[Lnc-business] Candidate contracts - legal advice?

[Daniel Hayes]

Thanks for that answer Nick.  I was thinking more about it yesterday and that was where my thoughts kept going.  It seems like it could be construed as some sort of financial coercion with regards to how someone votes.  
My instincts kept screaming "problems" in the back of my head before I even got the above thought.  The input from the former criminal defense attorney has probably fixed the word "problems" in concrete in my mind regarding this idea.


Daniel Hayes
LNC At Large Member

Sent from my iPhone

> On Oct 24, 2016, at 1:23 PM, Nicholas Sarwark <chair at lp.org> wrote:
> 
> I like the idea, but my guess is that it would expose us legally.
> It's a form of financial quid pro quo, albeit in reverse of how we
> typically think of it (i.e. I'll give you $10,000 if you vote for a
> tax increase.").
> 
> -Nick
> 
>> On Sat, Oct 22, 2016 at 9:41 AM, Arvin Vohra <votevohra at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Hi all,
>> 
>> A few years ago, we started doing candidate pledges. We basically based them
>> off the Norquist tax pledge, but made them about cutting government instead
>> not just not growing it. Some include sponsoring legislation to cut spending
>> to 1998 levels to eliminate the income tax, sponsoring legislation to cut
>> military spending by 60 percent, sponsoring legislation to repeal the
>> Patriot act, etc. The pledges are obviously voluntary.
>> 
>> I've been considering advancing this from a pledge to a (voluntary)
>> contract. There are two versions I have considered so far:
>> 
>> 1. The contract would be signed by the candidate, with any voter able to act
>> as a cosigner. The voter would download a signed pdf, sign it, and that
>> would put the contract into effect.
>> 
>> 2. The contract would be between the candidate and the LNC.
>> 
>> Unlike the pledge, the contract would have clear, defined, monetary
>> penalties. As in: "The candidate will oppose any tax increase for any
>> purpose, unless it is accompanied by a larger simultaneous tax decrease, or
>> will pay $10,000." Or something along those lines.
>> 
>> Looking for legal and other input.
>> 
>> -Arvin
>> 
>> --
>> Arvin Vohra
>> 
>> www.VoteVohra.com
>> VoteVohra at gmail.com
>> (301) 320-3634
>> 
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> 
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