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.

During an interview aired last night with ABC News Robin Roberts President Barack Obama expressed his personal support for same-sex marriage. The news broke when ABC news leaked portions of the interview yesterday afternoon.

“At a certain point I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married.” Obama told Roberts in the interview.

The admission comes after Vice President Joe Biden set off a media firestorm with comments he made during an interview with David Gregory on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday. Additionally, on Tuesday, North Carolina voters approved a constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union between a man and a woman.

While the President has personally come out in support of same-sex marriage, he told Roberts that he still believes the issue should be decided by the states and not at the federal level. Sources told the Associated Press the President was under increasing pressure from supporters and donors who threatened to withhold funds from the pro-Obama Super PAC, Priorities USA, without clarification from the President of his positions on same-sex marriage.

Following the announcement, Republican Party Presidential candidate Mitt Romney stated to KOCO in Oklahoma City “I believe marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman.”

While the issue will likely not be heavily debated in the coming months of the general election, the announcement is historic as it is the first time a sitting president or presidential nominee from either major political party has come out in support of same-sex marriage.

As the general presidential election begins, swing states will start to receive more attention from the candidates and national media. This week, our highlighted site focuses on the latest polling data of three major swing states from Quinnipiac University.

Quinnipiac conducted a survey from April 25 – May 1 of registered voters in Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania. These three states were targeted as no candidate since 1960 has won the White House without winning at least two of them.

When asked: “Turning to this year’s general election for president, if the election for President were being held today, and the candidates were Barack Obama the Democrat and Mitt Romney the Republican, for whom would you vote?”

• Florida: Mitt Romney 44% – Barack Obama 43% (1,169 voters, margin of error +/- 2.9%)
• Ohio: Barack Obama 44% – Mitt Romney 42% (1,130 voters, margin of error +/- 2.9%)
• Pennsylvania: Barack Obama 47% – Mitt Romney 39% (1,168 voters, margin of error +/- 2.9%)

Clearly the race is just beginning to heat up as both Florida and Ohio are within the statistical margin of error. Look for the candidates to start spending significant time and money in both of these states as well as a number of other swing states.

Check out the site for complete polling data including favorability ratings, voter opinions on the economy and which candidate for Vice President voters would most like to see Mitt Romney choose. You can also download crosstabs and demographic summaries for each poll and parse the data as deeply as you would like.

Have a great weekend!

Q. Some of the state lobbying reports ask about my travel expenses. What does this include?

A. “Travel expenses” is a phrase used by several states. It can refer to two different types of expenditures.

Some states require the disclosure of personal, reimbursed expenses incurred while lobbying. This would include food and beverage, hotels, cab fare, and travel expenses for a lobbying trip. Iowa, for instance, requires lobbyist employers to disclose all reimbursements made to their lobbyists. So, if a lobbyist lives in Topeka and flies to Des Moines to communicate with a legislator, the airfare is a reportable expense. Note, however, this generally only applies if the primary purpose of the trip is lobbying as defined by the state. A trip during which the lobbying contacts made were incidental to the main purpose of the travel would usually not need reported.

Other states, however, require the reporting of airfare or other travel costs paid by a lobbyist on behalf of a legislator or other public official. In Idaho and Mississippi, for example, a lobbyist or lobbyist employer may pay for a public official to travel to an event or to the company’s facilities, and the cost of the travel must be reported.

In all of these cases, the state reports request “travel expenses.” As you can see, it is very possible for the same words to have different meanings in the eyes of different states. When in doubt, lobbyists and employers can always contact us for guidance.

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.

State and Federal Communications is proud to be a founding member of the Greater Akron Chamber of Commerce Young Professionals Network (YPN).

As a consistent supporter of the city of Akron and the economic growth of the region, State and Federal Communications is strengthening its commitment by becoming a part of the Chamber’s re-launch of this valuable program.

According to the chambers website, “The Greater Akron Chamber is committed to making an impact on the retention and attraction of talent in the greater Akron area. We believe that by connecting our region’s YPs to each other and to our community, we will be better able to accomplish that goal. The mission of the YPN is to attract and retain talent to the Greater Akron region by connecting the next generation of leaders to each other and to the community.”

The YPN hosts quarterly networking events as well as programs geared towards personal and professional development. By offering benefits available exclusively to YPN members and opportunities to take ownership in the community, the program will support a new crop of leaders and strengthen the economic development of the greater Akron area.

State and Federal Communications is proud to be a part of the Greater Akron Chamber of Commerce, and a founding member of the Young Professionals Network.

Jon Spontarelli is a member of the Young Professional Network and the primary contact from State and Federal Communications.

Q.  I am a registered lobbyist who would like to attend a charitable golf tournament.  Are there specific restrictions or requirements for this type of event?

A. Mere attendance at a charitable golf tournament or similar event is not typically restricted.

However, this activity may be prohibited or subject to disclosure requirements depending on the circumstances.

Being a registered lobbyist does not hinder your ability to donate independently to a 501(c)(3) organization.  However, in some instances, your attendance may be requested because the event is associated with a public official.  If an official asks you to attend or sponsor the charitable event, this may be considered making a contribution “at the behest of” the official, depending on the laws in your jurisdiction.

If a charitable contribution is made “at the behest of” a public official, there are two considerations: permissibility and disclosure.  First, is the charitable contribution permissible?  A jurisdiction may consider the charitable contribution to be a gift to the public official who requested it.  For example, Massachusetts considers a charitable contribution in this scenario to be a prohibited gift.  Even if the charitable contribution is a permissible gift, there may be a limit as to how much a lobbyist may donate.

Second, if a lobbyist may make the charitable contribution, is it disclosed on a lobbying report?  In Illinois, these charitable contributions are not reportable on a lobbying report.  In California, the official who made the request of the lobbyist must disclose the charitable contribution.  However, this type of expenditure is reportable on a lobbying report in Connecticut.

If you are a registered lobbyist, check with the applicable state regulatory agency before making a charitable contribution “at the behest of” an 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.