-up suit because we have a good chance to fix the
>> law in this area.  There is also little downside, since the worst
>> outcome is that the current annual limits are upheld with regard to
>> bequests, which is where we are now.
>> >
>> >
>> > Given our failure to obtain the correct decision in our recent ballot
>> > access
>> > case in Ohio, I am very skeptical that any judge hearing any  lawsuit
>> > brought by the Libertarian Party or any of its state affiliates will
>> > decide
>> > that case based on the facts of the case or on the law.
>> >
>> >
>> As mentioned above, campaign finance law has been moving in our
>> direction in a way that ballot access law has not.
>>
>> -Nick
>>
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>
>
>
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