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Liberty University leased an expansive list of university-owned student email addresses to Republican Corey Stewart’s campaign for U.S. Senate in a pair of rare transactions that campaign experts said represents a new front in the growing world of digital electioneering in federal races. The Stewart campaign paid the university a total of $9,754.80 in two separate payments, according to publicly available campaign finance reports filed with the Federal Election Commission. It is unclear exactly how many email addresses are included in Liberty’s list but in a telephone interview University President Jerry Falwell Jr. hinted it could be in the tens of thousands. In 2017, the progressive political group NextGen Virginia obtained contact information of tens of thousands of Virginia public college and university students through a series of open records request, prompting lawmakers to amend the Virginia Freedom of Information Act earlier this year to explicitly prevent the release of student phone numbers and email addresses without written approval, according to The Richmond Times-Dispatch. Because private universities are not subject to FOIA requests, campaigns have been effectively barred from directly acquiring contact information from private university students unless an institution opts to make the data available for sale.
The News & Advance
In August, Virginia’s governor called lawmakers back to Richmond to change 11 racially gerrymandered districts. But legislators failed to do what Gov. Ralph Northam said he wanted when he called the special session — redraw district lines. The failed special session came at a cost to taxpayers — almost $40,000 out of the state’s general fund. Data provided by the House of Delegates clerk’s office shows per diems paid to the 96 delegates who attended the Aug. 30 session cost $19,488. Mileage reimbursement, for those that asked for it, totaled $10,814. Twenty-two delegates met immediately after the special session ended on Aug. 30, but didn’t receive any extra cash allowances. When they met again on Sept. 27, the 22 Privileges and Elections Committee members each received a $300 per diem and $2,251 of mileage reimbursement.
Daily Press
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