Author Archives: Michael Froomkin

Movies as a Campaign Finance Law End-Run

Posted on June 6, 2004 by Michael Froomkin

Daily Kos says,

Farenheit 9/11 will one day be the subject of a thousands acedmic papers, especially if Kerry wins the White House. The movie's first trailer is already the most effective anti-Bush commercial ever made.

Of course, that trailer won't be shown on TV. It's a 2-minute piece designed for movie theaters, not television (though it'll bear watching whether theaters show the trailer). The real fireworks will hit, I'm sure, when this movie's ad campaign hits television.

Done right (and I do trust Moore to do it right), those 30-second movie commercials, run nationally, could be some of the most effective political advertising of the season (without being, legally, political advertising). Watch stations try to block the ad, in the face of a concerted GOP effort to suppress its showing.

Meanwhile, Digby points to the trailer of The Hunting of the President, which I see as another example of the same phenomenon. This movie is apparently only showing in a few cities, but the DVD is promised to be out by election time.

Kos again:

If the movie has a measurable impact on the elections, watch the concept become a new CFR loophole. Say we have President Kerry in office. A bunch of rich Republicans (the “haves” and the “have mores” or, as Bush likes to call them, his “base”) make an anti-Kerry movie in 2008, and release it, oh, at about this time. Then they run $100 million in ads promoting the anti-Kerry bit, all outside the reach of campaign finance laws and the FEC.

A loophole it will be next to impossible to close.

Posted in Politics: US: 2004 Election | 5 Comments

Medals Update

Posted on June 6, 2004 by Michael Froomkin

Back in January, I wrote about Campaign Medals for the 'War on Terror', complaining that

not only is the administration trying to lump the Afghanistan and Iraq wars under a single global ‘war against terrorism’ rubric for the purpose of campaign medals — a break with tradition — but that it also wants the backroom armchair warriors in that ‘war’ to be able to get the same medal as people who got shot at.

Looks like half of this is getting fixed: there will be separate campaign medals for Iraq and Afghanistan. Don't bet on the other half, though.

Posted in Politics: US | Comments Off on Medals Update

Let’s Translate This Phoenix International School of Law Ad

Posted on June 6, 2004 by Michael Froomkin

This ad popped into my mailbox:

Faculty Positions. Phoenix International School of Law (PISL) seeks candidates for full-time and visiting faculty positions. Applicants should be (1) student-centered; (2) skilled instructors and effective mentors; (3) comfortable with change; (4) attracted by the unique challenges and opportunities of a start-up institution; (4) multiculturally competent; and (5) committed to management and faculty development based on a best practices model. They also should have the capacity not only to educate but inspire, share the institution's priorities of graduating practice-ready lawyers, possess interpersonal skills that contribute to positive group dynamics, and appreciate the need for processes that facilitate a nimble and agile institution. PISL is committed to meeting all standards necessary for approval by the American Bar Association, including those governing job security and academic freedom. It seeks to attract individuals, however, who understand that these interests are optimized not by formal safeguards but upon the quality of group dynamics. PISL anticipates commencing operations with a small part-time division in Spring 2005 and full-time and part-time divisions in Fall 2005. Please submit applications to Donald E. Lively, Dean, at cwarner@carolynwarner.edu.

Despite the stuff about “meeting all standards necessary for approval by the American Bar Association, including those governing job security and academic freedom” this doesn't sound like they believe in tenure, does it? That should set the cat among the pigeons.

As it happens I agree that it's group dynamics — esprit de corps, shame even — that keeps some tenured people being good citizens, teaching well, and being productive long after their salaries have maxed out in real dollar terms. (For most, though, it's their natural obsessive-compulsive tendencies.) But an ad that feels a need to make a point of this stuff, plus the reference to “comfortable with change” and “committed to management and faculty development based on a best practices model,” well, that looks like code for something I don't think I'm going to like the looks of.

Continue reading →

Posted in Law School | 4 Comments

Round Up of Good Stuff

Posted on June 5, 2004 by Michael Froomkin

I'm back in Miami, but very very tired. The conference was great fun, and I learned (and ate!) a lot, but the journey home was long. Got up early this morning (before the hotel was serving breakfast), drove from beautiful Santa Fe to Albuquerque, changed planes in Dallas, then finally got home around dinner time.

So here are short links to some blog stuff that hit my feed reader. Several deserve more reaction or praise, but I haven't the energy.

  • Talkleft, CEO Paid To Go To Prison. You are a financial services provider. Your CEO is going to jail for 18 months and is fined $2 million. Let's pay him $4,611/day plus a $2 million bonus to make up the fine, plus more bonus to be announced.

“the CIA's credibility has never been lower. Crazy people no longer believe the CIA is implanting a chip in their heads to listen to their dreams. They just don't think they can pull it off. It's a sad day for America when even our paranoid schizophrenics realize they don't need to wear the alumnimum foil hats anymore.”

The Houston journal wants a final draft of the paper in two weeks, so I think I'll do fixing and tidying before posting anything. If anyone is really keen to have it now and will promise comments in exchange for an e-copy now, drop me a note.

Posted in Blogs | Comments Off on Round Up of Good Stuff

Not Just Liars. Bad Ones.

Posted on June 5, 2004 by Michael Froomkin

Eric Muller is justifiably outraged at the Administration's two-faced, political, logically inconsistent approach to information releases. See IsThatLegal?.

Indeed, how is that letting 9/11 families discuss the contents of their family members' last words would help the terrorists, so it has to be secret, but it's ok to release lots of info about Padilla, disclosing sources and methods, and not incidentally smearing him while the Supreme Court deliberates?

I'm sure the answer is related to why it is that losing a CIA director at a time when there won't be a real replacement named until after the election is harmless, but losing Rumsfeld would be a terrorist victory.

Posted in National Security | Comments Off on Not Just Liars. Bad Ones.

Structured Procrastination

Posted on June 4, 2004 by Michael Froomkin

Brad DeLong points to an essay by John Perry called structured procrastination. Who would have imagined there was such a nice name for one of the organizing principles of my life.

Posted in Personal | Comments Off on Structured Procrastination