Lobbying

“Statehouse Live: At least 8 GOP legislators registered to attend ALEC meeting” by Scott Rothschild in the Lawrence Journal World.

Oklahoma: “Lobbyist gift-giving to Oklahoma lawmakers is up again for the third straight year” by Michael McNutt in the Oklahoman.

Campaign Finance

“Massachusetts Senate calls for Congress to pass law reversing Citizens United decision” by Robert Rizzuto in the Republican.

“Big campaign donors can remain a big secret” by Jon Murray and Mary Beth Schneider in the Indianapolis Star News.

Ethics

Alabama: “Lawmakers plan to run again as ‘double dipping’ ban looms” by Sebastian Kitchen in the Montgomery Advertiser.

Connecticut: “7 charged in Donovan probe” by Ken Dixon in the Connecticut Post.

Illinois: “Feds widen probe into newly retired South Side lawmaker” by Ray Long and Monique Garcia in the Chicago Tribune.

Illinois:  “Ex-Illinois lawmaker subpoenaed over scholarships” in the Quad-City Times.

South Carolina:  “Taxpayer bill for Haley ethics probe is $61,000” by Andrew Shain in the Charlotte Observer.

Utah: “Utah Supreme Court weighs fate of 2010 ethics initiative” by Cathy McKitrick in the Salt Lake Tribune.

Political Campaigns and Social Media

“New Site Seeks to Aggregate User-Generated Political Videos” by Miranda Neubauer in TechPresident.

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) announced persons reporting electioneering communications must report the name and address of each donor giving $1,000 or more, aggregated since the first day of the preceding calendar year.

The application of this rule applies retroactively to March 30, 2012, coinciding with a court decision in Van Hollen v. FEC that ruled the current regulation, 11 C.F.R. 104.20(c)(9), is invalid.

Previously, donors were only required to be disclosed if their donations were “made for the purpose of furthering electioneering communications.” The FEC will now consider all donors as contributors “regardless of their subjective purpose in contributing.”

As the Commission has not adopted any new regulations or explanation of its rules, and Van Hollen v FEC is still pending, the FEC outlined this requirement in a public statement issued Friday.

“FEC says it will enforce nonprofit disclosure rules” by Dan Eggen in The Washington Post.

“FEC Releases Disclosure Rules” by Elahe Izadi in the National Journal’s Influence Alley.

“Outside groups may have to disclose donors” by Robin Bravender and Dave Levinthal in Politico.

Here is the Federal Election Commission’s news release.

Federal:

IRS Says It Will Examine Rules for Nonprofit Political Activity

Lawyers Raking in Cash as Campaign Spending Hits Records

Millionaire Political Donors Club: Where are the women?

From the States and Municipalities:

California

San Bernardino County: Campaign finance reform boosted by bill

Connecticut

Campaign Money Scandal Rattles Congressional Race

Georgia

Governor Admits to Ethics Violations

Nevada

Americans for Prosperity May Have Opened Donors to Public Scrutiny by Entering State Race

Pennsylvania

Pa.’s Tough, New Voter ID Law Lands in Court

Pennsylvania

SEPTA Says It Didn’t Think It Had to Report Lobbyist Spending

Utah

ALEC Conservatives Reject Charges of Corporate Cronyism

Vermont

Vermont AG: No limits for independent expenditure PACs

Wisconsin

Prosser Converts Campaign Account to Legal Defense Fund

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.

Here is a video clip of C-Span’s Brian Lamb interviewing Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who discussed the Citizens United decision.

For the full story , be sure to read “Scalia Defends ‘Citizens United,’ Arizona Immigration Decision” by Tony Mauro in The Blog of LegalTimes.

You’ll find more of the coverage in the press here:

“Scalia: ‘We get clobbered by the press’” by Dylan Byers in Politico.

“Scalia Unconcerned About Money in Politics; People Aren’t ‘Sheep’” by Ariane de Vogue on ABC News.

