Lobbying:

“Group pushes ethics reform in hopes of curbing lobbyist influence at Georgia Legislature” by Errin Haines (Associated Press) in The Republic.

Campaign Finance:

“Late Night: Stephen Colbert drops ‘super PAC’ to run for president” by Meredith Blake in the Los Angeles Times. (with a wink…)

“Super PACs are making their rich presence felt in 2012 campaigns” David Goldstein in the Sacramento Bee.

“Summary of Kansas Senate Campaign Finance Reports” in the Missouri News Horizon.

“The 20 Largest Campaign Donors in Rhode Island” by Dan McGowan on golocalProv.com.

“No action taken on Oklahoma’s campaign disclosure laws” by Michael McNutt in the Daily Oklahoman.

Ethics:

“John Edwards trial: Lawyers request for delay will be considered by judge” by The Associated Press on Politico.

“Prison for ex-Rep. Siljander: He aided terrorist-linked charity” by Matt Pearce in the Los Angeles Times.

The Campaign Legal Center, Democracy 21, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, the League of Women Voters for the U.S., and other groups are petitioning the White House in order to get President Obama to make new appointments to the Federal Election Commission, which they deem ineffective because of political division. The terms for five of the six commissioners have expired.

The groups plan to do this via the administration’s “We the People” online petitioning tool, for which they will need 25, 000 signatures for their petition will be officially considered.

Here is the coverage this afternoon of the breaking news issue:

“Watchdogs push Obama to make FEC appointments before election” by Alicia Cohn in The Hill.

“Advocates Again Press Obama to Name FEC Appointees” by Eliza Newlin Carney.

“Watchdogs to Obama: Fix the FEC” by Susan Crabtree in the Washington Times.

The 2012 Presidential Primary Calendar (ordered by date)

and the 2012 State and Presidential Primary and Caucus Dates (ordered by state).

Here is the announcement posted on their blog.

Florida: “Senate committee finalizes redistricting maps as Democrats split” Mary Ellen Klas in the Miami Herald.

“Democrats prepare for partisan redistricting debate” by Aaron Deslatte in the Orlando Sentinel.

Kentucky: “Panel approves state House redistricting plan over Republican protests” by Jack Brammer in the Lexington Herald-Leader.

North Carolina: “N.C. lawyers want redistricting challenges dismissed“by The Associated Press in the Greensboro News & Record.

Texas:“Republicans say Texas may need to hold two primaries” by Aman Batheja in the Star-Telegram.

“More Confusion in Redistricting Case” by Richard Whittaker in The Austin Chronicle.

West Virginia: “W.Va. redistricting deadline lifted, but election calendar looms” by Lawrence Messina (Associated Press) in the Charleston Gazette.

The Ethics Resource Center reports in a new study that four times as many employees of large corporations have seen illegal donations given to public officials.

According to an article in today’s edition of Politico: “Four percent of 4,600 private-sector employees surveyed this fall by the Ethics Resource Center said they witnessed improper contributions to campaigns and parties. By comparison, only 1 percent of respondents reported these transgressions in the group’s previous study, completed in 2009.”

For the full story, read “Ethics Study: More Employees Report Seeing Illegal Donations” by Janie Lorber in Politico.

Take a look at this news item on NCSL’s blog, The Thicket: “TVW Introduces SCOUT” by Jan Goehring.

According to the post: “TVW, the Washington state public affairs network, is offering an innovative service to citizens who want to follow public policy issues and the legislative process. This new tool, called SCOUT, allows the public to easily keep track of issues. SCOUT will track video and bill information and automatically send it to those who open a free account.”

You can find the link to TVW here, and find out more about SCOUT at this link.

Photo of the Washington State Capitol dome by Tradnor on Wikipedia.

The stories take a look at We the People, the White House online petition platform and Data.gov, the site that offers raw, readable government data sets for use by the public.

• “Fewer online petitions posted to We the People website” by Joseph Marks on Nextgov.com.

• “Most Data.gov apps are built by government, not the public” by  Joseph Marks on Nextgov.com.

On Monday a bill passed the New Jersey Senate that would prohibit political fundraising by any candidate on any public property in the state.

The legislation has gone to the Assembly and if it is passed, it would have to be signed by Governor Chris Christie.

You can find the story in the article “N.J. Senate passes bill banning political fundraising on all public property” by Christopher Baxter in the Star-Ledger.

With text ads, graphics ads, and even YouTube videos at their disposal, SuperPACs have a powerful tool with Google’s AdWords’ search-based advertising platform as a way to get their messages out.

This article on techPresident explores how Google is gearing up for big ad sales and what this may mean for the 2012 election cycle. Be sure to read “Google’s Preparing for Super PAC Spending Online in 2012” by Sarah Lai Stirland.

Just in time for the second anniversary of the Citizens United decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, the Sunlight Foundation is crafting a bill that would require disclosure of the money behind independent expenditures, SuperPACs, and more. Called the Stop Undisclosed Payments in Elections from Ruining Public Accountability in Campaigns Act, the text of the bill (in its current form) can be found here.

According to the announcement on their website, the SUPERPAC Act would require the following:

• Ensure disclosure of donors who fund independent expenditures and electioneering communications made by Super PACs or other 501(c) organizations. Donors giving to an organization for other purposes may remain anonymous if the organization establishes separate accounts for non-election related spending.

• Require real-time, online disclosure of all reports. Data must be in searchable, sortable, machine-readable formats and reports must include unique IDs for all filers.

• Require disclaimers (stand-by-your-ad statements) and identification of top funders in the ad.

• Require registered lobbyists to report their spending on independent expenditures and electioneering communications.

• Require all candidates and committees to file electronically with the Federal Election Commission.

The organization is encouraging input from the public in order to improve the proposed legislation via publicmarkup.org.

Be sure to read “Campaign-finance regulations go before high court” by Peter Wong in the Statesman Journal.

According to the article: “Justices of the Oregon Supreme Court are pondering whether the state should enforce campaign-finance regulations that Oregon voters approved in 2006 despite their rejection of a companion constitutional change in the same election. … Measure 47 would have limited individual contributions — to $500 in statewide contests and $100 in all others — and barred corporate and union contributions. It also would have set limits on contributions to all types of political committees.”

Photo of the Oregon Supreme Court courtroom doors by Aboutmovies on Wikipedia.

State and Federal Communications was proud to be the sponsor of the Akron Roundtable luncheon today, which featured U.S. Sen. Rob Portman as the speaker.

U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci, Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic, and University of Akron President Luis Proenza were in attendance along with a full house at the Quaker Station.

The senator’s talk was titled “Bipartisan Ways Forward on Jobs and Washington’s Debt.”

State and Federal Communications believes in the Akron Roundtable’s mission to “Bring the World to Akron” and appreciates the unique and wonderful service they provide. We also are dedicated to the community of Akron and happy to be a part of today’s event.

Elizabeth Bartz, President and CEO of State and Federal Communications, is attending the Public Affairs Institute hosted by the Public Affairs Council in Laguna Beach, California.

The Public Affairs Council website says the Institute has the following aim: “For more than thirty years, the Public Affairs Institute has brought together a world-class faculty and mid-to-senior-level public affairs professionals to discuss emerging political, economic, social and technological issues and trends in a rigorous, intriguing, innovative curriculum. Class sessions are led by faculty members, distinguished in their particular fields of expertise, in a mix of large group lectures and small group discussions, allowing for an interactive, personal learning environment.”

The Twitter hashtag for the event is #2012Institute.