The Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance is holding a public hearing on July 25. The hearing will address implementation of new and changing regulations dealing with issues such as electronic filing, transference of funds between political committees, and procedures for informational guidance requests from the office.

The hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. at One Ashburton Place, Room 411, Boston. The proposed regulations can be found here.

“Va. appeals court affirms campaign finance law” by Larry O’Dell in CBS News.

“Former DeLay aide pleads guilty in campaign finance case” by Laylan Copelin the Austin Statesman.

“Conservative Super Pacs turn to social media and internet to expand reach” by Ed Pilkington and Amanda Michel in the Guardian.

“Funny-named political committees are proliferating” by Aaron Deslatte in the Orlando Sentinel.

Federal:

After Winning Right to Spend, Political Groups Fight for Secrecy

Court Upholds Ban on Corporate Political Contributions

GOP Lawsuit Challenges Campaign Contribution Caps

From the States and Municipalities:

California: Cudahy Arrests Add Salt to L.A. County Area’s Civic Wounds

Connecticut: Malloy, Legislature Make Last Stab at Campaign Reform

Florida: Tom Lee Wants Back in the Senate, to the Chagrin of Some Lobbyists

Illinois: U of I Professor Relents, Will Take Ethics Training Developed by ‘Unwise Rulers to Annoy Us’

Montana: Supreme Court Reaffirms Citizens United, Tosses Montana Corporate Spending Ban

Nebraska: Special Interests Spent $14 Million to Influence State Government

New York: Supreme Court Declines to Hear NY Campaign Finance Case

South Carolina: State Ethics Law Has Disclosure Gaps

Vermont: Federal Judge Dismisses Vermont Campaign Finance Challenge

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.

Campaign Finance

“Campaign money case could propel more deregulation” by Jack Gillum on CBS News.

“Inquiry Looks Into a Shield for Donors in Elections” by Nicholas Confessore in The New York Times.

“Social Fundraising Platform Rally Grows With A New Round of $7.9 Million” by Sarah Lai Stirland in TechPresident.

“Will Ct. now see gusher of campaign bucks?” by Ken Dixon in the Connecticut Post.

Lobbying

“K Street Files: Lobbyists Prep for SCOTUS Ruling” by Kate Ackley in Roll Call.

“Lobbying World” in The Hill.

“The lion’s aide on K Street” by Kevin Bogardus in The Hill.

“Hawaii professional employer organizations to form lobbying group” by Lynn Nakagawa in the Pacific Business News.

Government Ethics

“Outsider Privy to Ethics Case” by Amanda Becker in Roll Call.

Georgia: “Candidates late, confused on filing requirements” by Crystal Tatum in the Newton Citizen.

From the State Legislatures

“Cook, Rove, Zandi Address Legislators at June 2012 Leaders Meeting” by Alex Fitzsimmons on NCSL’s The Thicket.

Illinois: “Illinois lawmakers consider expulsion of Rep. Derrick Smith” by The Associated Press in the State Journal-Register.

Oklahoma:  “Oklahoma elections: Most incumbent House members win contests” by Michael McNutt in The Oklahoman.

Open Government

“R.I. open-government advocates hail improvement to public-records law” by Karen Lee Ziner in the Providence Journal.

“Public stations may get OK for political ads” by David Bauder (Associated Press) in The Washington Times.

“After winning right to spend, political groups fight for secrecy” by Joseph Tanfani and Melanie Mason in the Los Angeles Times.

Alaska: “Federal government role in Alaska elections questioned” by Becky Bohrer in the Anchorage Daily News.

District of Columbia: “Embattled DC Mayor Gray to propose campaign finance reforms in bid to end ‘pay to play’” by Ben Nuckols (Associated Press) in The Washington Post.

Minnesota: “Lobbying is a big business in Minnesota” by Jennifer Brooks in the Star Tribune.

Minnesota: “High court ruling throws state campaign law into doubt” by Corey Mitchell in the Star Tribune.

Texas: “Cruz-Dewhurst battle pits D.C. and Austin lobbyists” by Priya Anand in the Houston Chronicle.

Vermont: “Vermont Officials Criticize Federal Ruling On Campaign Finance” by Bob Kinzel on Vermont Public Radio.

The United States Supreme Court declined to review a federal appeals case that held New York City’s campaign finance laws are constitutional. Tom Ognibene, a New York republican, challenged the city’s laws saying that the Citizens United decision effectively overruled the provisions.

In December, a federal appeals court disagreed with Ognibene, holding that the city’s rules prohibiting corporate contributions to political campaigns and requiring candidates to disclose all contributions from individuals and organizations were justified to prevent corruption in elections. The appellate court held that the Citizens United decision only applied to independent expenditures by corporations, not to contribution limits.

The U.S. Supreme Court has invalidated a portion of Montana law which prohibits corporations from making independent expenditures in connection with a candidate or a political committee that supports or opposes a candidate or a political party.

In Western Tradition Partnership v. Bullock, the Court quoted from its prior Citizens United v FEC ruling that “political speech does not lose First Amendment protection simply because its source is a corporation.”

Four of the nine Justices dissented. The dissenting opinion quoted from the dissent in Citizens United, arguing “independent expenditures can be corrupting in much the same way as direct contributions.”

The dissenting opinion also argued the Citizens United ruling should not bar the Montana Supreme Court’s finding “that independent expenditures by corporations did in fact lead to corruption or the appearance of corruption in Montana.”

The dissent continued, “Given the history and political landscape in Montana, [The Montana Supreme Court] concluded that the State had a compelling interest in limiting independent expenditures by corporations. Thus, Montana’s experience, like considerable experience elsewhere since the Court’s decision in Citizens United, casts grave doubt on the Court’s supposition that independent expenditures do not corrupt or appear to do so.”

