June 30, 2011 •
FEC Allows Limited Federal Candidate Solicitations for Independent Expenditure-Only Political Committees
Colbert’s PAC Prevails Too
The Federal Election Commission issued two advisory opinions today, including one allowing federal candidates to solicit contributions for independent expenditure-only political committees (IEOPC) up to $5,000.
In AO 2011-12 revised draft A, which was approved unanimously by the six commissioners, the FEC held solicitations by federal candidates are restricted to the applicable “limitations, prohibitions, and reporting requirements” of 2 U.S.C. §441i(e)(1)(a). While an IEOPC may accept unlimited contributions, the commission held the law still restricts the contribution amount a federal candidate may solicit. Therefore, although federal officeholders and candidates, and officers of national party committees cannot solicit unlimited contributions for an IEOPC, they may still make solicitations within the monetary strictures of the amended Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971.
The advisory opinion also concluded federal officeholders and candidates, and national party officers, may attend, speak at, and be featured guests at fundraisers held by an IEOPC, even when unlimited contributions are simultaneously being solicited from corporations, individuals, and labor organizations. The federal candidate would have to restrict their personal solicitation at the event to the amounts limited by the law.
A second advisory opinion was also issued granting Viacom a press exemption from reporting expenses as contributions, with some exceptions, for its employee Stephen Colbert’s new political action committee, which Mr. Colbert intends to use a vehicle for commentary on the current state of campaign finance.
June 28, 2011 •
West Virginia to Review Public Funding Program
Secretary of State Tennant will discuss the issue with the governor and attorney general.
In response to the U.S. Supreme Court decision which struck down Arizona’s public funding matching system, West Virginia Secretary of State Natalie Tennant has indicated that West Virginia will review its own public funding program.
West Virginia’s public funding program, approved by lawmakers in 2010, is set to begin with a pilot project involving two state Supreme Court seats up for election in the 2012 general election. West Virginia’s law would give candidates who opt into the program more state money as spending by their opponents or independent expenditures by third parties increased.
Tennant has stated that she plans to meet and discuss this issue with Governor Earl Ray Tomblin and Attorney General Darrell McGraw.
Photo of Natalie Tennant courtesy of Natalie Tennant on Wikipedia.
June 22, 2011 •
Ethics Reform Bills to Be Introduced
Bills Address Campaign Finance Reporting and Official Vehicle Use
District of Columbia Councilman Tommy Wells has announced that he will introduce three ethics reform bills to address recent ethical issues raised in the district council.
The Campaign Finance Accountability and Reform Amendment Act of 2011 establishes reporting requirements to the Office of Campaign Finance for contributions and expenditures related to transitions and inaugurations and prohibits the bundling of corporate contributions.
The Campaign Finance Reporting Amendment Act of 2011 alters the financial disclosure reporting schedule to coincide with the new primary election date of the first Tuesday of April in an election year.
The Government Vehicles and Fleet Management Rationalization Amendment Act of 2011 prohibits the procurement of “luxury-class” vehicles and freezes the current fleet size.
June 16, 2011 •
Facebook’s Bid for an Exception
Latest news from the FEC regarding political campaign ads on Facebook.
At a meeting yesterday, the Federal Election Commission discussed Facebook’s request for a waiver from being required to have disclaimer statements revealing who paid for political ads that appear on its social network.
According to the FEC site, “The Commission discussed and voted on two draft Advisory Opinions but did not reach consensus on either draft. In its request, Facebook asked whether its small, character-limited ads qualify for the ‘small items’ or ‘impracticable’ exceptions from the disclaimer requirements of the Act and Commission regulations.”
According to the FEC, an “impracticable exception does not apply to Facebook’s ads” because Facebook determines the size of the ads itself and is not limited in space by the medium. The commission says there are technological solutions for providing the necessary disclaimers. Citing the California Fair Political Practices Commission‘s regulations regarding ads, the FEC said the solution may be found by using “roll-over displays,” placing disclaimers on landing pages, or by “other technological means.”
