The Chicago City Council approved phase two of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s ethics reform. This time, however, it didn’t come easy and the mayor is not completely satisfied with its outcome. The set of reforms focused mainly on public officials.

Mayor Emanuel’s proposal included a two year ban on lobbying after leaving city council office and allowing citizens to make anonymous complaints against aldermen. The city council was against both of these provisions and eventually passed a watered-down version of the proposal.

The ban on lobbying will only last for one year and does not take effect until January 1, 2014. The idea of anonymous complaints was completely tossed out; as the aldermen were afraid the tactic would be used by political enemies to gain an advantage. Emanuel was not pleased with the changes. He vowed to continue to fight for the anonymous complaints and mentioned the aldermen are just playing into the hands of the cynics.

Following the council’s vote Emanuel said, “I believe all of you work really hard. You don’t get credit for how hard you work. You get an unfair rap. But when you take an action like you just took, it reinforces a cynicism about you.” He added, “I want you all to know that is not the end of the process. I’m going to continue to do it.”

Photo of the Daley Plaza and Chicago City Hall by JeremyA on Wikipedia.

Philadelphia Councilman James Kenney has proposed an amendment to the city’s contribution limits to close a loophole in the law. Currently, individuals may not contribute more than $2,900 per year to a candidate and PACs are limited to $11,500 per year to a candidate.

It was recently uncovered by NewsWorks, through campaign finance reports for 2012, that Councilman Bill Green received $35,000 in contributions from one person. This would appear to violate the city’s contribution limits. However, it is perfectly legal under the current law.

According to the city’s Board of Ethics director, Shane Creamer, a person could accept as much money as they wanted until they became an official candidate. The funds would have to be kept separate and it would be difficult to legally do, but it is not illegal.

Kenny’s proposed amendment would help to shut this loophole down. Under the proposed ordinance, the contribution limits would include incumbents, which the proposed ordinance defines as any individual who currently holds elective city office. With this new law in effect, Green’s actions in accepting the large contributions would have been illegal.

Washington’s grassroots lobbying disclosure law is still safe after a federal appellate court dismissed a challenger’s case. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed the claim by Many Cultures, One Voice and Conservative Enthusiasts challenging the state’s disclosure laws for grassroots lobbying. The law requires groups to disclose contributions and spending once it has spent $500 in one month or $1,000 over a three-month period for grassroots lobbying.

The court ruled the two groups did not have standing to sue, because they never actually met the threshold for having to disclose its activities. Initially, the two groups argued the disclosure requirements thwarted free speech, but the trail court ruled against the groups saying the law did not violate the First Amendment.

The groups are now planning their next course of action. They may petition the appellate court to vacate the trial court’s ruling. If this were to happen, it would free up other groups to challenge the law without the benefit of a prior ruling in favor of the state.

The New York Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE) is currently in the process of developing draft regulations for the state’s gift laws. These draft regulations will attempt to provide clarity and guidance to those regulated by the commission.

The draft regulations concerning gifts given by lobbyists allow lobbyists to follow a step-by-step guide to determine whether he or she is allowed to legally give the gift. JCOPE is accepting written comments on the draft regulations until February 15, 2013. JCOPE will then use those written comments to draft proposed regulations.

Updated February 13, 2013: The New York Joint Commission on Public Ethics has extended the deadline to submit written comments on the draft regulations to March 8, 2013.

The Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices increased some of the state’s contribution limits as required by state law. The state requires the commission to examine the limits each December of an even-numbered year based upon the consumer price index.

This time around, the commission increased only the limits for candidates to the state legislature by $25. Now, those candidates may accept $375 for the primary and another $375 for the general election per contributor.

A candidate may accept contributions for the primary election, even if he or she is running opposed. The commission will next evaluate the contribution limits in December 2014.

The New York City Council overwhelmingly voted in favor of a campaign finance bill that has drawn sharp opposition from the city’s campaign finance board.

The bill will allow labor or other membership organizations and corporations to send communications to its members, executive and administrative personnel, and stockholders without having to disclose that information to the city. Currently, these types of expenditures would have to be disclosed, but the bill, if signed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, would eliminate that requirement.

The city council passed the measure by a vote of 47-1 ensuring that it has enough votes to survive a veto by the mayor. However, that has not stopped Mayor Bloomberg from expressing his displeasure with the bill. Bloomberg has not given a firm answer about whether he will veto the bill, but his spokesperson did say “the bill will only weaken the city’s strong campaign disclosure laws and he sees no reason why unions shouldn’t be held to the same standard as others who are advocating candidates for elective office.”

