There are six of us in all.

Joanna Kamvouris sits beside me, to the right. She smiles brightly and works hard. She doesn’t go by any nicknames, so Joanna it is. A soon to be sophomore, Joanna studies journalism at Kent State University. While in high school, she reported for The Richfield Times and the Bath Country Journal, though she considers working here—at State and Federal Communications, Inc.—her first real job.

“It has given me a chance to experience the working environment of an office . . . to work among a close group of employees, observe meetings, and bond with some of the staff here. I am so thankful,” she said. Joanna is responsible for helping with communications. She said she was nervous to begin, but slowly things started feeling more familiar. “There is still so much that I have yet to learn!”

Everyday Joanna packs a lunch of peanut butter and jelly on wheat, Wheat Thins or cheese crackers, a granola bar and a bottle of water. One time she and I walked together, around the corner and across Market Street, to join her Great Uncle—Evangelos—for lunch at his restaurant, the Western Fruit Basket. She had a gyro and I had salata.

Ren walked away with an exasperated look on his face. It was really loud. Joanna and I turned towards each other. We were just told by one of our superiors to leave work in the middle of the day, and to go outside. It was beautiful outside. Well, yeah. We nodded, in agreement. Of course we’ll go outside.

So we went. And we walked. We did laps around the building, maybe 8 to 10 of them. At 5’3” and with Joanna at 5’5” we noted how many steps we must have taken due to our short strides. We discussed our excitement for Walking, Part 2 to begin.

State and Federal Communications, Inc. was in the middle of its health initiative: Walking, Part 1. The staff is divided into three teams and provided with a pedometer. The team with the most steps wins. There is also a chart that translates other physical activities into steps, so those who do the rowing machine at the gym, for example, still get credit for being active. Signs of encouragement are posted all over the office: Keep on Walking, they remind us. On day one we were told to watch out for Team Myra: Myra Texas Walkers. They were in the lead. Apparently, Myra runs marathons with the same ease that most run through the drive thru. I can’t compete with that sort of mastery, I thought. But I did just run my first 5K. And with my little legs? They might finally be worth something.

Tiny steps, I said. For the win.

We were told to leave the office, for sanity’s sake. Everyone was running around in a bit of a panic. Some people had left work early. Ren Koozer—Executive Director of IT—looked me dead in the eyes, and then towards Joanna. Go take a walk, he said, and motioned towards the door. Just get out of here. This is nuts.

It was week two, day four for the interns at State and Federal Communications, Inc.—your compliance information source for campaign finance, lobbying, procurement and ethics laws.* Located in downtown Akron, it felt very adult getting dressed in a suit and parking in the designated lot behind the building. Two weeks previous, we had been given key codes and access cards, getting us into rooms that felt exclusive and elite. Inside, we were situated very comfortably, each with our own desks and computers. Everyone was warm, and helpful. Things were starting to feel comfortable.

On this particular day, however, there were five to six strange faces in the office, and they weren’t dressed business casual. Clad in jeans and paint-spotted tees, they bore canvas tool belts around their waists, filled with tools, of course. They passed behind our cubicles by the minute, always smiling and kindly, but noisy nonetheless. They came with ladders, trying desperately to slant them around the sharp angles in the office; they brought sheets of plywood, and plastic, and wooden doors propped against walls not yet attached to anything.

At the moment, they were in the kitchen, across the hall, pounding away at a concrete wall with what sounded like chain saws and sledge hammers. Surely they had plans of mass interior destruction. Home Makeover Goes Corporate. I had my head phones in, trying to drown out the sound, but that only made things worse. The louder they clobbered, the higher my volume had to go. The Mars Volta pulsated through my head phones and into the cochlea; it felt like my ears might implode. I was working on compiling a spreadsheet full of contacts for a conference we were planning. It was hard to alphabetize with all the clamor. I was also supposed to gather rates for our summer outing: Indians vs. Yankees in August. We wanted to purchase a few party favors, but making phone calls was out of the question.

What the men were doing in there, a mere ten feet from my desk, was actually really nice. It was a kitchen they were building. The office already has three of them, two on the first floor and one on the second, but they were making this one, the main one, much larger. Room for more tables was the initiative, so more of us, Elizabeth said, could eat lunch together. Elizabeth Bartz—our boss, the President, the CEO and the head of this home—was initiating a gesture for our comfort and camaraderie. I thought that was really thoughtful, and sweet. But still, we were new here, the interns, and trying to figure out what it is we’re supposed to do. And then do it, well. And maybe we were nervous about it.

