Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/316593
Minnesotasaysithas10,000 lakes. The state also has, ac- cording to Anthony Sanders, "10,000 campaign finance laws." He exaggerates, but under- standably. As an attorney for Minnesota's chapter of the In- stitute for Justice, a libertarian public-interest law firm, Sand- ers represents several Minne- sotans whose First Amendment rights of free speech and associ- ation are burdened by an obvi- ously arbitrary, notably complex and certainly unconstitutional restriction. Linda Runbeck is a Repub- lican state legislator who is al- lowed to spend in her campaign -- most spending finances dis- semination of speech -- only $62,600. She is not challenging this speech limit, although it is so low it prevents her from ad- vertising on this city's televi- sion stations, whose broadcasts reach many of the state's vot- ers. Rather, she is challenging the "special sources" provision that makes even more onerous the $1,000 limit on what any person can give her. Once she has received $12,500 in contributions of be- tween $500 and $1,000, the $1,000 contribution limit is cut in half: All subsequent contrib- utors can give a maximum of $500. When a contributor gives more, Runbeck must return the money or contact the giver and ask if it can be divided as two contributions coming from the giver and his or her spouse. Van Carlson is one of Run- beck's constituents. He is only moderately affluent, but he wants to be able to give at least the permissible $1,000 to legis- lative candidates. If, however, 12 others have already given $1,000 to one of them, he can give only $500 to that candidate. As IJ's Sanders says, "No other state restricts what ordinary people can give to candidates because of what other ordinary people have already given." The "special sources" re- striction was vulnerable to a constitutional challenge even before April, when the Supreme Court decided the McCutch- eon case. In it the court inval- idated the $48,600 "aggre- gate limit" on contributions to candidates for federal offices. The unreasonableness of this was obvious: If a person could give the $2,600 maximum to 18 candidates without a dan- ger of corruption or the appear- ance thereof, why would giving $2,600 to a 19th candidate pose this danger? The court has repeatedly held that prevention of quid pro quo corruption (contributions pur- chasing specific favors) or the appearance of it is the (BEG ITAL)only(END ITAL) permis- sible reason for contribution lim- its. And the court has repeat- edly stressed that "leveling the playing field" -- equalizing candi- dates' quantities of permissible political speech -- is an impermis- sible reason for limiting contri- butions: "The concept that gov- ernment may restrict the speech of some elements of our society in order to enhance the relative voice of others is wholly foreign to the First Amendment." That, however, was among the Minnesota Legislature's ra- tionales for the "special sources" limit. Conceivably, the Legisla- ture was not entirely altruistic with rules that are more hand- icapping to challengers than to officials who enjoy the many ad- vantages of incumbency. Eugene McCarthy, a Demo- crat who represented Minne- sota in the U.S. Senate from 1959 to 1971, said that in Wash- ington anything said three times is deemed a fact. It is con- stantly said that today's cam- paign regulations are "post-Wa- tergate" reforms. Many were in- deed written after the Nixon-era scandals. But the push for more government regulation of politi- cal speech began because Dem- ocrats were dismayed by what McCarthy accomplished in 1968. McCarthy's challenge to President Lyndon Johnson for that year's Democratic pres- idential nomination was po- tent only because five wealthy liberals who shared McCar- thy's opposition to the Viet- nam War gave him substantial sums. Stewart Mott's $210,000 would be $1.4 million in today's dollars. The five donors' seed money enabled McCarthy to raise $11 million ($75 million to- day). Today, the most a wealthy quintet could give to help an in- surgent against an incumbent would be $13,000 (five times the individual limit of $2,600). But of course. Class solidar- ity unites incumbent politicians of all stripes, and all the laws that ever have regulated cam- paigns, or ever will regulate them, have had or will have one thing in common: They have been, or will be, written by in- cumbent legislators. This is why such laws are presump- tively disreputable and usually unconstitutional. Which Minnesota's "special sources" regulation is in say- ing that it is fine for 12 people to give Runbeck $1,000, but Min- nesota would somehow be in- jured if Van Carlson then gave her $1,000. On Monday, a fed- eral judge enjoined enforce- ment of this limit. The Supreme Court's rulings against federal restrictions of political speech are now