Campaign Finance

Oregon: “The City’s Public Campaign Financing Program Allowed Candidates with Little Support to Snag Taxpayer Dollars” by Sophie Peel for Willamette Week

Ethics

California: “Assessor Reports $1M Behested Payment, Biggest Charitable Donation Made at a Local Elected Official’s Request” by Jeff McDonald (San Diego Union-Tribune) for MSN

National: “Trump Transition Team Ethics Pledge Appears to Exclude President-Elect” by Betsy Klein, Steve Contorno, and Arlette Saenz (CNN) for MSN

Florida: “Tickets to Master’s Tournament Trigger Feud in Hillsborough County Politics” by Jack Evans and Justin Garcia (Tampa Bay Times) for MSN

Indiana: “Nonprofit Braun Transition Group Follows Former Governors’ Model” by Leslie Bonilla Muñiz (Indiana Capital Chronicle) for Yahoo News

Legislative Issues

National: “Supreme Court to Examine Power of Congress to Delegate Authority” by Justin Jouvenal (Washington Post) for MSN

Lobbying

National: “As His Power Grows, D.C. Wonders: How do you lobby a man like Elon Musk?” by Cat Zakrzewski, Faiz Siddiqui, and Pranshu Verma (Washington Post) for MSN

New York: “N.Y. Ethics Commission Faces New Constitutional Challenge” by Brendan Lyons for Albany Times Union

Gov. Gary Herbert has signed a series of bills bringing an end to the special legislative session.

The governor signed two major bills making changes to the laws governing medical cannabis and beer.

Lawmakers approved a change to allow grocery and convenience stores a one-week grace period to purchase and store 4% beer before it can be sold to customers as the cap is lifted from 3.2% beer on Nov. 1.

Additionally, legislators passed changes to the state’s medical cannabis bill.

We had a great time at the 2^nd annual #artypartyakron hosted by the Summit County CASA/GAL Volunteer Board. This juried art show at Akrona Galleries featured 100 works of art from local young artists ranging from pre-school to college. The art was auctioned off at a fun and exciting event with all proceeds going to the CASA/GAL Program of Summit County. The mission of the CASA program is: To provide every child who enters the court system as a result of allegations of abuse, neglect, or dependency with a trained community volunteer to advocate what is in the child’s best interest.

As vice-chair of the CASA Board, I am grateful for State and Federal’s event sponsorship and support of this important work in Summit County.