Mr. Sandler spoke to USA Today in the wake of the long-awaited Supreme Court ruling in the matter of Citizens United vs. FEC about  the implications that the decision would have in terms of partisan advantage.  Mr. Sandler told Fredreka Schouten and Joan Biskupic that “the ruling created no partisan advantage because it frees Democrat-allied unions to tap their treasuries.”  Read the full article here.

Mr. Sandler also told Newser, “They’re going to be getting hammered much closer to Election Day on the air. That will make it tougher to cast tough votes,” about the potential for a proliferation of negative campaign ads aimed to coerce legislators into voting for or against a certain issue.

Mr. Sandler echoed this sentiment to the National Journal.

Sandler told Hotline reporter Reid Wilson that if, as expected, the decision opens the floodgates to more issue ads, the new ads will likely put even more pressure on incumbents seeking re-election.  Said Sandler, “You will see more sharp-edged, candidate-specific ads on the air closer to the election.  That could make it more difficult for incumbents to take tough votes in an election year.”  Read the full article here.

Joe Sandler and Neil Reiff testified before the Federal Elections Commission Wednesday in response to the notice of proposed rulemaking addressing the definition of “federal election activity.”  Both proposed modifications to the definitions of “Get Out the Vote Activity” and “Voter Registration Activity” in response to the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in Shays v. FEC (Shays III).  Their testimony centered on the difference between encouragement and facilitation as far as federal election activity is concerned.

Read their comments and listen to the full testimony here.