The jackhammer grinding into the stone across from our cubicles wasn’t helping.

With the Republican convention less than 2 months away, speculation about Governor Romney’s choice for Vice President continues to grow. A report was released earlier last week that Florida Senator Marco Rubio, thought to be a frontrunner, was not being vetted as a candidate for the ticket. However, Gov. Romney’s campaign quickly rebuffed those rumors, and Gov. Romney himself announced that Rubio was being fully vetted. Other candidates have either withdrawn or effectively removed themselves from consideration, including Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels who this week announced he was accepting the position as President of Purdue University at the completion of his tenure as governor.

While Rubio is still in the running, former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty appears to be the latest frontrunner for the job. Pawlenty staged an unsuccessful run at the presidential nomination and has since been an aggressive Romney surrogate on the trail. Other names on the shortlist include Ohio Senator Rob Portman, who has long held a position at the top of the list, Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan, who submitted his questionnaire to the campaign Friday, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal and South Dakota Senator John Thune.

Other campaign notes:

• This week, the Supreme Court will announce its decision concerning the Affordable Care Act. The court’s ruling will have a definitive impact on the Presidential race with both sides using the decision to encourage their base and shore up support for November. Court announcements will be made at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday and can be found on SCOTUSblog.

• Former Florida Senator George Lemieux (R) has ended his campaign for Florida’s senate seat effectively clearing the way for Rep. Connie Mack (R). Lemieux was appointed to the Senate in 2008 by Gov. Charlie Crist after then Senator Mel Martinez resigned prior to the end of his term. Lemieux’s seat was then won by Marco Rubio in 2011. Lemieux cited dwindling resources and money as his reason for leaving the race. Lemieux and Mack have waged an often times contentious campaign during the primary.

• Rep. Nydia Velasquez (D-NY) received an endorsement last week from New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. The endorsement is welcome support as Velasquez, a 20 year house veteran, faces a tough race against City councilman Eric Dilon in the newly drawn 7th district.

• Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) will likely weather the storm created by his failure to obtain 60% of the vote at Utah’s state convention in April. Hatch faces Dan Liljenquist in the state’s primary on Tuesday. A new poll by Key Research shows Hatch has a comfortable 16 point margin over Liljenquist.

It’s time again for our Highlighted Site of the Week. This week’s site, aptly named Politwoops, displays for us the Tweets that politicians delete from their Twitter feed.

Politwoops has this motto:  “Sure, we all tweet things we don’t mean to share, but now politicians have no way to hide them. Discover tweets that your politician shared and promptly deleted.”

You may think you know some of these politicians, but with the 334 pages of deleted tweets, you may find out there is a whole other side to them. Sometimes politicians can be a little silly.

Here is a deleted tweet from U.S. Sen. John McCain: “Victory – we fried the catfish office! Senate passes my amd’t w/ @JohnKerry today – full stmt: http://t.co/ko59ISL6“

I wonder if this website will make some politicians think twice before they send any messages out into the Twitterverse.

Politwoops is an interesting new site. I think I’m going to go home and read through it to find the funniest tweet I can.

Have a great weekend and we’ll see you next time!

President Obama and his campaign are looking to bounce back after a rough first week of June. According to numbers released by both campaigns, Governor Mitt Romney outraised President Obama in May bringing in $76.8 million compared to the president’s $60 million. This marks the first time Gov. Romney has topped the president during this campaign. President Obama’s totals include a $15 million fundraiser at the home of Actor George Clooney, while Gov. Romney’s totals include $75,000 donations made by both he and his wife.

Additionally, the President spent the week dealing with a May jobs report that didn’t meet projections as the unemployment rate rose to 8.2% and saw only 69,000 new jobs created. However, the campaign can find some comfort in that it is still early in the election cycle, and there is plenty of time for growth between now and November.

Super PAC’s continue to play a major role in the campaign as more and more money is being spent on advertising in key battleground states, like Ohio, where both the president and Gov. Romney gave speeches on Thursday. Billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, has reportedly pledged $10 million to Restore our Future, a pro-Romney Super PAC while the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) has teamed with Priorities USA, a pro-Obama Super Pac, to run a $4 million ad campaign.

