Campaign Finance

National: “How the Koch Network Learned to Thrive in the Trump Era” by James Hohmann and Michelle Ye Hee Lee for Washington Post

Illinois: “Cook County Cook County Assessor Berrios Sues Over Ordinance Limiting Campaign Contributions” by Ray Long for Chicago Tribune

Maine: “Maine GOP Director’s Links to Anonymous Website Add Fuel to Ethics Complaint” by Michael Shepherd for Bangor Daily News

Texas: “Does Business Group’s Use of ‘Dark Money’ for Its Political Action Committee Follow State Ethics Rules?” by Jay Root and Ryan Murphy for Texas Tribune

Ethics

National: “Andrew McCabe, FBI Deputy Director, Steps Down Amid Trump and Republican Criticism” by Kevin Johnson and David Jackson for USA Today

Kansas: “Kansas Intern Confidentiality Rule: What happens in a lawmaker’s office stays there” by Lindsay Wise (McClatchy) and Hunter Woodall for Kansas City Star

Legislative Issues

Maryland: “Ethics Panel Finds Baltimore Del. McCray Breached Legislature’s Conduct Standards” by Staff for Baltimore Sun

North Carolina: “In Power Struggle with GOP Lawmakers, Cooper Wins Election Board Revamp Lawsuit” by Annew Blythe for Raleigh News and Observer

Lobbying

United Kingdom: “New Lobbying Rules for Business to Come into Force” by Staff for Insider.co.uk

The North Carolina Supreme Court struck down a 2017 law overhauling the state’s Elections Board and Ethics Commission. Session Law 2017-6 merged the existing state Board of Elections and state Ethics Commission and created the new Bipartisan State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement.

The court held provisions in the law concerning the membership of and appointments to new bipartisan state board constituted a separation of powers violation.

Although the office functions of the ethics commission and elections boards merged last year, Gov. Roy Cooper did not make any appointments to the new board while this lawsuit made its way through the courts.

Ethics

Federal: “Arguments Begin in Emoluments Suit against Trump” by David Fahenthold and Jonathan O’Connell for Washington Post

Federal: “Patrick Meehan Won’t Seek Re-election in Pennsylvania” by Kenneth Vogel and Katie Rogers for New York Times

Federal: “Trump Groups Raised Millions, Then Paid It Out to Loyalists and a Trump Hotel” by Kenneth Vogel and Rachel Shorey (New York Times) for Las Vegas Sun

Federal: “Trump Ordered Mueller Fired, but Backed Off When White House Counsel Threatened to Quit” by Michael Schmidt and Maggie Haberman (New York Times) for MSN

Florida: “Hallandale Mayor Freed From Jail After Arrest in FBI Sting” by Susanna Bryan and Paula McMahon for South Florida Sun Sentinel

New York: “Campaign Donor Pleaded Guilty to Trying to Bribe Mayor de Blasio” by William Rashbaum and William Neuman for New York Times

Wisconsin: “Wisconsin Ethics Commission Hits Pause Button after Senate Rejects Director” by Patrick Marley for Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Lobbying

Iowa: “Iowa GOP Activist Fined for Not Disclosing Saudi Arabia Work” by David Pitt (Associated Press) for WRAL

Oregon: “Oregon Ethics Watchdog Rejects Conservative Group’s Complaint about Kate Brown” by Hillary Borrud for Portland Oregonian

The Carroll County Board of County Commissioners voted 4-1 to move forward with a new ethics ordinance.

The ordinance was originally developed in 2014 after the Maryland General Assembly passed a bill in 2010 requiring all counties, municipalities, and boards of election to pass ethics ordinances.

Carroll is the only county in the state not yet in compliance.

The ethics ordinance would apply to candidates beginning with the 2018 elections. The ordinance will be discussed next at a public hearing on February 27.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed Executive Order 2A, which places limits on gifts and defines personal relationships for the governor of the Garden State.

This order requires the governor to disclose gifts received from anyone he has met in the past three years before being inaugurated.

“Anyone we’ve met since then is going to be subject to complete disclosure above the threshold of whatever the gift levels are,” said Murphy.

Any relationship established before then is considered pre-existing and is exempt from the order.

The executive order puts New Jersey in line with federal standards.

Get your lobbying, ethics and elections fix in the fastest two minutes in this weeks government news!