The Hill reported today on the issue in: “Both parties back Facebook’s request for waiver on campaign ads” by Gautham Nagesh. As the article points out, “Facebook will continue to sell ads to candidates and campaigns and … [c]andidates such as President Obama have already begun running campaign ads on the ubiquitous social network.”
Here is the FEC page with links to the advisory opinion drafts.
June 16, 2011 •
Obama and Google
Did the Obama re-election campaign get a special deal from Google?
Politico reported today that questions are being raised over whether Google has given President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign a special advertising deal using a new online advertising program scheduled to debut this fall.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee said it contacted Google when it saw an Obama ad and inquired about creating their own ad with the company. They claim a Google representative told them the Obama campaign received a “special deal” and that they would have to wait for the beta version to participate. Google denies the ad in question was using their new advertising system and said the Obama campaign received no such special deal.
Here is the Politico article: “Google denies special deal for Barack Obama” by Byron Tau and Ben Smith.
June 15, 2011 •
One PAC Is Enough
Two Bank Accounts
A Federal District Court judge has issued an injunction preventing the Federal Election Commission (FEC) from enforcing some campaign contribution limits against a political action committee planning to solicit and accept unlimited contributions.
As a single committee, the National Defense Political Action Committee (NDPAC) intends to contribute directly to candidates and political committees, and to make independent expenditures, separating the funds by using two separate bank accounts. It would maintain the statutory limits on the solicitation of funds used for direct contributions while simultaneously seeking unlimited funds for use in their independent expenditures.
The FEC had been unable to issue a binding resolution to an earlier NDPAC advisory opinion request.
In Carey v. FEC, United States District Judge Rosemary M. Collyer ruled the FEC may not enforce 2 U.S.C. §§ 441a(a)(1)(C) and 441a(a)(3), which outline contribution limits for political committees and candidates, against NDPAC with regard to independent expenditures as long as NDPAC maintains separate bank accounts, proportionally pays related administrative costs, and complies with the applicable monetary limits of each type of contribution.
The FEC maintained NDPAC should establish a second formal committee.
June 15, 2011 •
Oregon Bill Caps Filing Penalties
Political Contribution Reporting
A bill which establishes a cap of $5,000 per calendar month on civil penalties for failure to file statements or include required information has passed the Oregon House Committee on Rules.
Senate Bill 270 removes “unfulfilled pledge, subscription, agreement or promise to make contribution” from the definition of contribution.
Additionally, the bill, which passed the Senate in March, also changes the period for assessing civil penalties for violations of campaign finance reporting requirements.
The bill leaves the committee for a full house vote.
June 15, 2011 •
San Diego Releases Final Version of 2012 Committee Manual
Manual Addresses Changes to Campaign Finance Laws
Pursuant to the city of San Diego’s Election Campaign Control Ordinance, the San Diego Ethics Commission has released the final version of the 2012 Committee Manual.
The manual addresses the recent changes to San Diego’s campaign finance laws and how they will impact each type of committee required to make a report in the 2012 election year.
Issue Committee Threshold Central to New Colorado Complaint
Colorado Common Cause and Colorado Ethics Watch have filed a complaint against Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler alleging Gessler illegally “exceeded his authority to administer and enforce campaign finance laws by dramatically increasing the constitutional threshold for regulation of issue committees.”
At issue is Gessler’s recent adoption of Campaign and Political Finance Rule 4.27, which increased from $200 to $5,000 the threshold at which an issue committee must register and report. The $200 threshold, set by the Colorado Constitution, was found to be too burdensome in the recent Colorado case of Sampson v. Buescher. However, the issue of whether the court determined the $200 threshold to be unconstitutional, as Gessler contended to be the case in a statement released concerning the increased threshold, is central to this action.
