May 10, 2013 •
News You Can Use Digest – May 10, 2013
Here are highlights from the latest edition of News You Can Use:
National:
States Try to Tackle ‘Secret Money’ in Politics
Federal:
Campaign Contribution Limits Broken Repeatedly In 2012 Election with No FEC Oversight
From the States and Municipalities:
Alabama – Campaign Finance Law Revisions Pass House; Headed Back to Senate
Georgia – Gov. Deal Signs Law capping Georgia Lobbyist Spending at $75 a Go
Hawaii – How One Lawmaker Blocks Hawaii’s Ethics Reforms Year after Year
Kansas – Seventy-Four Percent of Lobbyist Spending on Kansas Lawmakers Unaccounted For
New Jersey – Judge Approves $728,300 in Bonuses for Employees of Engineering Firm Accused of Campaign Finance Violations
New York – Senator in Corruption Case Spoke of Silencing Witnesses, Prosecutors Say
North Carolina – Private Conservative Group ALEC Carries Sway in Legislature
Pennsylvania – Orie Melvin Must Write Apology Letters to Pennsylvania Judges on Photos of Herself
South Carolina – South Carolina Sends Mark Sanford Back to House
Tennessee – Tom Ingram Faces Heat over Lobbying Pay
Texas – Lobby Disclosure of Consulting Ties Passes the Senate
Vermont – House OKs Cap on Donations to Super PACs
Washington – Lobbyists Spend Big Bucks on Dinners, Other Tabs for Lawmakers
State and Federal Communications produces a weekly summary of national news, offering more than 80 articles per week focused on ethics, lobbying, and campaign finance.
News You Can Use is a news service provided at no charge only to clients of our online Executive Source Guides, or ALERTS™ consulting clients.
May 9, 2013 •
Thursday News Roundup
Here are some great articles for today’s government relations news summary:
Lobbying
“Lobbyists Snag Top Staff Positions on Capitol Hill” by Lee Fang in The Nation.
Tennessee: “Tom Ingram faces possible fine for failing to register as lobbyist” by Tom Humphrey in the Knoxville News.
Texas: “Lobbyist transparency bill sent to Perry” by The Associated Press in the Houston Chronicle.
Campaign Finance
FEC commissioners speak: “Hard truths of campaign finance” opinion piece by Donald F. McGahn, Caroline Hunter and Matthew Petersen in Politico.
“Why Big Money Still Won in 2012” by Jonathan Backer in the Huffington Post.
Alabama: “Bill before House today repeal state limit on corporate campaign contributions; Lawmaker says it’s a ‘pretend’ cap” by Kim Chandler in the Birmingham News.
New Jersey: “Lawmakers Get Cold Feet About Campaign Finance” by Hank Kalet in NJ Spotlight.
New York: “Carlucci, other senators study plans for campaign finance reform” by Laura Incalcaterra in the Journal News.
Ethics
New York: “Ex-lawmaker to be sentenced in NYC in fraud case” by The Associated Press in the Arizona Daily Star.
Political Advertising
“House Backs Updating Rules on Political Ad Disclosures” by Becca Aaronson in the Texas Tribune.
Government Tech and Social Media
“Ohio City Deploys 2-in-1 Email and Social Media Archiving” by Sarah Rich in Government Technology.
Procurement
“Most Top Contractors Increased Business With Federal Government in 2012” by Eric Katz in Government Executive.
May 8, 2013 •
Wednesday Government Relations News
Here is our roundup of the latest articles on lobbying, campaign finance, ethics, and more!
Lobbying
“K Street firms fear backlash from new scrutiny of political intel work” by Kevin Bogardus in The Hill.
“Dicks joins D.C. lobbying firm” by Jim Brunner in the Seattle Times.
“Congress Members Sprinting for Money to Lobbying After Election” by Jonathan Salant in Bloomberg BusinessWeek.
Delaware: “Del. House approves lobbying reform bill” by Randall Chase (Associated Press) in the News Times.
District of Columbia: “In D.C. Circuit, Lobbyists Fight Obama Lobbying Ban” by Andrew Ramonas in the Blog of Legal Times.
Tennessee: “Lobbyist On Payroll Of Both Governor, Special Interests” by Ben Hall on WTVF News.
Campaign Finance
“RNC urges Supreme Court to strike campaign-finance limits” by Sam Baker in The Hill.
“SEC Considering New Rule for Political Contributions by Public Companies” on PBS Newshour.
Arizona: “Senate lawmakers move to overhaul public financing” by The Associated Press in the Arizona Daily Sun.
Colorado: “Colorado Supreme Court hears 1st Amendment challenge to campaign finance law” by Matt Arnold in the Examiner.
New York: “Public Hearing in Albany Is Held Without the Public” by Thomas Kaplan and Jesse McKinley in The New York Times.
