National:

National Organization for Marriage Repeatedly Rebuked For Disclosure Violations

Federal:

Super Committee and K St. Creativity

From the States and Municipalities:

California

California Lawmakers-Turned-Lobbyists Cultivate Relationships under the Dome

Florida

Firefighters’ Fundraiser Gets Ethics OK, with Difficult Restrictions

Georgia

State Utility Commissioner’s Pursuit of Masters Tickets Improper, Critics Say

Nebraska

In-Session Fundraisers Questioned

Nevada

Fake Twitter Accounts Force Their Way onto Political Landscape

New Jersey

How an Irate Response to a Carl Lewis E-Mail Cost an N.J. Assemblyman His Job

New Jersey

Union Sidestep Donation Limits

Pennsylvania

Experts Question Use of $400,000 in Private, Anonymous Funds to Buy out Philadelphia Superintendent

Texas

Perry’s Fundraising for Governors Group Draws Scrutiny

Washington

Longtime Government Worker Now PDC Director

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.

Jim Sedor is editor of News You Can Use.

Disclosure reports filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) show that U.S. House and Senate candidates set a new record in campaign fundraising for the first half of 2011. The total was more than $285 million dollars.

Here is the Federal Election Commission’s news release from August 24. The FEC also has great interactive campaign finance maps for both Presidential Campaigns as well as House and Senate Elections. The maps offer campaign finance information down to the zip code level for the current and previous election cycles.

You can read Emily Goodin’s story “House and Senate candidates raise $285.2 million in first half of 2011” from The Hill.

Alex Knott offers “Election Fundraising Sets Records in First Half of 2011” in Roll Call.

The Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission has named Holly LaBerge as its new Executive Secretary.

LaBerge, a former Budget Analyst for the House Budget Office and Director of Government Relations for the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council, beat out Jerry R. Presley, a former lobbyist, government official, and private consultant, for the position.

The commission interviewed each candidate at its meeting Friday before meeting in private to make a decision.

LaBerge takes over for Stacey Kalberman, who left the commission over disputes concerning the agency’s budget and her request for subpoenas to investigate Governor Nathan Deal’s campaign.

The Wall Street Journal reported last night that Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz will not give a penny in campaign contributions to incumbents until Congress comes up with a long-term solution to the debt problem. According to the article, 100 other heads of corporations have joined him in that pledge.

Schultz also made a plea to business leaders to start hiring again.

In “Starbucks CEO: Pledge to Halt Campaign Donations Gains Steam,” Julie Jargon names a few of the other CEOs following Schultz in the promise.

Could a movement be brewing?

The Federal Election Commission has entered into a Stipulated Order and Consent Judgment with the National Defense PAC (NDPAC) agreeing not to enforce some provisions of law regarding contribution limits for political committees and candidates.

These provisions, 2 U.S.C. §§ 441a(a)(1)(c) and 441a(a)(3), were ruled unenforceable by the District Court in a prior decision, Carey v. FEC. Prior to the District Court’s decision, the FEC had been unable to issue a binding resolution for an earlier NDPAC advisory opinion request.

As a single committee, the NDPAC may now contribute directly to candidates and political committees, and make independent expenditures, separating the funds only by using two separate bank accounts. It must maintain the statutory limits on the solicitation of funds used for direct contributions while it may simultaneously seek unlimited funds for use in their independent expenditures. While the Stipulated Order and Consent Judgment specifically regards the FEC withholding enforcement of the law as it applies to NDPAC, it does not address other PACs utilizing the same procedures for solicitation and separation of funds.

This post updates a previous article by George Ticoras, “One PAC is Enough” from June 15, 2011.

State and Federal Communications  is the most trusted source in the nation for comprehensive, accurate, and timely compliance information lobbying laws, political contributions, procurement lobbying, and Canadian Compliance for U.S. Companies.

Our Executive Source Guides cover every important jurisdiction – federal, all 50 states, and more than 200 municipalities. We cover Canada too!