“Scalia Defends Decision in Citizens United” on Capitol Correspondent.

“Justice Scalia downplays reports of discord on court” by Mark Sherman in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Attorney General William Sorrell has issued a statement that his office will not enforce the $2,000 contribution limit on PACs that only make independent expenditures. The statement comes after a request for clarification from Secretary of State Jim Condos regarding the federal court decision in Vermont Right to Life Committee (VRLC) v. Sorrell.

While the opinion in VRLC v. Sorrell upheld the contribution limit as applied to VRLC’s independent expenditure committee, the ruling was based on the lack of safeguards to ensure that unlimited contributions to VRLC’s independent expenditure committee did not flow into VRLC’s candidate contribution funds.

Attorney General Sorrell stressed that if investigation reveals a PAC’s activities are not conducted entirely independently of candidates, as in VRLC v. Sorrell, it will continue to be subject to the contribution limits.

Photo of Attorney General William Sorrell by Overton2002 on Wikipedia.

Governor Jerry Brown signed into law a bill allowing the state Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) to enforce new campaign finance rules in the county. This is the first time the FPPC has been authorized by statute to contract with a county to enforce its campaign contribution limits.

County Supervisor Janice Rutherford originally proposed contracting with the FPPC to enforce a proposed county campaign law in lieu of creating a county ethics commission. Now with statutory permission in place, the county may proceed to craft a campaign finance law and negotiate contractual terms with the FPPC. Rutherford plans to bring her previous proposal to limit campaign contributions to $3,900 back before the board on August 21, 2012 for consideration.

Seal of San Bernardino County by Jetijones on Wikipedia.

Campaign Finance

“Apps to Identify Who Backs Political Ads” in Government Technology.

“Romney-Obama Lawyers Raking in Millions” by Jonathan D. Salant in Bloomberg News.

Massachusetts: “Mass. groups take aim at Citizens United” in the Patriot Ledger.

Montana: “Group seeks to take measure saying corporations aren’t people off ballot” by Charles S. Johnson in the Billings Gazette.

Campaign Ads

“Ad-Rating Project Will Assess Campaign TV Spots by Asking Voters” by Gregory Giroux on Bloomberg News.

“Voters Say They Are Wary of Ads Made Just for Them” by Tanzina Vega in The New York Times.

“Obama, Romney Attack Ads Top Charts” by Tim Hanrahan in The Wall Street Journal.

“Obama puts $46.7M into ads, outspends what he raised in June” by Fredreka Schouten and Christopher Schnaars in USA Today.

“Report: Super PACs make up 80 percent of Romney ad spending” by Chris Moody in ABC News.

“Florida PAC Lets Internet Users Create Own Voiceovers For Romney Campaign Ad” by Sarah Lai Stirland in TechPresident.

Ethics

Arizona: “Legislator files ethics complaint against another” by The Associated Press in the Arizona Daily Sun.

Georgia: “Governor admits to ethics missteps, but major cases dismissed” by Aaron Gould Sheinin in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Governor Jerry Brown has approved Assembly Bill 2452, which changes the criteria local government agencies must meet in order to require campaign and lobbying reports to be filed electronically. The bill was chaptered in the Political Reform Act as section 84615.

A local government agency requiring campaign committees and lobbyists to file electronically must provide a secure, standardized, and free filing system. In addition, if a local ordinance requires a statement or report to be filed electronically, local officials can no longer require an additional copy to be filed in paper format.

The law becomes effective January 1, 2013.

Campaign Finance

“Tallying Up Presidential Campaign Finances” in The New York Times.

Arizona: “Arizona campaigns often in gray area financially” by Mary Jo Pitzl in The Arizona Republic.

Montana:  “Former Montana governor candidate wants political practices findings reversed” by Charles S. Johnson in the Missoulian.