scythes for mowing down states' restrictions. GerogeWillcanbereachedat gerogewill@washpost.com. GeorgeWill The high cost of campaign restrictions VotingAllen Editor: In the race for Tehama County Superintendent of Schools, the choice is between a man who is proven to be thoughtful, dedicated and who puts the children and community first and a ruthless man willing to stoop to any tactic to achieve his personal goals. I am voting for Charles Allen. — Jonna Hawker Turek, Red Bluff Vote for Price Editor: Election time is June 3. Te- hama County residents will be dramatically affected by the re- sults. We will either move for- ward or stay stagnant. While attending City Council meetings years ago , I saw first hand how caring and exceed- ingly well informed former City Manager Susan Price was in all aspects of government knowl- edge. The City's needs were met by priorities. She was given a set amount of funds to work with and made it work. It's like slicing a pie. How well you can serve up a pie with a limited amount and still make it work for everyone. However, she somehow did it. Always eager to clean up the city for future business and to protect homeowners values in the following ways. 1. Manda- tory garbage service. 2. Enforc- ing the city residents to abate idle or junk cars off of Red Bluff streets. 3. Her concern and re- fusal to endorse the hideous and infectious medical waste plant Inentec, which has proven to be a massive failure in other areas. 4. Helping eligible, poor citizens in the area of assisting in the vo- luminous paperwork in order to receive city loans through CHIP, in order to allow citizens to reha- bilitate their homes. Susan is a woman of value and accomplishments, including a family to be proud of. Vote for Susan Price for District 4. — Kathy Bonner, Red Bluff Blame the leaders Editor: If North State voices are not being heard in Sacramento and Washington, maybe it's because of its ineffectual representatives. Clair Engel, Randolph Col- lier and so many others were ef- fective in Congress and the state legislature. Remember? More recently it has been the same old names as they move up the ladder from one position to a higher one, and people seem to vote for the old familiar names. There are better and more energetic people willing to serve. — June Quincy, Red Bluff Superintendent race Editor: Mr. Allen is the candidate I'm standing by. Mr. Allen has the integrity, dedication, and profi- ciency to accomplish the job that needs to be done. I believe Mr. Allen will take control of the duties and respon- sibilities of our County Superin- tendent and be more attuned by being a visible, hands on, type of County Superintendent. My understanding, Mr. North, while being a Superintendent of the Evergreen School Dis- trict, implemented different pro- grams that sent the graduating Evergreen students to West Val- ley in Shasta County. How much school funds did Tehama County lose because of this? I don't know but it encompassed a span of 28 years. We need to be informed of what is happening in our schools and why. We don't need to be misled by manipulation of test scores, the real reason for the reconstruction of Vista school, or the embezzlement at Reeds Creek School. Talk about not having the right credentials to run for County Superintendent? Why would that make a differ- ence? It's been allowed for over 30 years for teachers to teach our kids subjects in which they aren't licensed to teach. It has also been allowed to give the Su- perintendent of a school district the powers to write their own contract and to disregard codes from the Education Code book. Just taken a short trip back a few years ago. The Superinten- dents job description is secretary to the school board. I'm not say- ing their job is easy, a secretary's job is one of the hardest jobs as everything they do has to be per- fect. However they're given way too much power. Education Code 1240 General duties; reports (County Superin- tendent of Schools) C. (1) Visit and examine each school in his/her county at rea- sonable intervals to observe its operations and to learn of its problems. This does not mean only the schools that are ranked in de- ciles 1 to 3. Education Code 1240 2. (b) The County Superinten- dent or his/her designee annu- ally shall submit a report, at a regularly scheduled Nov. board meeting to the governing board of each school district under his/ her jurisdiction, the county board of education of his/her count, and the board of supervisors of his/ her county board describing the state of schools in the county are ranked in deciles 1 to 3. I think these reports should be published in the Daily News to keep the public informed of the performance of our schools, what is happening, and why it's happening. The embezzlement incident was never publicized and the person was never pros- ecuted. Go figure. Let's keep