Lobbyists in Austin have agreed to cooperate with the city and disclose how much clients pay them. Taking a lead from state and federal filing requirements, Austin began requiring lobbyists to report what they are paid last year.

Seventeen lobbyists registered with the city, all lawyers, asserted attorney-client privilege prohibited them from the disclosure. The city’s Ethics Review Commission was scheduled to hear ethics complaints filed against the group, but all 17 amended their reports to add the missing information.

A lobbyist who originally refused to disclose his compensation said the City Clerk accepted the form without the information and there is even space provided for an explanation as to why the compensation information was not disclosed.

Austin’s actions this week have set an example for enforcing the reporting requirements moving forward.

National:

Inside Facebook’s Year of Reckoning
Washington Post – Elizabeth Dwoskin | Published: 1/22/2018

Mark Zuckerberg said Facebook would step back from its role in choosing the news that 2 billion users see on its site every month. The move was one result of an 18-month struggle by Facebook to come to grips with its dark side. As outsiders criticized the social network’s harmful side effects, such as the spread of disinformation and violent imagery, internal debates played out over how forthcoming to be about Russian meddling on its platform during the 2016 election and how to fight the perception that Facebook is politically biased. Right now, the company is not confident it can prevent the problems that roiled Facebook during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Federal:

Big Pharma Greets Hundreds of Ex-Federal Workers at the ‘Revolving Door’
CaliforniaHealthline.org – Sydney Lupkin (Kaiser Health News) | Published: 1/25/2018

A Kaiser Health News analysis shows hundreds of people have moved through the “revolving door” that connects the drug industry to Capitol Hill and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Nearly 340 former congressional staffers now work for pharmaceutical companies or their lobbying firms. The analysis also showed more than a dozen former drug industry employees now have jobs on Capitol Hill, often on committees that handle health care policy. In many cases, former congressional staffers who now work for drug companies return to the Hill to lobby former co-workers or employees. It raises concerns that pharmaceutical companies could wield undue influence over drug-related legislation or government policy.

FBI Investigating Whether Russian Money Went to NRA to Help Trump
McClatchy DC – Peter Stone and Greg Gordon | Published: 1/18/2018

The FBI is investigating Russian banker Alexander Torshin for allegedly funneling money to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign through contributions made to the National Rifle Association (NRA). As special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe continues, investigators are now looking into Torshin, the deputy governor of Russia’s central bank who is known for his close relationships with both Vladimir Putin and the NRA, two sources familiar with the inquiry said. It is illegal to use foreign money to influence federal elections.

Fewer Than 16,000 Donors Accounted for Half the Federal Campaign Contributions in 2016
Washington Post – Michelle Ye Hee Lee | Published: 1/19/2018

More than 3.2 million Americans contributed to federal candidates in the 2016 elections, but fewer than 16,000 of them provided half the donations, a sign of the increasing concentration of donor activity in the U.S., according to a new report. The Bipartisan Policy Center’s analysis mapped the growing influence of wealthy political contributors and independent political groups in the seven years since federal court decisions unleashed a new era of big-money spending. Super PACs spent $1.1 billion in the 2016 elections, nearly 17 times more than such independent political committees put into federal races in 2010, the first year they came into existence, the report found.

The Mueller Effect: FARA filings soar in shadow of Manafort, Flynn probes
NBC News – Julia Ainsley, Andrew Lehren, and Anna Schecter | Published: 1/18/2018

Hundreds of new and supplemental Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) filings by U.S. lobbyists and public relations firms since Special Counsel Robert Mueller charged two of President Trump’s aides with failing to disclose their lobbying work on behalf of foreign countries. The flood of new filings provides a window into the opaque industry of foreign lobbying in Washington, D.C. The uptick, legal experts say, comes from a new awareness that a failure to disclose overseas political work could lead to federal charges.

From the States and Municipalities:

California – San Francisco Ousts a Mayor in a Clash of Tech, Politics and Race
New York Times – Thomas Fuller and Conor Dougherty | Published: 1/24/2018

The appointment of venture capitalist Mark Farrell as San Francisco’s interim mayor, and the ouster of London Breed from that position, in some ways exemplified a larger battle for the soul of the city. In seven years, the median price of a home has nearly doubled to $1.3 million – a transformation, driven by the riches of the technology industry, that continues to push out longtime residents, many of them nonwhites. Amid the debate over the tech industry’s influence, there was the powerful imagery of a black woman being thrown out of office, albeit an interim one, in a city that has a long history of discrimination against blacks.