New York:  “Analysis: New York political money gushing to campaigns, but upstart Democratic group makes strides” by Michael Gormley (Associated Press) in the Syracuse Post-Standard.

Lobbying

“K Street’s continuing slump” by Anna Palmer in Politico.

“Blue Chips Mull Moves to K Street” by Kate Ackley in Roll Call.

“Chamber ups lobbying spending” by Erik Wasson in The Hill.

“Facebook lobbying sets record in Q2” by David Saleh Rauf in Politico.

Nevada:  “Dems honor longtime women’s lobbyist” by Ray Hagar in the Reno Gazette-Journal.

New York:  “Lobbyists in swing of things at political golf fundraisers” by Jimmy Vielkind in the Albany Times Union.

New York: “Cuomo’s Office Releases 2,200-Word Letter on Lobbying Group” by Jon Campbell in State Politics Albany Watch.

Oklahoma: “Report: Lobbyists provided pols Thunder tickets” by The Associated Press in The Republic.

Federal:

House Ethics Panel Has Track Record of Leniency

Most Lawmakers Mum on Taxes

Son of Liberal Financier George Soros Launches Anti-Super PAC Super PAC

From the States and Municipalities:

Alabama

Alabama Casino Developer, Lobbyist, Ex-Lawmaker Sentenced to Prison in Statehouse Gambling Scheme

California

Battle Lines Drawn over Payroll Deductions

California

Feds Detail Scale of Graft in Cudahy

Michigan

Prosecutor: Bolger conspired with party switcher, but didn’t break law

Minnesota

Minnesota GOP, Former Chairman Face Fines Over Recount

Nevada

Felon Was a Lobbyist for Catholic Officials in Nevada

New Jersey

FBI Raids City Hall in New Jersey’s Capital

New York

NY Ethics Board Member Resigns from Lobbying Group

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.

“DISCLOSE Act dies again” by Tarini Parti  in Politico.

“Secret political donors remain secret” by Charles Riley in CNN Money.

“Campaign finance reformer McCain blasts DISCLOSE” by Tarini Parti in Politico’s blog On Congress.

Campaign Finance

Connecticut: “Vote to kill filibuster on campaign finance bill fails, despite Connecticut senators’ support” by Ana Radelat in the CT Mirror.

Florida: “Unlimited campaign contributions finding a route to Florida lawmakers” by Steve Bousquet in the Miami Herald.

Lobbying

“ALEC struggles to retain members” by Steve Terrell in the Santa Fe New Mexican.

“Tech lobbyists’ new mantra: Strength through unity” by Michelle Quinn in Politico.

Connecticut:  “Lobbyists form SuperPAC to help Murphy in Senate race” by Ana Radelat in the CT Mirror.

Government Ethics

“Former top state administrator fined for conflicts of interest” by Jennifer Gollan in the Bay Citizen.

Gov 2.0

“Despite Cuomo’s Vow of Sunlight, a Bid to Keep Aides’ E-Mail in the Dark” by Thomas Kaplan in The New York Times.

“What Social Media Do Government Officials Use Most?” by Matt Williams in Government Technology.

“Senate heads for vote on disclosure of hidden donors” by Tom Curry in NBC Politics.

“Democratic super PACs reel in $25 million” by Dave Levinthal and Kenneth P. Vogel in Politico.

“Citizens United didn’t just open money floodgates for corporations” by Anjeanette Damon in the Las Vegas Sun.

Connecticut:  “Donovan campaign returns $27,660 in contributions” by Susan Haigh (Associated Press) in the Boston Globe.

Minnesota:  “Minnesota Republican Party fined; accused of illegal contributions, circumventing laws” by Bill Salisbury in the Pioneer Press.

Rhode Island:  “R.I. Rep. Langevin near paying off $127,000 campaign-finance fine” by Philip Marcelo.

Tennessee:  “PACs flood Tennessee General Assembly campaigns with cash” by Andy Sher in the Times Free Press.