Vermont: “House OKs cap on donations to super PACs” by Peter Hirschfeld in the Rutland Herald.
Ethics
North Carolina: “9 Investigates: Needed changed in NC Ethics Commission operations” by Jim Bradley on WSOC TV News.
South Carolina: “SC Senate panel advances ethics reform” by Seanna Adcox (Associated Press) in the Spartanburg Herald-Journal.
Open Data
“A New Home for Data on Politics and State Governments” by Sarah Lai Stirland in TechPresident.
May 8, 2013 •
Washington Governor Jay Inslee Signs Disclosure Bill Into Law
New law increases disclosure in political advertising
Governor Jay Inslee has signed a bill into law increasing disclosure in political advertising. Senate Bill 5258 was passed by the Washington State Legislature and delivered to the governor on April 23.
The bill requires a series of political advertisements supporting or opposing ballot measures sponsored by the same political committee, each of which is under $1,000, to include information on the advertisement’s top five contributors once the cumulative value of the advertisements reaches $1,000. Under the current law, information on the top five contributors is only required for individual advertisements in excess of $1,000.
This law will take effect on July 28, 2013, but with the first state elections not due to take place until 2014, we will probably not see how big of an impact this new disclosure requirement will have.
May 7, 2013 •
Tuesday Lobbying and Campaign Finance News
Keep up with the latest government relations news with these articles:
Lobbying
“The Bottom Line” in The Hill.
“Anne Northup joins Rudy Giuliani’s lobbying firm” in the Courier-Journal.
Delaware: “Del. House to vote on lobbying reform bill” by The Associated Press in the San Francisco Chronicle.
Minnesota: “MN local governments spend $1.1 million on lobbying Washington” by Tom Steward in Watchdog.org.
Campaign Finance
New Jersey: “Lawmakers introduce bill to overhaul NJ’s campaign finance laws” by David Levinsky in the Burlington County Times.
New York: “Group cites 100,000 NY campaign finance violations” by The Associated Press in The Wall Street Journal.
Vermont: “Lawmakers take up controversial campaign finance bill” by Terri Hallenbeck in the Burlington Free Press.
Ethics
California: “FPPC proposes $2,500 fine related to Chris Kelly’s 2010 AG bid” by Torey Van Oot in the Sacramento Bee.
California: “Ex-state Sen. Michael Rubio fined for not reporting home sale” by Patrick McGreevy in the Los Angeles Times.
Colorado: “Colorado ethics panel: Scott Gessler can have criminal defense fund” by Joey Bunch in the Denver Post.
Delaware: “Man serving federal time for campaign finance scheme expected to plead guilty in Del. case” by The Associated Press in The Washington Post.
New York: “CSEA seeks ethics probe” by James M. Odato in the Albany Times Union.
New York: “N.Y. senator charged with stealing funds for failed campaign” by Jessica Dye in Reuters.
Texas: “Bill Banning ‘Double Dipping’ Dies in Committee” by Jay Root in the Texas Tribune.
May 7, 2013 •
Elections Alberta Rules Katz Contribution Completely Legal
Katz Group and Edmonton Oilers owner had been under fire for $430,000 bundled contribution
Elections Alberta and its Chief Electoral Officer Brian Fjeldheim have spoken on the Daryl Katz contribution scandal and they believe there was no scandal at all. Daryl Katz, chairman and CEO of The Katz Group and the National Hockey League’s Edmonton Oilers, has been under fire recently after a contribution of $430,000 was delivered to the Alberta Progressive Conservative party from his company last year.
Under Alberta laws, a corporation or individual is only allowed to contribute $30,000 to a political party during a campaign period. However, Fjeldheim ruled the contribution to be legal because the corporation simply collected contributions from individual donors and gave a bundled contribution of $430,000. Seventeen members of the company all contributed no more than the maximum $30,000 to the entire contribution and every person reimbursed the corporation.
In his ruling, Fjeldheim said, “There was no breach [of the contribution laws] because there was clear identification of the funds connected with the actual contributors and each contribution respected the $30,000 limit. Without more, a single payment of $430,000 would have exceeded the limit for a single contribution. However, the investigation revealed that this was not a single contribution of $430,000.”
There is concern within the province this ruling is a sign of things to come and Canadian elections could become similar to the money-happy American way.
However, Alberta Premier Alison Redford said she will not be looking to change the election laws. “What has been put in place is entirely appropriate.”
Not everyone agrees though. York University election financing expert Robert MacDermid said, “It would be simply a license to allow people to give money without disclosing the truth about it. When you have a system that doesn’t control disclosure adequately, when there are holes where people can give significant sums of money and not have to disclose their true identity…that absence of openness and disclosure really does make people question politicians.”
