The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit has invalidated a Washington state law that prevented individuals from making contributions of more than $5,000 to PACs supporting ballot measures during the three weeks prior to an election.

The blackout period on contributions was challenged in a lawsuit filed by Family PAC, a political action committee that was formed to oppose Washington’s domestic partnership law.

While Family PAC was successful on the merits in challenging the blackout period, it was unsuccessful in its challenge to laws requiring PACs to report the name and address of anyone who contributes more than $25, and the occupation and employer of those who make contributions in excess of $100.

You can find Politico’s coverage in “Super PACs go stealth through first contests” by Dave Levinthal and Kenneth P. Vogel.

According to the article, some in the Federal Election Commission are calling for a change of the rules to allow for greater disclosure:

The disclosure rules may need to be updated to reflect the rise of super PACs as driving forces in presidential politics, two Democratic FEC commissioners suggested in interviews with POLITICO. “Super PACs are functioning as the alter egos of the campaigns, and their activity was clearly not anticipated when the statutes were put in place,” said Ellen Weintraub, a Democratic FEC appointee. The commission, she said, “should reconsider the regulations about caucuses and disclosure or at least take a hard look at them.”

Spending in Michigan’s upcoming Congressional and state Supreme Court elections could be near $100 million in 2012.

The decision of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United case in 2010 which made it possible for special interest groups to spend unlimited funds supporting thier candidates of choice has caused an explosion of campaign related spending that is becoming more apparent while more and more campaigns are underway.

Now that those who have large amounts of money can freely support campaigns with any amount of money, money from special interests is expected to make up a large proportion of the overall total campaign spending in the upcoming elections.

Read this article by Angela Wittrock to learn more.

A rule issued Tuesday, December 27th by Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler requires candidates who plan on being in Colorado’s 2012 primary election to begin filing biweekly campaign-finance reports January 30th. This rule was issued with a statement saying that the Secretary of State hopes that the issue will be taken up by the General Assembly when they convene.

After the primary date was moved earlier this year from August to June by the General Assembly, Gessler altered the filing deadlines, initially adopting rules that would require biweekly reporting to begin next September and until then, reports to be filed either quarterly or monthly.

State lawmakers argued that Gessler didn’t have the authority to change the reporting schedule, and this month the Legal Services Committee voted to not include this rule on the grounds that Gessler had overstepped prompting this issuance of the new rule.

The rule issued Tuesday says candidates are not required to file retroactive reports covering July through December 2011.

To learn more, read this article by Sara Burnett.

Federal:

FEC Quashes New Disclosure Rules

Super PACs: The bad cops of 2012

From the States and Municipalities:

Alaska

Pebble Opponent Fined for Flying Candidates to Villages

Arizona

Arizona Prosecutor Won’t Charge Politicians Who Took Free Tickets, Trips from Fiesta Bowl

California

California Lobbyists Write Checks to Legislators Running for Congress

Colorado

Gessler, Lawmakers Clash on Campaign Finance Deadlines

Connecticut

Draft Report Renews Fears about Watchdogs’ Autonomy

District of Columbia

D.C. Council Overhauls Ethics Laws

Illinois

Donor to Madison County Judge Says Contribution Looks Bad, But Isn’t

Kentucky

Ex-Lobbyist Jack Abramoff to Speak at Kentucky Legislative Ethics Session

Maryland

Baltimore County Council Scales Back, Passes Ethics Reform Bill

Utah

Utah Lawmaker Resigning Due to Fundraising Ban

Washington

Firm Agrees to Big Fine over Tactics in Political Campaign

Wisconsin

State Elections Board Should Be Replaced, Assembly GOP Leader Says

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.

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK:  The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has dismissed a challenge to the city’s campaign finance laws.

The laws which prohibit corporate contributions to political campaigns and require candidates to disclose contributions from people and groups that do business with the city were found to not violate constitutional free speech rights and to appropriately address the risk of corruption.

The plaintiffs argued that the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission made the laws unconstitutional. The Court rejected that argument, finding that Citizens United applies only to independent corporate expenditures, and not to contributions limits such as those enacted by New York City.

Photo of the Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse by Americasroof on Wikipedia.

Amy Loprest, Executive Director of the New York City Campaign Finance Board, testified last Friday before the City Council about the effects of the Citizens United decision on New York City’s campaign finance regulation.