Colorado – Puffy Jackets and Poinsettias: Gifts to Denver council members from DIA and other city offices draw ethics scrutiny
Denver Post – Jon Murray | Published: 1/22/2018

A recent advisory opinion by the Denver Board of Ethics argued the prohibition on elected officials accepting or soliciting most items worth more than $25 – from givers with a city interest – could apply to gifts from city offices the same way it does to those from outside contractors. The opinion has drawn formal pushback from the city attorney’s office and has sparked debate among council members, who may have the last word by passing an explicit exclusion for city-provided gifts to the ethics code.

Georgia – Former Atlanta City Official Gets 2 Years in Bribery Probe
Los Angeles Times – Kate Brumback (Associated Press) | Published: 1/18/2018

Atlanta’s former chief procurement officer was sentenced to serve more than two years in prison for accepting bribes in exchange for lucrative city contracts. U.S. District Court Judge Steve Jones also ordered Adam Smith to pay $44,000 restitution and a $25,000 fine. He was charged as part of an ongoing federal investigation into corruption at City Hall. Prosecutors have not publicly identified the vendor they say gave Smith envelopes of cash at meetings at restaurants every other week for nearly two years, a total of more than 40 payments.

Maine – A ‘Pro-White’ Town Manager Who Wants Races to Separate Refused to Quit. So Town Officials Fired Him.
Washington Post – Marwa Eltagouri and Kristine Phillips | Published: 1/24/2018

Tom Kawczynski put Jackman, Maine on the map when media outlets across the country began publishing stories about the town manager’s seemingly unequivocal views that Islam has no place in the Western world, and Americans would be better off if people of different races “voluntarily separate.” Officials in Jackman – a town of fewer than 1,000 people, where nearly all residents are white – remained mostly quiet about the incident until selectmen decided to fire Kawczynski. His termination could raise questions about whether towns and corporations can dismiss employees for offensive speech, which is protected by the Constitution.

New Jersey – Phil Murphy Executive Order Tightens Gift Rules for Governor
Bergen Record – Dustin Racioppi | Published: 1/18/2018

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed an executive order tightening rules on gift disclosures. The order requires the governor to disclose gifts from anyone he has met since January 16, 2015, three years before his inauguration. Anyone he met before then, Murphy said, would be considered a “pre-existing relationship.” Murphy’s predecessor, Chris Christie, came under criticism during his tenure for his use of an exemption that allowed him not to disclose gifts from people he claimed as friends.

New York – Vance Bans Donations from Lawyers with Pending Cases
New York Times – James McKinley Jr. | Published: 1/22/2018

Manhattan’s district attorney said he will no longer accept campaign contributions from lawyers with business before his office, including those representing people being investigated or prosecuted. The announcement by Cyrus Vance Jr. came after he faced heavy criticism for taking money from attorneys who represented movie mogul Harvey Weinstein and a lawyer who represented the Trump Organization in a fraud investigation. In response, Vance had asked the Center for the Advancement of Public Integrity at Columbia Law School to make recommendations for how to vet donors to eliminate potential bias.

North Carolina – Supreme Court Temporarily Blocks North Carolina Gerrymandering Ruling
New York Times – Adam Liptak and Alan Blinder | Published: 1/18/2018

The U.S. Supreme Court said North Carolina does not immediately have to redraw its congressional district maps, meaning the 2018 elections will likely be held in districts that a lower court found unconstitutional. The decision was not unexpected, because the Supreme Court generally is reluctant to require the drawing of new districts before it has had a chance to review a lower court’s ruling that such an action is warranted, especially in an election year.

Pennsylvania – Pa. Supreme Court Strikes Down Congressional Map as Unconstitutional, Orders Change Before May Primary
Philadelphia Inquirer – Jonathan Lai, Liz Navratil, and Angela Couloumbis | Published: 1/22/2018

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court threw out the state’s congressional map as unconstitutionally gerrymandered and gave lawmakers until February 9 to redraw the boundaries. Under a new map, Democrats, who hold only five of the state’s 18 congressional districts despite its status as a closely divided swing state, would likely have a much better opportunity to pick up several seats in their quest to retake control of the U.S. House. Experts have long held up Pennsylvania as one of the most extreme examples of partisan gerrymandering, in which district lines are precisely drawn to favor one political party over another.