While the next Alberta election is not until 2016, this campaign finance issue is sure to be among the biggest at the time.
May 6, 2013 •
Georgia Governor Signs Lobbying and Campaign Finance Bills
House Bill 142 and House Bill 143 become new ethics law
Governor Nathan Deal signed two pieces of ethics legislation aimed at increasing public confidence in state government on May 6, 2013. House Bill 142 restores rulemaking powers to the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission, clarifies and modifies classification as a lobbyist, and sets a gift limit of $75 per lobbyist gift.
House Bill 143 requires more campaign transparency for local races and allows for public notice of any campaign contributions given to members of the General Assembly leading up to the start of the legislative session. The bills become effective January 1, 2014.
May 6, 2013 •
Monday News Roundup
Let’s start off the week with these lobbying, campaign finance, and ethics news articles:
Lobbying
“Why Lobbying Is Now Increasingly In The Shadows” by Peter Overby on NPR.org.
“Quarterly Lobbying Reports Show Yet Another Decline” by Russ Choma in OpenSecrets.org.
Kansas: “74% of lobbyist spending on Kansas lawmakers unaccounted for” by Dion Lefler and Brent Wistrom in the Kansas City Star.
New Mexico: “Lawmakers raise concerns about Carruthers’ lobbyist past” by The Associated Press in the Santa Fe New Mexican.
Campaign Finance
“States’ Seek to Limit Undisclosed Political Donations” by Matea Gold, Chris Megerian and Mark Z. Barabak in Governing.
Montana: “Montana governor vetoes campaign finance, water commission bills” by The Associated Press in the Missoulian.
New York: “Senate GOP Hearings Will Examine NYC’s Public Campaign Financing System” by Karen DeWitt on WNYC.
New York: “Bill Would Bar Political Consultants From Also Lobbying” by Ken Lovett in the New York Daily News.
North Carolina: “Poll shows NC voters want to retain campaign finance law for statewide judges” in the News & Observer.
Ethics
Pennsylvania: “Baker’s bill adds much-needed transparency” by Robert Swift in the Citizens’ Voice.
South Carolina: “SC Senate Ethics Committee adds altering documents to ethics allegations against Sen. Ford” by Seanna Adcox (Associated Press) in The Republic.
South Carolina: “SC ethics reform proposal will see ‘substantial’ changes in Senate” by Jamie Self in The State.
Virginia: “Va. cabinet member discloses taking gifts” by The Associated Press in the Virginian-Pilot.
Redistricting
North Carolina: “Dome: Study finds – surprise! – redistricting benefits majority party” by Craig Jarvis in the News & Observer.
May 6, 2013 •
Court Upholds New York City’s Contribution Limits
City allowed to keep its contribution limits below the state’s limits
The New York City Campaign Finance Board scored a huge win in the courts Friday. Republican mayoral candidate George McDonald had sued the city in hopes of eliminating the city’s strict contribution limits and attempt to bring them in line with the state’s limits. However, the Manhattan court said the city’s contribution limits are legal and reasonable to keep money from influencing elections.
Judge Kathryn Freed, who gave the decision for the court, held, “The court finds that the establishment of uniform limitations on both participating and non-participating candidates is reasonably related and calculated to achieve the goals of reducing the influence of ‘wealthy special interests’ over local elections, and increasing public participation and public confidence in those elections, is well within the powers granted to the City to protect the welfare and well being of its citizens.”
McDonald recently announced that he would join the voluntary public financing system and would conform to the current contribution limits, but promised to keep his fight up in court. McDonald still has the option of appealing this decision, but declined to say whether he would. He was disheartened in the entries process, saying “It’s disappointing that it took 147 days to ‘just say no’ in long form.”
McDonald is the underdog in a three-way battle for the Republican nomination with Joe Lhota and John Catsimatidis. The primary election for the mayor’s office, and all other city offices, is September 10.
May 6, 2013 •
Hawaii State Legislature Adjourns
Campaign finance bill passes and awaits governor’s signature
The Hawaii State Legislature bid aloha Thursday as it adjourned for the year. In total, the Legislature introduced 2,872 bills and passed 293 of them. Those 293 passed bills will now head to Governor Neil Abercrombie’s desk for his signature.
Among the most important bills passed, was a campaign finance bill aimed at increasing transparency in the campaigning process. House Bill 1147 was passed Thursday night and is now headed to Governor Abercrombie’s desk. Under the bill, non-candidate committees only making independent expenditures will be required to list the names of the top three contributors on all advertisements broadcasted, televised, circulated, or published, which includes posting on the Internet. Originally, the bill required the top five contributors to be disclosed, but it was amended to only include the top three.