For the latest information on campaign finance requirements in Michigan, the state’s Bureau of Elections now has a Twitter account to keep you informed. The Twitter feed will include information about reporting deadlines, electronic filing updates, and announcements regarding training sessions. You can follow the Twitter account at @MichCFR.

According to a Michigan Department of State press release, “Secretary of State Ruth Johnson announced today that the Bureau of Elections is launching a Twitter account to alert candidates, committees and those interested in campaign finance of reports detailing campaign contributions and expenditures.”

For another way to receive the latest information, the release also mentions that the Secretary of State also has a Facebook presence.

The Council of the District of Columbia has passed the Campaign Finance Reporting Emergency Amendment Act of 2011 which requires increased campaign finance reporting in the year preceding an election, commensurate with the change of the September primary election and the February presidential preference election to the 1st Tuesday in April in an election year.

A political committee supporting a candidate or candidates participating in the April 3, 2012 primary election must file reports of receipts and expenditures in the 7 months preceding the date on which the election is held.

Political committees supporting a candidate or candidates participating in the April 3, 2012 primary election must now file reports of receipts and expenditures on October 10, 2011; December 10, 2011; January 31, 2012; March 10, 2012; and March 26, 2012.

We now provide information on lobbying, political contributions, and procurement lobbying for:

Chandler, Arizona

Fort Collins, Colorado

New Haven, Connecticut

Stamford, Connecticut

Chesapeake, Virginia

Implementation of Measure H, a campaign finance reform approved by voters earlier this year, has been delayed by the Los Angeles City Council.

Measure H bans campaign contributions from contractors to elected officials responsible for reviewing proposals for city work valued at $100,000 or more.

Photo of the Los Angeles by BRION Vibber on Wikipedia and the Seal of Los Angeles by Mysid on Wikipedia.

The Fair Political Practices Commission has issued a notice to adopt two new regulations. The commission has also announced it will hold a public hearing on September 22, 2011 to consider the proposed regulations. The regulations to be considered have previously been made available for public comment and have since been revised.

The first proposed regulation to be considered modifies the reporting requirement for payments made at the behest of an elected officer which is made principally for a legislative, governmental, or charitable purpose in the aggregate amount of $5,000 or more. The regulation requires that a behested payment report be filed within 30 days of the date the payment is made. The Commission is considering whether a communication made on behalf of a charity which results in a donation is a behested payment.

The second proposed regulation would allow committees that have terminated to accept refunds from governmental entities and unexpected refunds from any other entities totaling $10,000 or less after termination of the committee. It would also permit terminated committees to transfer refunds to other committees without having to reopen the terminated committee. Refunds that are transferred to a new committee would be reported as if they had been received prior to termination and attributed accordingly when transferred to the new committee.

Original image of the Seal of the State of California by Zscout370 on Wikipedia.

The Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission has announced two finalists for the position of Executive Secretary.

Holly A. LaBerge, one of the finalists, is a former Budget Analyst for the House Budget Office and presently the Director of Government Relations for the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council.

The other finalist is Jerry R. Presley, who has previously been a candidate for public office in the state of Georgia, a registered lobbyist, and the city clerk of Baldwin, Georgia. He is currently the president and owner of Public Policy Consultants of Georgia, L.L.C. No timeline has been set for selecting the new Executive Secretary.

Earlier this month, United States Representative Rob Woodall introduced House Resolution 2788 which amends the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to prohibit a candidate for election to the congress from making campaign expenditures for the election from amounts that were not raised during the election cycle for that office.

Rep. Woodall argues the legislation, called the Competitive Elections Act, will reduce the power of incumbents and encourage more new candidates in Congressional elections.

Rep. Woodall said, “We see this voter frustration in all of the polls supporting term limits. Rather than amend our Constitution with term limits that protect incumbents for three, six or twelve terms, my bill restores power and choices to voters each and every term,” Woodall said. His press release can be found here.

We now provide information on lobbying, political contributions, and procurement lobbying for:

Hampton, Virginia

Hollywood, Florida