Earlier this month Amy Loprest, executive director of the city’s campaign finance board, spoke against the bill saying it would set the city’s landmark disclosure laws back and hurt the city’s voters. However, not everybody believes it is a bad thing.

Susan Lerner, executive director of Common Cause New York, praised the council’s vote saying, “this is the way in which a representative democracy should function with the city council exerting oversight to clarify important sections of the law. Membership organizations must be allowed to communicate with their willing members about the issues they collectively care about.”

Photo of the New York City Hall by Momos on Wikipedia.

With Pennsylvania poised to outsource control of the state lottery, Representative Brandon Neuman plans to ensure political contributions do not muddy the waters. Neuman has announced plans to introduce legislation making it illegal for any company running the state lottery to make campaign contributions to elected officials and political candidates.

Corporate contributions are already banned in the commonwealth, but Neuman sees this prohibition extending to anyone involved in making profits from the lottery’s operation. Neuman is worried about the integrity of the contract process and said “We don’t even want the perception of doing things because of campaign donations.”

The lottery deal is still being reviewed and must ultimately be approved by the attorney general.

The state has announced that two special elections will be held on May 21 to replace two outgoing state representatives. In district 42, voters will be looking for Matt Smith’s replacement after he ran and won for both a seat in the state house and state senate.

The voters in district 95 will be replacing Eugene DePasquale, who left his position to become the state’s auditor general.

Primary elections will not be held for either of these seats, as the parties will be choosing their nominees.

Governor Mark Dayton has set special election dates for two house seats after the incumbents turned in their resignations on January 7.

The special elections for the house seats in districts 14A and 19A will take place on February 12.

The special primary, if necessary, will take place on January 29. Both districts are home to large college student populations, so the governor decided to ensure that as many students as possible would be back for the election.

The North Carolina General Assembly will have a one-day special session January 9, 2013, before convening the regular session on January 30, 2013. This one-day special session is for both houses to elect officers, adopt rules and organize the upcoming session.

This is the first time the general assembly has decided to hold this one-day special organization session, but both parties have expressed interest in continuing the idea in the future.

Photo of the North Carolina State Legislative Building by Jayron32 on Wikipedia.

The Illinois State Board of Elections has announced that campaign contributions limits have been increased with the start of the new year. According to statute, on January 1 of every odd-numbered year, the board of elections must adjust the contribution limits due to inflation.

Under the updated limits, a candidate political committee may accept, over the course of an election cycle, no more than $5,300 from an individual, $10,500 form a corporation, labor organization, or association, and $52,600 from a political action committee. A political party committee and a political action committee may accept no more than $10,500 from an individual, $21,100 from a corporation, labor organization, or association, and $52,600 from a political action committee.

Absent any legislation, these contribution limits will remain in place until January 1, 2015 and will be in effect for the next gubernatorial election.

The essence of the rule will force people who make independent expenditures to disclose funding and amounts spent by treating them as a political committee. Therefore, they will have to register as an independent expenditure committee and, for those elections in which they support or oppose a candidate, file reports before and after the election. The committee will also be responsible for filing periodic reports on January 15 and July 15 of each year.

Independent expenditures are defined by the state as expenditures made in support of or opposition to a candidate, expressly advocating for the election or defeat of a candidate, and made in complete independence from the candidate. Expressly advocate is defined as communicating with specific words calling for the election or defeat of a candidate, such as “vote,” “oppose,” “support,” “defeat,” “elect,” or “reject.”

Using these definitions, groups can avoid registering and reporting as an independent expenditure committee if they avoid using the special buzz words that would make their advertisements expressly advocating. The board of elections has said these rules are not completely new, but rather have been adopted to shed light on the rules and to ensure that people understand exactly what is expected when making independent expenditures. The rules have already taken effect and committees making these expenditures will next have to file a report on January 15, 2013.

The Suffolk County legislature has voted to hold a special election on January 15, 2013 to replace outgoing legislator Ed Romaine.

Mr. Romaine was recently sworn in as the town supervisor of Brookhaven, New York.

Sean Walter, the republican candidate, and Al Krupski, the democratic candidate, will vie for the vacant seat in the county’s first legislative district.

Governor Scott Walker has set the date for the special election to fill the vacant 98th district state assembly seat. The date will coincide with the already scheduled spring primary and general elections on February 19 and April 2 respectively.

Representative Paul Farrow’s former seat is vacant because he won a special election for a state senate seat in early December.

Four republicans have already announced their intention to run for the seat, but it is unclear who will run on the democratic side.