Still, Hawaii lawmakers were very pleased with the passage of this particular bill. Representative Chris Lee, the author of the bill, said, “All the political ads they see on TV that are sponsored by these loose organizations with no real background – these folks will have to disclose who the funders actually are so that people can actually go to the ballot box informed about what they’re about to vote on.”
Senate President Donna Mercado Kim added, “We should have transparency that people are free to go ahead and have their First Amendment, if it’s by way of donation and contributing, but we should be able to know who’s doing it.”
Governor Abercrombie has 45 days, excluding weekends and holidays, to sign the bill and if he does, the bill will become effective on November 5, 2014.
May 6, 2013 •
North Dakota Legislature Adjourns
Signed campaign finance bills address independent expenditures
The Legislature adjourned sine die early Saturday, May 4, 2013. During this longest-ever legislative session, Governor Jack Dalrymple signed two campaign finance bills to establish registration and reporting requirements for independent expenditures.
Senate Bill 2255 and Senate Bill 2299 expand definitions and reporting requirements for campaign entities making independent expenditures in North Dakota elections. Federal PACs making independent expenditures in excess of $200 in state races will be required to file a copy of the federal report detailing the expenditures.
The bills become effective August 1, 2013.
Photo of the North Dakota State Capitol by Bobak Ha’Eri in Wikipedia.
May 2, 2013 •
Thursday News Roundup
Here are some great articles for today’s government relations news summary:
Lobbying
California: “California lobbying firms make $40.1M in first quarter” by Kathy Robertson in the Sacramento Business Journal.
Illinois: “Evaluating Municipal Lobbying Data: Chicago” by Alisha Green in the Sunlight Foundation blog.
Campaign Finance
“Billionaire’s son pushes for campaign-finance overhaul” by Brian Tumulty in USA Today.
Arizona: “Horne campaign finance case puts contribution limits at risk” by Howard Fischer in the Arizona Daily Sun.
Florida: “Ramba: Campaign-finance reform will just shuffle paper work” by Aaron Deslatte in the Orlando Sentinel.
Missouri:
Missouri: “Senate bill would limit campaign contributions” by Jonathan Shorman in the News-Leader.
New York: “WATCH LIVE: Senate IDC hosts hearing on campaign-finance reform” by Jon Campbell in Politics on the Hudson.
Ethics
Connecticut: “Malloy’s trip on People Magazine’s dime raises questions” by Ken Dixon in the Connecticut Post.
North Carolina: “NC elections board gets new chair, exec director” in the Daily Dispatch.
New York: “Director leaving high-profile NY ethics commission” on CBS Albany News.
Pennsylvania: “Gov. Corbett discloses gifts, free travel for 2012” by The Associated Press in the Patriot-News.
Pennsylvania: “9 members of Congress from Pa. cited in nepotism report” by Melissa Daniels in The Reporter.
From the State Legislatures
“Elections—and Rules—Have Consequences” by Karen Shanton in NCSL’s The Thicket.
Indiana: “Indiana Governor Mike Pence doesn’t rule out vetoes of legislative bills” in the Courier-Journal.
Louisiana: “House committee shoots down effort at term limits for statewide elected officials” by Jeff Adelson in the Times-Picayune.
Government Tech and Social Media
“YouTube goes to Washington” by Seth Rosenblatt in CNET News.
May 2, 2013 •
Florida Governor Scott Approves Ethics and Campaign Finance Overhaul
Campaign finance changes take effect later this year
Two major bills passed by the Florida Legislature were signed by Governor Rick Scott late on Wednesday, May 1, 2013. The bills make significant changes to the state’s ethics and campaign finance laws.
Senate Bill 2, the state’s ethics overhaul, becomes effective immediately upon becoming a law.
House Bill 569, the campaign finance bill, takes effect November 1, 2013, except for the provisions eliminating committees of continuous existence (CCEs). CCEs are prohibited from accepting contributions after August 1, 2013, and their certification will be revoked as of September 30, 2013. Additionally, the bill requires the Division of Elections to present a proposal for mandatory electronic filing to the legislature by December 1, 2013.
For previous coverage about this legislation, see “Florida Legislature Passes Campaign Finance Bill” and “Florida Ethics Bill Heads to Governor Scott” by Jennifer Zona.
May 1, 2013 •
South Carolina House Passes Ethics Bill
Campaign and lobbyist reporting would be expanded
The House has passed a bill to overhaul ethics laws, including campaign finance and lobbying. House Bill 3945 creates the Joint Committee on Ethics and the Public Integrity Unit to investigate complaints and replace the separate House and Senate ethics committees.
The bill includes new reporting requirements for campaign contributions just before an election and extends lobbyist registration and reporting for individuals lobbying local governments and school boards.
A final approval on Wednesday, May 1, 2013, allows the bill to meet the crossover deadline for Senate consideration. If sent any later, the bill would need a two-thirds vote for Senate passage.
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