Skepticseye.com

Now Charlton Heston has passed away.  (”Civil rights leader?“)

I have a picture in my mind of Herb Alexander and Heston in line, waiting to be checked into the afterlife.  I’ll bet they get along.

Brilliant, grumpy campaign finance czar Herb Alexander has departed this life. The Post and the NYT both featured very thoughtful obits. John Samples offers thoughts here. USC’s In Memoriam is here, with a great photo.  CCP’s thoughts are here.
I first met Herb as one of the counsel for the Thompson Investigation - the staff called me one day to say there was “this guy” in the office that wanted to talk to someone about offering testimony when the time came. I figured it was, you know, just a “guy” and then Herb Alexander walked into my teeny little office. We had a blast talking about how much fun it was to do state-level campaign finance research on the Internet. And grumping about some of the more outlandish reforms being bounced around the Hill at that time.

The last time I had the pleasure of talking with him was at a Cato campaign finance conference in, I believe, 2006. He was frail and accompanied by a nurse, but generally in feisty spirits with lots to say about everybody there. (Heh).

Here’s a link to Alexander’s Frontline Interview from pre-BCRA, just for fun. I hope someone sat down with him to take an oral history.

In my continuing effort to achieve scholarly excellent through EBay purchases, I have acquired a copy of the Election Laws of Vermont from 1885.  Ch. II, Sec. 35 includes among the requirements for suffrage that a voter “is of a quiet and peaceable behavior . . .”

While registration was not a prerequisite, each town’s selectman was required at least 30 days prior to an election, to make a list of qualified voters, which was then publicly posted.  At least 15 days before the election challenges to the list could be considered.  (Ch III Sec. 42 & 43.)  The right to vote was determined by the list (Sec. 49).  Voters supplied their own ballots, of course - BYOB!

The don’t write headlines like these anymore.  Each of these appeared in the Chicago Daily Tribune in the early 1930s:

“Scrappy Blonde Admits Robbing Nearly 100 Men.” (1931)

“Wife of Pastor Loses to Rival Living in Home: Gives Him Up to Blonde Without Bitterness” (1933)
“U.S. Impeaches Dillinger Case Blonde Witness” (1934) (described as “sarcastic.”  No!)
“Blondes Bailed After Swimming In Their “Undies”" (1934) (They were on their way home from a party, bail was $25).

Readers of this blog should be familiar, if they aren’t already, with the wonderful publication that is the Green Bag.  Check out the 2008 Green Bag Almanac, in particular the item at p. 111 titled “The Non-Partisan Fact-Finding Committee for Hoover 1932″ which features details from the 1932 campaign’s effort to solicit favorable economic opinion from luminaries, and several less-than-enthusiastic responses.

One response from Minnesota: “The prevailing tendency in campaign consideration of economic problems appears to be that of being more concerned with popularity of the expressions rather than with their soundness or adequacy.”

(Really! This was hardly new, even in 1932.)  Another points out that the Roosevelt and Congressional Republican economic plans are in fact quite similar, and a third (from the President of Dartmouth College) accuses the Republican party of claiming a monopoly “on all of the wisdom and all of the patriotism.”  At least some things change.

I now own a lovely little booklet, titled “Practical Directions for the Holding of Elections and the Canvassing of Votes Under the New Election Laws” for New York City election inspectors, from 1849.

Among its other delights, it explains that under New York law, no person shall be permitted to vote “who shall make or be interested directly or indirectly in any bet or wager, depending upon the result of any election, at which such person shall offer to vote.”

Not really.  For one thing, we’re not exactly celebrities.  And there’s no claymation involved.

But if you’re a hardcore Voter ID groupie, this radio debate between Wendy Weiser (of the Brennan Center) and yours truly might be of interest.

N.B. The linked file is in the form of an mp3 “podcast.”  However you needn’t be an IPod owner to listen to it.

I found this paragraph in an 1894 Chicago Daily Tribune, and wonder if the writer was on to something . . .

In the pending contest, we observe that the German Democrats are almost a unit against corruption, and it is creditable to that race that the same may be said of them in almost any large city.  We all know how it is in Cincinnati, where the German wards may always be expected to roll up majorities against anything that smacks of corruption in municipal affairs or unsoundness in finances  You do not find them anywhere bellowing for cheap money, but always demanding sound money.

And don’t forget Octoberfest! (Citation:  Chicago and new York, Chi. Daily Trib. Nov. 2 1894 at 3, available in ProQuest Historical Newspapers.)

Sergeant Tyrrell taught the Band to Play.

Gary, wherever you are (Half Moon Bay, I think . . .), best wishes!

Today’s nominee for absurd over-the-top campaign finance journalism belongs to Bloomberg.com, and comes with the headline - Watergate-Era Fundraising Returns With Clinton, Obama, Giuliani.

Who’s the functional equivalent of Maurice Stans today? Bundlers! Yes, ladies, and gentlemen, having volunteer fundraisers go out and get federally limited contributions from their friends and associates is the same thing as raising hundreds of thousands of dollars at a time from corporations.

Maybe the “Watergate-era” fundraising patterns the article meant to reference was the small-donor base supporting George Wallace . . .?