Other Campaign notes:

• A judge has signed off on the Justice Department’s request to dismiss the remaining five charges against former Senator and Presidential candidate John Edwards. The jury in the North Carolina trial found Edwards not guilty on one count of accepting illegal campaign contributions but were deadlocked on the remaining five.

• In Wisconsin, Republican Governor Scott Walker survived his recall election in what many are calling a referendum on the president’s policies and likely putting Wisconsin in play in the general election.

• Democratic candidate Ron Barber, former district director for Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, won the special election in Arizona’s 8th congressional district and will serve the remainder of Giffords term. Giffords resigned to focus on her recovery from a brain injury suffered during a shooting at an event in January 2011. Barber was Giffords choice to succeed her and will run for a full term in November in the newly drawn 2nd congressional district.

• Utah will hold the final Presidential primary contest on Tuesday, June 26. While Governor Romney has already secured the Republican nomination, Utah will likely be a boost for the campaign as Romney is expected to do well in the state with its large Mormon population.

Q.  I am not currently registered as a lobbyist and I would like to send a letter to all state legislators in support of pending legislation. Do I need to register as a lobbyist?

A. The act of sending a letter in support of or in opposition to legislation can be enough to trigger the lobbyist registration requirement in a state. Whether or not registration is required is dependent upon the lobbyist registration threshold in any given state.

Some states have thresholds based on the definition of lobbying whereby engaging in a lobbying activity will require lobbyist registration. For example, in a state where registration is required upon receipt of compensation to encourage the passage, defeat, approval, or modification of legislation by members of the legislature, lobbyist registration would be required prior to sending the letter. Iowa is an example of this type of state.

Other states have thresholds based on the amount of time spent lobbying or preparing to lobby. In Maine, an individual is permitted to spend eight hours lobbying before registration is required. In such a state, tracking your time while preparing the letter will be important in determining if registration is required.

Please consult the lobbyist registration threshold in your jurisdiction prior to sending any correspondence to a public official.

You can directly submit questions for this feature, and we will select those most appropriate and answer them here. Send your questions to: marketing@stateandfed.com.

(We are always available to answer questions from clients that are specific to your needs, and we encourage you to continue to call or e-mail us with questions about your particular company or organization. As always, we will confidentially and directly provide answers or information you need.) Our replies to your questions are not legal advice. Instead, these replies represent our analysis of laws, rules, and regulations.

After dividing into three teams of nine, State and Federal Communications employees worked up a sweat, completing four weeks of the “We’re Walking” program.

The Myra Texas Walkers took the lead in the first week, successfully reaching 655,040 steps.

Team Winner proved worthy of its name after placing a victory in the second week by walking 607,187 steps. Team leader Jim Warner acknowledged the intended line of attack behind Team Winner’s sudden success.

“My strategy can be summarized in two words: sneak attack,” Warner said. “I knew Myra and Joe May would disregard Team Winner and become too confident.  Team Winner started slowly, but we have tried to increase our steps each week.”

In retaliation, Team Happy Feet strode past its opponents in the third week by reaching 678,969 steps.

“We shall outpace them on the beaches, we shall outpace them on the landing grounds, we shall outpace them in the fields and in the streets; we shall never surrender,” Happy Feet team leader Joe May announced.

Although all three teams are striving for the win, Team Winner took the most steps in the fourth week, accumulating 781,808 steps.

With only two weeks of the competition left, team members are eagerly setting aside time to improve their scores.

“We’re treating this like a marathon, not a sprint,” Myra Cottrill, leader of the Myra Texas Walkers said. “Team Winner and Happy Feet may be in the lead, but I know our steady week-to-week improvements will result in a decisive victory.”

The competition rises as team members find themselves neck and neck on their way toward the finish line. To provide more motivation, Elizabeth Bartz is upping the stakes by offering a bigger prize to the winning team.

Stay tuned for more details as the competition heats up!

Former Governor Mitt Romney secured the Republican Party’s nomination for president with a win in the Texas primary on Tuesday, May 29, after amassing a projected 1,191 delegates.

“I am honored that Americans across the country have given their support to my candidacy and I am humbled to have won enough delegates to become the Republican Party’s 2012 presidential nominee,” Romney said in a statement.

