Founding Partner Neil Reiff was quoted today in an article in the National Law Journal about what lies ahead for the IRS as it deals with the fallout from targeting Tea Party affiliated groups. The IRS is facing a heavy backlash after reports surfaced that they selectively targeted conservative groups applying for 501(c)4 tax-exempt status. With Congressional oversight likely to ramp up in the coming weeks, questions are emerging about how the IRS will deal with political organizations that register for tax exempt status going forward. Mr. Reiff told the National Law Journal that IRS oversight of such groups’ activity might be curtailed: “I think it’s a huge deal. Has the IRS been wounded to the point they have to pull back?” And since reports indicate that conservative groups were the main focus of the IRS’ targeting, Mr. Reiff warned that with Republicans “howling fairness,” liberal groups “could be girding for backlash and added scrutiny.”
Neil Reiff was quoted today in a story in Campaigns and Electionsmagazine on the role of Super PACs going forward. While many stories were written in the last week about the ineffectiveness of larger Super PACs, especially on the Republican side on the Presidential and Senatorial levels, Mr. Reiff argued that a more focused approach by Super PACs will be the way to go. He pointed to CREDO Super PAC, which spent under $700,000 to successfully oppose a number of Tea Party Republicans. Although Mr. Reiff told Campaigns and Elections that although flooding the airwaves became counterproductive for SuperPACs, they will refocus in future elections on improving get out the vote efforts.
Neil Reiff was quoted in a Mother Jones article discussing the latest developments in campaign finance and election law cases. The article explains that after waves of cases that led to the rise of SuperPACs and deregulated campaign finance laws, including Citizens United v. FEC, a new wave of decisions has begun to limit and even roll back their impact. It’s here that Mr. Reiff tells Mother Jones: “The free speech crew’s winning streak has hit a bump in the road.”
A new editorial by Neil Reiff was published in Campaigns and Elections magazine this morning. Titled “The Weakening of State and Local Parties,” Mr. Reiff discusses how ten years after the passage of BCRA, the law has crippled the ability of state and local parties to raise and spend money in non-federal races. While the rise of Super PACs has led to hundreds of millions of dollars of largely unregulated contributions and expenditures over the last few years, new regulations and court decisions have continued to restrict what state and local parties can do more and more.
Mr. Reiff argues that state parties serve a vital role, and through grassroots organizing, they can serve as a counterbalance to the negative media games that Super PACs play. Thus, Congress must act to restore some semblance of a level playing field for state and local parties.
Neil Reiff was quoted in a new Mother Jones article about the big impact that Super-PACs are having not only on the Presidential level, but also on state and local races. The article argues that even in large states like California, the average cost of winning a state Senate race is less than one million dollars. Thus, “Super-PACs playing at the state level don’t need to drop millions to make a big impact, says Neil Reiff, a veteran Democratic election attorney. In a crowded state-level or congressional primary with three or four candidates, a little money goes a long way. ‘If you’ve got a field with little or no name recognition,” Reiff says, “you can drown out everyone else.'”
Campaigns and Elections magazine is up with a new round table-style article today, reflecting on Citizens United and the “new world of money and politics,” featuring Neil Reiff. He discusses the impact of the SpeechNow.org case, the permeation of Super PACs into Senate and House races, the impact of BCRA on state and local parties, and more.
He was one of five election lawyers to be featured in the article, along with Mark Elias of Perkins Coie, former FEC Chair Robert Lenhard (now at Covington and Burling), former FEC Chairman Michael Toner (now at Wiley Rein), and Jason Torchinsky of Holtzman Vogel.
Sandler, Reiff, Young & Lamb partners Joseph Sandler, Neil Reiff, and Jim Lamb were all recognized as three of Washington’s top lawyers by Washingtonian Magazine. They were recognized for their outstanding work in the field of election law in the magazine’s December 2011 feature on Washington’s Best Lawyers. As Washingtonian Magazine put it, “Candidates, political parties, and corporations call these campaigns-and-elections lawyers for guidance on campaign finance, ethics laws, and other rules of the political game.” This recognition is only the latest is a long string of honors and accomplishments for Sandler, Reiff, Lamb and the entire team at Sandler, Reiff, Young, & Lamb.
Update January 19, 2012: Washingtonian’s Top Lawyers listing is now online. Follow this link to see Mr. Sandler, Reiff, and Lamb’s recognition.
Neil Reiff was recently quoted in a Roll Call article, rejecting the idea that the Federal Election Commission is broken. According to the article, campaign finance reform advocates are concerned the FEC is “broken” and therefore, incapable of enforcing campaign finance regulations. Roll Call reports that 8 non-profits recently wrote a letter to President Obama seeking stronger campaign finance laws and claiming that 3 Republican commissioners “have paralyzed the agency by consistently blocking enforcement of the laws and repeatedly misinterpreting the laws”. However, Reiff said that “[t]his has been the least partisan commission in my 18 years of practice,” and that “if you put the rhetoric aside, the FEC’s recent decisions mirror similar ones at the Supreme Court, which has knocked down key provisions of campaign finance laws during the past five years.”
On March 28, Neil Reiff appeared on a panel sponsored by the George Washington University Law School Election Law Society. The panel included GW Law Professor Spencer Overton, Leslie Rutledge, counsel from the Republican National Committee, as well as prominent campaign finance attorney Craig Engle, from Arent Fox, LLC. Panelists discussed current and future trends in campaign finance law.
Joe Sandler also spoke recently about the impact of the Citizens United decision and other recent developments on the financing of the 2010 elections, and the prospects for the future. The panel, which also included Charlie Spies of Clark Hill PLC, Martha McKenna, former political director of the DSCC, Gentry Collins, former political director at the RNC and recent candidate for RNC chairman, was sponsored by the Election Law Society of Georgetown University.