Texas – Austin Lobbyists Agree to Disclose How Much They’re Paid
Austin American-Statesman – Elizabeth Findell | Published: 1/24/2018

Seventeen Austin lobbyist-lawyers who initially declined to cooperate with city rules requiring them to tell how much their clients pay them have changed their minds. A day before the Ethics Review Commission was set to hear ethics complaints, the city said all the lawyers had agreed to provide the information. Austin began requiring registered lobbyists last year to give a ballpark figure for what clients pay them to influence city officials, as they must disclose on the state and federal level. But at least 17 lobbyists who are also lawyers refused to do so, saying the disclosure would violate attorney-client privilege.

Wisconsin – Senate Votes to Force Out State Ethics and Elections Leaders
Wisconsin State Journal – Mark Sommerhauser | Published: 1/23/2018

The Wisconsin Senate refused to confirm the leaders of the state elections and ethics commissions, despite unanimous bipartisan support from the boards that hired them. The Senate voted against confirming elections Administrator Michael Haas and ethics Administrator Brian Bell. Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald says he has lost confidence in both men’s ability to be nonpartisan. Both previously worked for the Government Accountability Board, which Republicans disbanded in 2015 after it investigated Gov. Scott Walker and other conservative groups. Watchdog groups have threatened to sue to keep Bell and Haas in their jobs.

State and Federal Communications produces a weekly summary of national news, offering more than 60 articles per week focused on ethics, lobbying, and campaign finance.

Campaign Finance

Canada: “Coalition of Unions Challenging Ontario’s Campaign Finance Law as Unconstitutional” by Robert Benzie for Toronto Star

Utah: “Special Interests Gave Utah Lawmakers $9 of Every $10 in Campaign Funds They Raised” by Lee Davidson for Salt Lake Tribune

Elections

National: “Inside Facebook’s Year of Reckoning” by Elizabeth Dwoskin for Washington Post

Ethics

Idaho: “High School Page Says 2 Idaho Lawmakers, Lobbyist Harassed Her Last Year” by Ruth Brown for Idaho Statesman

Maine: “A ‘Pro-White’ Town Manager Who Wants Races to Separate Refused to Quit. So Town Officials Fired Him.” by Marwa Eltagouri and Kristine Phillips for Washington Post

Maryland: “Former Baltimore County Schools Superintendent Dallas Dance Indicted on 4 Counts of Perjury” by Liz Bowie and Doug Donovan for Baltimore Sun

Nevada: “Barlow to Plead Guilty to Fraud, Resigns from Las Vegas City Council” by Jamie Munks for Las Vegas Review-Journal

Legislative Issues

Kansas: “No More Secret Votes, ‘Gut-and-Go’ Maneuvers in Kansas Legislature, Democrats Propose” by Judy Thomas, Hunter Woodall, and Laura Bauer for Kansas City Star

Lobbying

National: “Tax Law Showers Cash on Lobby Firms” by Megan Wilson for The Hill

Texas: “Austin Lobbyists Agree to Disclose How Much They’re Paid” by Elizabeth Findell for Austin American-Statesman

Campaign Finance

National: “Alleged Payment to Porn Star Was Illegal Donation to Trump Campaign, Watchdog Says” by Josh Gerstein for Politico

New York: “Vance Bans Donations from Lawyers with Pending Cases” by James McKinley Jr. for New York Times

Ethics

National: “Trump Business Ethics Pledges Left Plenty of Room for Profiting” by The Associated Press for Tampa Bay Times

Federal: “Justice Department Says It Will Retry Sen. Robert Menendez Following Mistrial on Bribery Charges” by Devlin Barrett and Ed O’Keefe for Washington Post

California: “Group That First Raised Sexual Harassment Issues in Sacramento Now Has an App to Report Misconduct” by Jazmine Ulloa for Los Angeles Times

Wyoming: “As Reports of Sexual Harassment Spike, Wyoming’s Legislature Looks to Rewrite Policy” by Arno Rosenfeld for Casper Star-Tribune

