The Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission has announced two finalists for the position of Executive Secretary.

Holly A. LaBerge, one of the finalists, is a former Budget Analyst for the House Budget Office and presently the Director of Government Relations for the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council.

The other finalist is Jerry R. Presley, who has previously been a candidate for public office in the state of Georgia, a registered lobbyist, and the city clerk of Baldwin, Georgia. He is currently the president and owner of Public Policy Consultants of Georgia, L.L.C. No timeline has been set for selecting the new Executive Secretary.

West Virginia Governor Earl Ray Tomblin has called another special session of the state Legislature to address redistricting following his veto of the redistricting bill passed during the last special session.

The special session will begin at noon on Thursday, August 18, 2011.

Photo of the West Virginia State Capitol building by Analogue Kid on Wikipedia.

We now provide information on lobbying, political contributions, and procurement lobbying for:

Hampton, Virginia

Hollywood, Florida

Santa Clara Superior Court Judge James P. Kleinberg has issued a proposed decision striking down a San Jose law that bars campaign contributions to candidates during the 17 days leading up to an election.

The proposed decision will be finalized in August.

We now provide information on lobbying, political contributions, and procurement lobbying for:

Elizabeth, New Jersey

Eugene, Oregon

Lakewood, Colorado

On July 28, 2011 the Chicago City Council passed a new ethics reform ordinance. The ordinance is part of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s efforts to provide more government transparency.

The new ordinance includes five key provisions. First, it creates a searchable online system for lobbyist registration and reporting. Second, it adds the term “lobbyist” to the group of people subject to the $50 gift restriction per single non-cash gift and $100 aggregated gift limit per each calendar year. Third, the new ordinance prohibits city employees, officials, or their businesses from applying for or receiving loans from lobbyists.

Fourth, the ordinance amends the semi-annual lobbyist activity report form to require lobbyists to disclose all campaign contributions to city elected officials and city employees running for office. Lastly, the ordinance codifies the revolving door provision created by Mayor Emanuel’s May 16, 2011 executive order.

Photo of the Chicago River by Robert S. Donovan on Wikipedia.

The office of the Secretary of State has released an amended version of the Rules Concerning Campaign and Political Finance, 8 CCR 1505-6.

Rule 5.13 now requires reports of contributions and expenditures to be filed on a monthly basis leading up to the state’s primary election in June and continuing until reports are required to be filed on a biweekly basis beginning in September.

The rule was necessitated by the enactment of Senate Bill 11-189, which changed the date of the state’s primary from August to June. Thus, the requirement to begin filing biweekly reports in July prior to the now vacated primary election date in August was rendered infeasible.

The Georgia General Assembly is scheduled to convene in special session on Monday, August 15, 2011.

The primary topic of discussion is to be redistricting.

Photo of the Georgia State Capitol dome by Connor.carey on Wikipedia.

West Virginia Governor Earl Ray Tomblin has called a special legislative session.

It will begin at noon on August 1, 2011.

Here is the press release on the Office of the Governor website and a link to the West Virginia Legislature website.

Amendments to the Los Angeles County campaign finance laws are expected to be introduced at the July 26, 2011 meeting of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

The current campaign finance ordinance prohibits PACs and political parties from making contributions to county candidates and prohibits inter- and intra-candidate transfers of funds.

The proposed campaign finance amendments would increase individual campaign contribution limits as well as permit contributions from PACs and political parties.

Under the proposed amendments, inter-candidate transfers would be treated as individual contributions.

Intra-candidate transfers between a prior and current campaign account would be permissible and subject to regulatory measures.

The Virginia General Assembly is scheduled to reconvene the recessed special session on Friday, July 29, 2011.

The session is scheduled to take up the issue of judicial vacancies in the state.

Photo of the Virginia State Capitol by Amadeust on Wikipedia.

Judge Thomas Johnston of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia has struck down key provisions of campaign finance law pertaining to electioneering communications.

In a suit filed by West Virginians for Life and the Center for Individual Freedom, the court held that while the state of West Virginia could regulate advertisements that “can have no other reasonable meaning than to urge the election or defeat of one or more clearly identified candidates,” the state could not require financial disclosures from third party groups creating advertisements that are merely “susceptible” to the interpretation that they are an appeal for or against a specific candidate.

Further, the court struck down the extension of electioneering communication regulations to print media while upholding the applicability of such regulations to broadcast media.

The Cuyahoga County Executive and Inspector General, in collaboration with the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio have announced plans to offer additional vendor ethics training courses.

The first vendor ethics course was offered for construction vendors only. Training sessions will soon be scheduled for health and human services providers, professional services providers, and miscellaneous service providers.

The city attorney for Boynton Beach, Jim Cherof, has proposed ceasing enforcement of the city’s lobbying ordinance and turning over enforcement to the Palm Beach County Commission on Ethics. The lobbying ordinance, in effect since 2007, has come under fire recently due to a perceived vagueness in the law.

This past May, the city levied the first fines ever under the ordinance and has also taken steps to open an investigation against former city commissioner David Katz, all concerning failure to register as a lobbyist. Each fine is being appealed and Katz maintains he was never required to register under the law because he was performing consulting work and not lobbying.