President Obama called the former governor Thursday morning to congratulate him on the nomination and express his hope for “an important and healthy debate about America’s Future,” said Obama campaign spokesman Ben Labolt.

Other campaign notes:

• Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (R) faces a recall election Tuesday, June 5, against his 2010 gubernatorial opponent, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett (D). The recall started after Gov. Walker proposed a plan eliminating certain collective bargaining powers for public employees, but has focused primarily on economic conditions in the state. Current polling shows the Governor leading Mayor Barrett. A Real Clear Politics average of various polls on the race show Walker maintains a roughly six point advantage (51% to 44.4%).

• Congressman Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI) is waging a write in campaign for his own congressional seat after failing to obtain enough signatures to appear on the ballot in Michigan’s 11th District. McCotter waged a long shot, and ultimately unsuccessful, campaign for the 2012 GOP nomination for president. Now McCotter faces teacher Kerry Bentivolio in the 11th districts republican primary on August 7, 2012. Perhaps the biggest obstacle; however, may be the Congressman’s name, which could be tough for voters to spell. Luckily for McCotter, Michigan election law does not require a name be spelled correctly in order to count, as long as the voter’s intention is clear.

• Artur Davis, Former Alabama Democratic Congressman, has started the process of moving his voter registration to Virginia. On his website, Davis confirms rumors that if he were to run again, it would be as a Republican. Davis has lived in Northern Virginia since December 2010, after losing the Alabama gubernatorial election, as a democrat, by a large margin.

The Washington Post is up with a site that tracks how money is being spent during the 2012 Presidential campaign. “Mad Money” incorporates Super PAC Data, FEC filings, and links to some of the most recent ads being released by the various campaigns to paint a comprehensive picture of political advertising.

There site has an interactive map chronicling where and on what topics campaigns are spending money. The graphic notes, “TV ad buys are typically the single largest expenditure of a presidential campaign. Using data provided by the Campaign Media Analysis Group, this graphic tracks weekly and total ad spending for the 2012 presidential race by candidate, PAC and interest group. The data is based on ads that have hit the airwaves, not total buys announced by campaigns or other groups.”

You can watch as the map tracks a weekly timeline, indicating where markets are seeing larger flows of ad traffic and increased ad spending. Mad Money also indicates which messages and topics campaigns are focusing on, including which organizations are spending money for negative campaign advertising.

While campaign finance and spending becomes more prevalent, it can be hard to track down information and see how money is being spent. Mad Money from the Washington Post helps to maintain a little transparency in the political advertising game.

Don’t forget to press play on the interactive map and see how much time and money political organizations are spending across the country. Have a good weekend.

Depending on where you live, and how much attention you pay to television advertisements for political campaigns, messages being disseminated are having varying effects. President Obama’s campaign has come out with a couple ads aimed at defining former Governor Mitt Romney’s history in the private sector, most notably his involvement with Bain Capital, a firm he co-founded.

The first round of ads have been airing across the country, mostly in battleground states like Colorado, Iowa, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia. The second round of ads are set to air in targeted markets as well in the coming days.

Gov. Romney finally broke his silence Wednesday, during interviews and appearances on the campaign trail. In countering the ads from the Obama campaign, Gov. Romney told TIME’s Mark Halperin, “I happen to believe that having been in the private sector for twenty five years gives me a perspective on how jobs are created – that someone who’s never spent a day in the private sector, like President Obama, simply doesn’t understand.”

As far as whether or not the Bain ads are working, it’s perhaps too soon to say. A recent NBC/Wall Street Journal poll shows that a majority (53%) of respondents did not recognize or have enough information to offer an opinion about the name Bain Capital. The same poll also showed that 59% of respondents said Gov. Romney’s background was an advantage in working to reduce the federal budget deficit.

To make things more complicated, a number of prominent democrats – Newark, New Jersey Mayor Cory Booker, Former Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell and former White House “car czar” Steve Rattner – have all levied criticism over whether or not attacking private equity is an appropriate campaign strategy.

President Obama’s campaign has stood firm; however, and the President has stated that Gov. Romney’s record at Bain is what “this campaign is going to be about.”

During a press conference at the end of the recent NATO summit in Chicago, President Obama stated, “When you’re president, as opposed to the head of a private equity firm, then your job is not simply to maximize profits. Your job is to figure out how everybody in the country has a fair shot.”

