Campaign Finance

Oregon: “The City’s Public Campaign Financing Program Allowed Candidates with Little Support to Snag Taxpayer Dollars” by Sophie Peel for Willamette Week

Ethics

California: “Assessor Reports $1M Behested Payment, Biggest Charitable Donation Made at a Local Elected Official’s Request” by Jeff McDonald (San Diego Union-Tribune) for MSN

National: “Trump Transition Team Ethics Pledge Appears to Exclude President-Elect” by Betsy Klein, Steve Contorno, and Arlette Saenz (CNN) for MSN

Florida: “Tickets to Master’s Tournament Trigger Feud in Hillsborough County Politics” by Jack Evans and Justin Garcia (Tampa Bay Times) for MSN

Indiana: “Nonprofit Braun Transition Group Follows Former Governors’ Model” by Leslie Bonilla Muñiz (Indiana Capital Chronicle) for Yahoo News

Legislative Issues

National: “Supreme Court to Examine Power of Congress to Delegate Authority” by Justin Jouvenal (Washington Post) for MSN

Lobbying

National: “As His Power Grows, D.C. Wonders: How do you lobby a man like Elon Musk?” by Cat Zakrzewski, Faiz Siddiqui, and Pranshu Verma (Washington Post) for MSN

New York: “N.Y. Ethics Commission Faces New Constitutional Challenge” by Brendan Lyons for Albany Times Union

The North Carolina General Assembly adjourned after finalizing a replacement map for congressional districts.

Legislators extended the legislative session to redraw the map due to state judges blocking lines drawn in 2016 from being used next year.

The session was one of the longest legislative sessions in recent history due to the redistricting lawsuit and a fight over the budget.

A replacement map for North Carolina’s congressional districts was finalized with new lines drawn to address alleged extreme partisan bias.

The map was redrawn after state judges blocked lines drawn in 2016 from being used next year.

The judges ruled there was enough evidence of partisan gerrymandering to make it likely that the 2016 map violated the state constitution.

The voters whose legal challenge led to the new map went to court immediately to oppose the newly drawn map.

However, the North Carolina Supreme Court refused to fast-track the redistricting appeal.

Without a bypass to the state Supreme Court, any appeal would have resulted in a lengthy process that would likely not have been resolved until the 2020 elections were over, making a ruling largely moot.

On Monday, October 28, a state court blocked the use of current congressional districts in North Carolina for the 2020 elections.

The ruling could lead to the drawing of new districts that would make several Republican-held districts far more competitive.

A panel of three Superior Court judges issued a preliminary injunction preventing elections under the district lines, starting with the March 3 primary.

The judges ruled that voters had a strong likelihood of winning a lawsuit that argued Republicans unlawfully manipulated district lines for partisan gain.

The judges gave no date by which a new map must be drawn.

However, the judges suggested lawmakers could redraw them on their own quickly to ensure congressional primaries be held as scheduled.

The State Board of Elections has said lines needed to be finalized by Dec. 15.