our school funds in Tehama County. Vote Charles Allen. — Kathy Nelson, Red Bluff Your opinions They say despite the millions of baseball games played in the past, you can always expect to see something you've never seen before when you watch a game. The adage rings true for softball as well, as it did Tuesday during the Red Bluff Lady Spartans semifinal playoff game against Foothill. It was a hard-fought game as the Lady Spartans were looking to win their 22nd straight game and reach a section title game for the seventh consecutive year. Foothill battled them the whole way and even the Lady Spartans four run lead in the final inning didn't feel safe when the Lady Cougars sent up their cleanup hitter as the tying run with the bases loaded and one out. But I've seen that sort of drama before. What I hadn't seen came in the top of the fifth inning. Foothill was putting the pressure on the Lady Spar- tans once again as its first two batters in the inning reached base. That's when Red Bluff catcher Alyssa Hethcoat attempted to throw the ball back to pitcher Hailee Nicholls. For whatever reason, she goofed the routine throw back to the mound and it puttered at Nicholls' feet and rolled away before another Red Bluff player retrieved it. Hethcoat probably hadn't thrown a ball that poor since be- fore she could walk. She instantly threw her hands on top of head making the physi- cal gesture for OMG. I've seen that type of mental hiccup happen before in baseball, what I don't think I've ever seen outside of a pee wee game is what happened again. A moment later Hethcoat threw another lame duck back to the mound. I tell this story not to embar- rass Hethcoat, but to praise her. Because what she did next is truly what I have never seen be- fore. As the crowd began to murmur about what was going on, Heth- coat turned to the home plate um- pire and called for time. She took a few steps away from the plate, squatted down in her usual catcher's stance and began composing herself right there in front of everyone. Red Bluff coach Aubrie Thomas came sprinting on to the field, but she didn't go to Heth- coat – not at first. She met the rest of the infield on the pitcher's mound and set- tled them down. Hethcoat composed herself and went back to the plate and said something to the umpire about her nerves. Before Thomas went back to the dugout she went over to Heth- coat, gave her a quick pep talk and a pat on the bat and that was it. Hethcoat was back to her usual self after that - one of the best catchers in the Northern Section. A few batters later she hung in at home plate and took a re- lay throw from the outfield to tag out a runner who was sliding full speed into her. Her next at bat she reached base with a single. In between Hethcoat kept en- couraging her teammates as she always does, chirping motivation from behind her mask. Now I've seen high school ath- letes have the mental aspect of sports affect their physical per- formance more times than I can remember. And I've seen the look on their face when they realize it's happening to them. But it's always been a coach or a parent who notices it as well and calls time or tells them to calm down and take a deep breath. And it rarely works. I don't think I've ever seen a high school student realize what was happening and have the ma- turity and experience to say, hold on, I need a second. I need to get my head on straight. I need a time out. If Hethcoat already has this figured out, she's going to be suc- cessful off the diamond as well. Honestly I think there's mo- ments in all of our daily lives when we need to take a timeout. I'll admit I let stress get to me and end up doing something stu- pid that I could have prevented if I had just taken a minute to screw my head back on right. I didn't go to Tuesday's game expecting to learn a nice little life lesson from a high schooler. But I have to say, I did. It's a great sport. Daily News reporter Rich Greene can be reached at rgreeene@red- bluffdailynews.com. Rich Greene Just when I thought I've seen it all, I see the Lady Spartans GregStevens,Publisher Chip Thompson, Editor EDITORIAL BOARD How to have your say: Letters must be signed and provide the writer's home street address and home phone number. Anonymous letters, open letters to others, pen names and petition-style letters will not be allowed. Letters should be typed and no more than two double-spaced pages or 500words. When several letters address the same issue, a cross section will be published. Email: editor@red bluffdailynews.com Phone: 530-527- 2151ext. 112 Mail to: P.O. Box 220, 545 Diamond Ave., Red Bluff, CA 96080 Facebook: Leave comments at FACEBOOK.COM/ RBDAILYNEWS Twitter: Follow and send tweets to @REDBLUFFNEWS Rich Greene OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Thursday, May 22, 2014 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6