{"id":1777036,"date":"2022-12-16T03:19:17","date_gmt":"2022-12-16T08:19:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1777036"},"modified":"2022-12-16T03:19:22","modified_gmt":"2022-12-16T08:19:22","slug":"fight-zuckbucks-with-laws-not-lawsuits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fight-zuckbucks-with-laws-not-lawsuits\/","title":{"rendered":"Fight \u2018Zuckbucks\u2019 With Laws, Not Lawsuits"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">12<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ffight-zuckbucks-with-laws-not-lawsuits%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1777036&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>One of the ugliest surprises to emerge from the 2020 election was one billionaire\u2019s partisan attempt to privatize the election process across America. By now, most have heard about Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg\u2019s $350 million campaign to spread \u201cZuckbucks\u201d in key battleground states through the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.influencewatch.org\/non-profit\/center-for-tech-and-civic-life\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Center for Tech and Civic Life<\/a> (CTCL), ostensibly to help people vote during the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n<p>We <em>now <\/em>know that while the Internal Revenue Service may classify CTCL as a 501(c)(3) public charity, there was nothing charitable about CTCL\u2019s mission to undermine election integrity and turn out huge numbers of reliably Democratic voters \u2014 what one of us has called \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/pjmedia.com\/jchristianadams\/2020\/12\/02\/the-real-kraken-what-really-happened-to-donald-trump-in-the-2020-election-n1185494\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the real kraken<\/a>\u201d of the 2020 election.<\/p>\n<p> No Justice via Courts <\/p>\n<p>Concerned citizens who sought justice in the courts were mostly disappointed.<\/p>\n<p>CTCL <a href=\"https:\/\/www.techandciviclife.org\/10-facts-about-ctcl-grants\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">boasts<\/a> on its website that \u201cevery judge \u2026 rejected these challenges\u201d to its Zuckbucks program in 2021, with one judge labeling such lawsuits a \u201cconspiracy theory.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Conservatives lost even where the courts agreed Zuckbucks were a problem. In 2020, one Wisconsin judge said the plaintiffs <a href=\"https:\/\/casetext.com\/case\/wis-voters-all-v-city-of-racine\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">had a point<\/a> when they argued \u201cthe receipt of private funds for public elections also gives an appearance of impropriety,\u201d yet he declined to block the scheme.<\/p>\n<p>Most recently, in October another Wisconsin judge shot down a Republican effort to halt Milwaukee election officials from participating in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wispolitics.com\/2022\/judge-rejects-gop-request-to-bar-milwaukee-officials-from-participating-in-privately-funded-gotv-effort\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">privately funded get-out-the-vote effort<\/a> that mirrored CTCL\u2019s 2020 meddling.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s the rub: Litigation can be a powerful tool to improve America\u2019s elections and fight harmful left-wing election scams. But the CTCL scheme\u2019s diabolical brilliance was that it did not explicitly violate the law.<\/p>\n<p>We say this even though one of us has litigated election cases for decades, winning victories such as, most recently, <a href=\"https:\/\/publicinterestlegal.org\/press\/virginia-court-blocks-plan-to-accept-ballots-without-postmarks-after-election-day\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">blocking the acceptance of mail ballots with missing postmarks<\/a> in Virginia and striking down mail ballots in Delaware.<\/p>\n<p>But no matter how good number-crunching is at showing left-wing \u201ccharitable\u201d dollars are distributed disproportionately to <a href=\"https:\/\/capitalresearch.org\/article\/the-voter-participation-center-a-tax-exempt-turnout-machine-for-democrats\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">win elections for the Democratic Party<\/a>, judges won\u2019t respond favorably to litigation based on these statistics. That\u2019s why litigation to stop Zuckbucks has failed.<\/p>\n<p> Legislation Is Needed <\/p>\n<p>Instead, conservatives should use legislation to defeat the weaponization of charities. Listen to the first Wisconsin judge: She <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wispolitics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/221021Ruling.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">admitted<\/a> Zuckbucks \u201cmay merit a legislative response.\u201d In other words, take this case to your representatives.<\/p>\n<p>Losing in court shouldn\u2019t upset conservatives, who rightly fear judicial meddling outside the bounds of the Constitution and the rule of law. They should bring the battle instead to state legislatures.<\/p>\n<p>When someone gives government officials cash to change how they run their office, we used to call that a bribe.<\/p>\n<p>The good news is that that battle is already in full swing. At least 24 states have <a href=\"https:\/\/capitalresearch.org\/article\/states-banning-zuck-bucks\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">banned or restricted Zuckbucks<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Passing similar reforms will be an uphill battle in states such as Wisconsin and North Carolina, given that half-a-dozen Democratic governors have <a href=\"https:\/\/capitalresearch.org\/article\/states-banning-zuck-bucks\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">vetoed Zuckbuck blocker bills<\/a>. Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, vetoed proposed bans twice<em>. <\/em>In Montana, <a href=\"https:\/\/publicinterestlegal.org\/featured\/final-frontier-zuckbucks-in-montana\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">we found<\/a> a similar bill failed by one vote after counties<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Conservatives should use legislation, not courts, to defeat the weaponization of charities that undermine election integrity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1630,"featured_media":1777039,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[8394,6919,4004,7750,7976],"class_list":["post-1777036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist","tag-zuckbucks","tag-federalist","tag-fight","tag-laws","tag-lawsuits"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1777036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1630"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1777036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1777036\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1777039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1777036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1777036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1777036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}