Legislative Issues

Wisconsin: “Senate Votes to Force Out State Ethics and Elections Leaders” by Mark Sommerhauser for Wisconsin State Journal

Lobbying

Canada: “Six-Fold Increase in Senate Lobbying Under Trudeau, with Independents Taking Most Meetings” by Marie-Danielle Smith for National Post

Redistricting

Pennsylvania: “Pa. Supreme Court Strikes Down Congressional Map as Unconstitutional, Orders Change Before May Primary” by Jonathan Lai, Liz Navratil, and Angela Couloumbis for Philadelphia Inquirer

Campaign Finance

Federal: “Fewer Than 16,000 Donors Accounted for Half the Federal Campaign Contributions in 2016” by Michelle Ye Hee Lee for Washington Post

Missouri: “Greitens Campaign Operation Is Sharing Space with Dark Money Group” by Kurt Erickson for St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Elections

National: “Government Says It Is Dropping Most Remaining Inaugural Day Rioting Cases” by Keith Alexander for Washington Post

Ethics

National: “In the Crowd at Trump’s Inauguration, Members of Russia’s Elite Anticipated a Thaw Between Moscow and Washington” by Craig Timberg, Rosalind Helderman, Andrew Roth, and Carol Leonnig for Washington Post

Federal: “Congressman Combating Harassment Settled His Own Misconduct Case” by Katie Rogers and Kenneth Vogel for New York Times

Federal: “Supreme Court Opens Door to Sheldon Silver Corruption Retrial” by John Reilly for Newsday

Federal: “Watchdog Petitions Federal Court to Kill New Appointments for Lobbying, Ethics Commissioners” by Marco Vigliotti for Hill Times

Lobbying

Kansas: “Kansas Bill Aims at Anyone Trying to Sway Executive Branch Register ‘Like a Lobbyist’” by Hunter Woodall and Jonathan Shorman for Kansas City Star

Procurement

Georgia: “Former Atlanta City Official Gets 2 Years in Bribery Probe” by Kate Brumback (Associated Press) for Los Angeles Times

On January 18, a lawsuit was filed challenging Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s recent appointments to head the ethics and lobbying sections of the Canadian government.

The lawsuit, filed by Democracy Watch, a non-profit Canadian organization concerned with government accountability, alleges the Cabinet failed to consult with the opposition party, as required by law, before making the appointments. The lawsuit also asserts the Cabinet has a conflict of interest because of ongoing ethics investigations, which prevent it from legally allowing the appointments.

On January 9, Mario Dion was selected to replace Mary Dawson, whose term had expired, as Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner. On November 30, Trudeau nominated Nancy Bélanger as the next Commissioner of Lobbying. Bélanger replaced Karen Shepherd, who occupied the position through term extensions following the expiration of Shepard’s seven-year term in June 2016.

Democracy Watch’s press release is available here.

Campaign Finance

National: “FBI Investigating Whether Russian Money Went to NRA to Help Trump” by Peter Stone and Greg Gordon for McClatchy DC

Ethics

Colorado: “Denver Is Challenging Its Own Ethics Board Over ‘All in The Family’ Gift Disclosures” by Ben Markus for Colorado Public Radio

New Jersey: “Phil Murphy Executive Order Tightens Gift Rules for Governor” by Dustin Racioppi for Bergen Record

Lobbying

Federal: “The Mueller Effect: FARA filings soar in shadow of Manafort, Flynn probes” by Julia Ainsley, Andrew Lehren, and Anna Schecter for NBC News

Florida: “Andrew Gillum Opens Up About Cutting Ties with Lobbyist Friend Adam Corey and Mike Miller” by Jeffrey Schweers for Tallahasse Democrat

Georgia: “Lobbyists Beware: Georgia campaign finance commission levies largest ever fine for lobbying noncompliance in advance of 2018 legislative session” by Staff for Dentons

Wisconsin: “Should a former dairy lobbyist oversee dairy farms for Wisconsin Department of Justice’s environmental protection unit?” by Lee Bergquist for Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Redistricting

Federal: “Supreme Court Temporarily Blocks North Carolina Gerrymandering Ruling” by Adam Liptak and Alan Blinder for New York Times

The fastest 2 minutes in government, lobbying and elections news you can use in this weeks video digest.