It’s clear the issue is not going away anytime soon, and will be a centerpiece of both campaigns moving forward.

This week’s highlighted site focuses on providing transparency of internal congressional spending. LegiStorm researches and publishes public documents relating to, among other things, congressional salaries, financial disclosures and gifts received by members of Congress and their staff.

The website began focusing primarily on salary data but has grown to include information about lobbying data, earmarks, and trips taken by members and their staff. Additionally, LegiStorm posts studies and research on a number issues related to congressional spending and the revolving door between congress and the private sector.

From the website: “The information is provided in a strictly factual, non-partisan fashion. We have no political affiliations and no political purpose except to make the workings of Congress as transparent as possible. We expect this resource to be useful to journalists, researchers, lobbyists and current and would-be staffers – as well as regular citizens who simply want to know how their representatives spend public money.”

Utilizing a very user friendly interface, the website provides intuitive searches of past and current congressional members and staffers. Information includes biographical data, offices held, organization memberships and even family connections on the hill.

LegiStorm offers various levels of membership. Anyone is free to access much of the information provided, but those looking for a more detailed analysis can subscribe on either an express, monthly or annual basis. If you’d like to see how your money is being spent on the people in Congress who work for you, check out LegiStorm.

Enjoy the weekend.

As the national party conventions draw nearer, the race to obtain a majority of the 2286 delegates available to secure the GOP nomination appears to be well within the grasp of former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.

Following Tuesday’s primary wins in Nebraska and Oregon, the Associated Press and NBC News project Gov. Romney now has 989 of the 1144 delegates needed to become the Republican nominee for President. While most of Gov. Romney’s competitors have suspended their campaigns, (Congressman Ron Paul remains in the race) the governor must still obtain the necessary delegates in order to be officially nominated at the GOP convention in Tampa Bay, Florida, August 27-30.

Romney can potentially pick up 81 proportionally allocated delegates in the next two primaries in Arkansas and Kentucky on May 22. If he then wins the “winner-take-all” Texas primary, and its 155 delegates, on May 29, Romney will assuredly lock up the nomination heading into the summer. The Washington Post has an excellent, interactive delegate tracker and primer to help make sense of the GOP primary process.

As the Republican nominee, donors are certain to coalesce around Romney which he will need in order to mount a formidable campaign. April fundraising reports are due to the Federal Election Commission on May 20th.

President Obama’s campaign has already begun to leak numbers announcing that it raised $43.6 million total in April for the campaign, the Democratic National Committee and other committees such as Organizing for America, a project of the DNC founded in January 2009. While the President’s numbers are lower than the $45 million raised in February and $53 million in March, President Obama still maintains a large overall fundraising advantage over Gov. Romney.

Gov. Romney’s campaign also leaked fundraising numbers today ahead of Friday’s deadline (campaigns are required to submit reports prior to the deadline if the due date falls on a weekend or holiday). The Romney campaign, along with the Republican National Committee and other committees, raised $40.1 million in April, just $3.5 million behind the President’s campaign.

If these fundraising numbers are any indication, we’ve only just begun.

Photo of President Barack Obama courtesy of Pete Souza on Wikipedia. Photo of Mitt Romney courtesy of Gage Skidmore on Wikipedia.

As campaigns and elections continue to evolve, it becomes more difficult to determine which information is important, which information is relevant and which information is accurate. At Project Vote Smart, the goal is to present factual information without political bias.

The non-profit, non-partisan organization tracks and researches countless pieces of legislation, financial and polling data related to candidacies at all levels. The organization has some paid staff members, but is largely run by volunteers and interns combing through data and making it available to the public.

From the site, “In essence, what Project Vote Smart’s interns and volunteers have done is ensure that tolerance will no longer be the only option available to the millions of us who are tormented by the issueless rhetoric and often misleading attacks that define contemporary American politics.”

Project Vote Smart was founded by a group of legislators, educators and political activists that include President Jimmy Carter, President Gerald Ford, Senator Barry Goldwater and Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro. The organization is still governed by a board of directors from various political ideologies. In order to join the board, a member must also recruit a member from an opposing political view.

Project Vote Smart has a number of ways to stay connected and follow along as the campaign season begins to get into full swing. Enjoy getting to know the government officials that represent you, and have a great weekend.