According to their press release:

“Campaign Finance Board Executive Director Amy Loprest testified before the City Council Committee on Governmental Operations regarding the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision earlier today. The Council is considering a resolution that calls for a Constitutional amendment to reverse the decision and establish that corporations are not entitled to the same rights as natural persons.”

“Recognizing a First Amendment right where none had previously been found, Citizens United opened the floodgates to allow massive amounts of unlimited—and too often, undisclosed—independent spending by corporations, unions, and other groups,” Loprest said.

Here is a link to a pdf file of the entire testimony.

GoLocalProv.com published a snapshot of campaign fundraising in Rhode Island. They compiled a list of the candidates with the top figures in campaign funds as the state enters the race toward the 2o12 elections.

The list is topped by U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-R.I.), and state General Treasurer Gina Raimondo. You will also  find Governor Lincoln Chaffee at the number 9 position, as well as a number of mayors, state senators, and state representatives in the list.

Read the full article at “Top 25 Richest Politicians in Rhode Island” by  Dan McGowan.

Federal:

FEC Dysfunction Not Just Politics, it’s Personal

Gingrich’s Book-Selling Efforts Test Law

From the States and Municipalities:

California

California Web Site’s Glitches Block On-line Tracking of Campaign Donations

California

Measure to Curb Union, Corporate Clout Qualifies

Georgia

Report: No evidence Deal worked to fire ethics officials

Indiana

Ex-Chief’s Indictment Is Latest Black Eye

Maryland

Bereano Settles Ethics Charges for $2,750

Maryland

Leslie Johnson Gets One-Year Sentence

Missouri

Kander Files Ethics Bill That Would Bar Lobbyist Gifts

Montana

State Wins First Round in Suit Testing Montana’s Campaign Disclosure Laws

New Mexico

New Mexico Judge’s Bribery Case Is One for the Books

New York

A Diverse Group of Watchdogs

North Carolina

Perdue Fundraiser Gets Probation, $25,000 Fine

Wisconsin

U.S. Appeals Court Strikes down Part of State Election Law

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.

A federal judge ruled in favor of the Alabama Democratic Conference in their challenge of the state prohibition on PAC-to-PAC transfers of funds.

The Alabama Democratic Conference alleged that the law prohibited their PAC from getting money from other PACs to use for voter communication and voter turnout initiatives.

California’s campaign finance online database, the Cal-Access system, has been out of service for two weeks leaving people unable to search the state’s political contribution and lobbying reports.

The Los Angeles Times reported about the situation in “Campaign database still down, prompting calls for investigation” by Patrick McGreevy.

According to the article, “State Sen. Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) announced Wednesday that he is introducing legislation to double the registration fees paid by the state’s 1,000 lobbyists to finance proper maintenance of Cal-Access.”

The bill, HB1080, also includes strict limits on campaign contributions and a ban on legislators working as political consultants.

Kander believes the gifts, along with six-figure campaign donations, allow special interests to gain improper influence.

The bill would limit campaign contributions to $500 for House races, $1,000 for the Senate and $2,000 for statewide elections.

The 6 member Federal Election Commission, split equally along partisan lines, is often seen “hanging each other out to dry”.

In an article posted on Politico, Republican member of the FEC, Don McGahn states, “These public spats we have are very, very healthy. It’s a healthy ugly.” McGahn himself tore pages of regulations out of a book during a hearing, letting the scraps fall in order to prove a point to his Democratic colleagues whom he accused of disregarding their own rules.

With court decisions such as Citizens United v. The Federal Election Commission, the FEC has had more trouble than ever making decisions regarding campaign finance, and leaving politicians and their benefactors unsure what regulations they have to follow.

During the upcoming election season, the members of the FEC will have to set aside their differences so that they may set concrete campaign finance guidelines for the United States.

To read more, read FEC dysfunction not just politics, it’s personal by Dave Levinthal and Robin Bravender.

The American League of Lobbyists recently posted two videos on their YouTube channel from an October event where they invited Tim Farnum and Peter Overby to speak about Citizens United and soft money in the 2012 elections. ALL President Howard Marlowe was the moderator.

According to the site, “On Friday, October 28th, 2011 the American League of Lobbyists hosted two award winning journalists, Tim Farnum of the Washington Post and Peter Overby of NPR, for a discussion about the role that ‘soft money’ will play in the 2012 elections.”

Part 1

Part 2