A federal judge has upheld Vermont’s contribution limits on political action committees. Vermont Right to Life Committee (VRLC) and its related political committee, Vermont Right to Life Committee – Fund for Independent Political Expenditures (FIPE), filed suit alleging that Vermont’s registration, reporting, and disclosure requirements for PACs are too broad and unconstitutional, and that FIPE should not be subject to the $2,000 limit on PAC contributions because it only makes independent expenditures.

The judge rejected FIPE’s claim that it should not be subject to the contribution limits on the basis that there is a “fluidity of funds” between FIPE and VRLC that provides no safeguard against unlimited contributions being used to fund candidate contributions.

Secretary of State Jim Condos applauded the ruling; however, the opinion makes clear that the decision to uphold the $2,000 contribution limit weighed heavily on the facts of the case, in particular the lack of separation between FIPE and VRLC. VRLC plans to appeal the ruling.

“State limits on corporation campaign contributions rejected by Supreme Court” by The Associated Press in the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

“Powerful congressman accused of campaign finance violations” by Scott Bronstein and Drew Griffin (CNN) in KTVQ.com.

Connecticut: “Malloy, legislature make last stab at campaign reform” by Mark Pazniokas in the CT Mirror.

Maryland: “Bartlett fined $5,000 by FEC for inaccurate campaign finance report filing” by The Associated Press in The Washington Post.

Massachusetts: “Massachusetts legislators calling for Constitutional Amendment to reverse Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision” by Michael Norton and Matt Murphy in MassLive.com.

New York: “With Cuomo, a New Group Will Push for Publicly Financed Elections” by Thomas Kaplan in The New York Times.

Federal:

Critics: Lobbying ethics rules go too far

Nonprofits Outspent Super PACs in 2010, Trend May Continue

Supreme Court Rules against Union on Nonmember Fees for Politics

From the States and Municipalities:

Connecticut

Malloy Vetoes Campaign Finance Bill

Connecticut

Probes Cast Shadow in Congressional Race

District of Columbia

District’s Political Corruption Has Deep Roots

Illinois

Illinois House Expulsion in 1905 Laid Groundwork for 2012 Smith Case

Montana

Montana AG Asks Federal Judge to Uphold Campaign Contribution Limits

New Jersey

N.J. Governor Candidates Can Receive More Money from Donors, Public Financing under New Guidelines

Ohio

Ex-Rep. Weddington Gets Three Years for Bribery

Wyoming

Wyoming Lawsuit Challenges FEC Regulations
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.

The New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC) has voted unanimously to raise the inflation-adjusted limits and thresholds for political contributions beginning in 2013.

If accepted by the legislature, contributors would be able to give up to $3,800 per election to gubernatorial candidates. The contribution limits from single donors for non-gubernatorial candidates would increase from $2,600 to $3,000.

Additionally, political committee reporting thresholds for non-gubernatorial candidates and committees would increase, as would penalties for violations.

According to the press release from ELEC, gubernatorial candidates who qualify for public funding could spend a maximum of $5.6 million in primary elections and $12.2 million in general elections.

The commission has until December 15th to report to the legislature its final limits and threshold adjustments.

The ELEC 2013 Cost Index Report can be downloaded here.

U.S. Representative Adam B. Schiff has introduced a constitutional amendment to reverse the resulting outcomes of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decisions in Citizens United and Arizona Free Enterprise Club’s Freedom Club PAC V. Bennett, an Arizona public financing law struck down by the Court.

The amendment, proposed in House Joint Resolution 111, reads as follows: “Nothing in this Constitution shall be construed to forbid Congress or the states from imposing content-neutral limitations on private campaign contributions or independent political campaign expenditures. Nor shall this Constitution prevent Congress or the states from enacting systems of public campaign financing, including those designed to restrict the influence of private wealth by offsetting campaign spending or independent expenditures with increased public funding.”

In his press release, Congressman Schiff said: “I have always been loath to amend the constitution, but this tragic line of reasoning by the Supreme Court has so threatened the health of our democracy that I am moved to introduce today’s amendment.”

The commission studying state campaign finance laws is likely to recommend raising the limits on campaign contributions.

At Monday’s meeting, the commission took no formal vote on a final recommendation, but appeared to reach a consensus on raising the total amount an individual may contribute to state election campaigns from the current $10,000 to $25,000 during a four-year election cycle. The commission also reached consensus on raising the current limit to any single candidate from $4,000 to at least $5,000 and possibly to $7,000 in any four-year election cycle. The current contribution limits have been in place for 19 years.

At the next meeting on July 16, 2012, the commission plans to discuss a total ban on contributions from business corporations and from companies doing business with the state.

Campaign Finance

“Campaign donations coming soon to Twitter” by Dave Levinthal in Politico.

“No action from U.S. Supreme Court on Montana campaign spending law” by Charles S. Johnson in the Missoulian.

“Will the Supreme Court Consider a Campaign Finance Mulligan?” by Alex Altman in Time.

“Texting: The New Way for Campaigns to Draw Contributions” by Kenneth P. Doyle in Bloomberg News.

Government Ethics

Louisiana: “Ethics bills: Jindal signs two, vetoes one” in the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

Ohio: “Former state lawmaker sentenced to prison for bribery” by John Futty in the Columbus Dispatch.

State Legislatures

“State lawmakers short on experience” by Chuck Raasch in USA Today.

“Herbert calls special session to OK more liquor licenses, fixed funding” by Ed Gehrke in the Salt Lake Tribune.

“SC legislators return for special session” by The Associated Press in GoUpstate.com.