“The Secretary is under the mistaken impression that he has authority to rewrite campaign finance laws, not merely make rules to enforce those laws,” said Luis Toro, Executive Director of Colorado Ethics Watch. “Disclosure thresholds are clearly not within the authority of the Secretary of State to change.”
June 13, 2011 •
Ninth Circuit Issues Opinion in Thalheimer v. City of San Diego
Campaign finance news from San Diego
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has issued an opinion in Thalheimer v. City of San Diego. The Court upheld San Diego’s prohibition on political contributions to candidates, political parties, and political action committees by non-individual entities such as corporations and labor unions.
The district court’s injunction of the prohibition on non-individual entity contributions as it applies to political party contributions to candidates was affirmed.
The Ninth Circuit further upheld San Diego’s law prohibiting contributions to candidates outside of a 12 month pre-election window.
The district court’s decision to preliminarily enjoin a $500 limit on contributions to political committees that make only independent expenditures, which includes contributions by individual and non-individual entities was affirmed.
June 13, 2011 •
Puerto Rico Enacts New Election Code
Puerto Rico has enacted the Election Code of Puerto Rico for the 21st Century.
The law repeals Puerto Rico’s previous election code and is effective immediately. The new election code creates a State Commission of Elections which will oversee all election and campaign finance rules and regulations.
The legislature has indicated that they are currently working on updating the campaign finance provisions which will create the Law for the Financing of Political Campaigns in Puerto Rico.
Photo of the Capitol of Puerto Rico by Mtmelendez on Wikipedia.
June 8, 2011 •
Judge Reaffirms Corporation Political Contributions
Limits To Case Before Him
Yesterday, the judge who ruled corporations may contribute directly to federal candidates reaffirmed his decision, but held it only applies in the criminal case before him. Federal District Judge James C. Cacheris continues to find the “logic remains inescapable” that the Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United dictates corporations have the same contribution rights as human beings.
The judge writes: “Again, for better or worse, Citizens United held that the First Amendment treats corporations and individuals equally for the purposes of political speech. This leaves no logical room for an individual to be able to donate $2,500 to a campaign while a corporation … cannot donate a cent.” However, his decision states the “flat ban on direct corporate contributions to political campaigns is unconstitutional as applied to this case, as opposed to being unconstitutional as applied to all corporate donations.”
After reviewing the possible impact of his decision in US v Danielczyk, and the unaddressed political contribution issues since the Citizens United decision, the judge characterizes his ruling by concluding it “adds a small drop to what is already a very large bucket.”
This blog post updates a previous article, “Corporate Contribution Ban Found Unconstitutional” by George Ticoras on May 27.
June 2, 2011 •
Tennessee Bill Allowing Corporate Contributions Becomes Law
Contribution Limits Increased
Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam has signed Senate Bill 1915 (companion to House Bill 1003) into law.
The bill allows corporations to contribute to candidates by removing the previous statutory prohibition. The bill also adjusts contribution limits to reflect change in the Consumer Price Index.
The new law is effective immediately.
June 1, 2011 •
State and Federal Communications Expands Coverage
In a continuing effort to better serve the needs of its clients, State and Federal Communications, Inc. is expanding coverage of laws and regulations for political contributions, lobbying, and procurement lobbying to more municipalities, regional governments, and governmental organizations.
We have added three new jurisdictions for which our online clients will find comprehensive, timely, and accurate information that includes: complete calendar of reporting deadlines; critical statutory citations; extensive directories of contact information; summaries of each state law; detailed reference charts on goods and services contributions; highlights of every statute; copies of all required forms; and much more.
The new jurisdictions are:
- Doral, FL
- Henderson, NV
- Spokane, WA
The image of North America by Bosonic dressing on Wikipedia.
State and Federal Communications, Inc. provides research and consulting services for government relations professionals on lobbying laws, procurement lobbying laws, political contribution laws in the United States and Canada. Learn more by visiting stateandfed.com.