New York Times: In Florida Recount Fight, Democratic Lawyer Draws Plaudits and Fire

WASHINGTON — He has been accused of rigging the 2016 Democratic presidential primaries to thwart Bernie Sanders and facilitating a deluge of big money into politics. He helped arrange financing for the dossier of sometimes salacious and unverified claims about President Trump’s ties to Russia and now is under direct fire from the president, who has said he is trying to steal the Senate race in Florida from the Republican candidate, Gov. Rick Scott.

For an election lawyer, Marc E. Elias has drawn unusually intense attention and criticism.

But then, Mr. Elias, who is representing Senator Bill Nelson, the Democratic incumbent, in the Florida recount, has been at the center of an unusually large number of high-stakes political fights. …

That approach, however, has earned him the ire of activists who support increased transparency and decreased money in politics. They say he has been among the biggest impediments to both causes, and has often put the short-term interests of the Democratic Party ahead of the interests of the party’s base, and even of American democracy more broadly.

“He’s doing really important work for voting rights that benefits all voters, but he’s also pushed for a deregulation of money in politics that serves the interests of the wealthy,” said Paul S. Ryan, the vice president of policy and litigation for the nonpartisan government watchdog group Common Cause.

The group joined with the League of Women Voters, another nonpartisan nonprofit group, to file a lawsuit on Monday seeking to force Governor Scott to recuse himself from overseeing the recount. Mr. Elias approvingly cited the suit during a Monday conference call with reporters.

Yet Common Cause and other government-reform groups have consistently opposed Mr. Elias’s efforts to shape campaign finance rules, through legislative maneuvering, Federal Election Commission filings and court cases, to allow his clients to raise more money with fewer restrictions.

They objected when he requested exemptions for his clients Google and Facebook from political advertising disclaimer rules in 2010 and 2011, respectively, that some supporters later argued could have helped identify Russian election meddling in 2016.

Through filings with the Federal Election Commission, he helped lay the regulatory groundwork for the unlimited-money political committees known as super PACs, then helped clear the way for candidates to help raise money for super PACs, which are barred from coordinating other activities with candidates.