Campaign Finance

“Political Spending Sets New Records During Tumultuous Year” by Eliza Newlin Carney in Roll Call.

California:  “Lawmakers try to curb anonymous political donations in California” by Michael J. Mishak in the Los Angeles Times.

Canada: “ $100 lid on private political donations enacted” by Marian Scott in the Montreal Gazette.

Idaho: “Campaign Finance Loopholes Have Some Wondering: Who’s Watching the Money?” by Melissa Davlin in the Twin Falls Times-News.

Lobbying

“In Congress, relatives lobby on bills before family members” by Mark Zaleski (Associated Press) in The Washington Post.

Tennessee: “Proposed bill limits make Tenn. lobbyists scramble” by Erik Schelzig (Associated Press) in the San Antonio Express-News.

Ethics

District of Columbia: “Year of convictions doesn’t end D.C. corruption probes” by Alan Blinder in the Examiner.

Georgia:  “Ethics likely on General Assembly agenda” by Michael Davis in the Jackson Progress-Argus.

Social Media

“Social Media 2012: A Look Back” by Pam Greenberg in NCSL’s The Thicket.

Legislative Issues

“From Congress to Halls of State, in New Hampshire, Women Rule” by Katherine Q. Seelye in The New York Times.

Ethics

“House Ethics Ends Countrywide Loan Probe” by Amanda Becker in Roll Call.

“House Ethics closes Countrywide probe without taking action” by Peter Schroeder in The Hill.

“House Ethics Amends Private Travel Rules” by Amanda Becker in Roll Call.

Louisiana: “Louisiana Board of Ethics to challenge Baton Rouge Mayor in appeals court” by Quincy Hodges in the New Orleans Times Picayune.

Campaign Finance

“Our states vouch for transparent campaign financing” opinion piece by U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Lisa Murkowski in the Washington Post.

“Lisa Murkowski crosses aisle to reign in Super PACs” by Jill Burke in the Alaska Dispatch.

South Carolina: “South Carolina campaign funding will face scrutiny” by Stephen Largen in the Post and Courier.

Lobbying

“Former lobbyist, state legislator John Quimby dies at 77” by Torey Van Oot in the Sacramento Bee.

Maryland:  “Gambling companies doubled down on lobbying Md. lawmakers over past year” by John Wagner in the Washington Post.

Elections

“Ed Markey to run for Kerry’s Senate seat” by Rachel Weiner in the Washington Post.

“Should Kansas switch dates for elections?” by The Associated Press in the Kansas City Star.

Legislative Issues

Michigan: “Michigan lawmakers get perks beyond salaries” by Kristen M. Daum in Lansing State Journal.

Federal:

FreedomWorks Tea Party Group Nearly Falls Apart in Fight between Old and New Guard

From the States and Municipalities:

Alabama

Troy Gives Up on AEA Challenge to Ethics Law, Launches New Fundraising Campaign for PAC

California

Citigroup among 5 Banks Fined Over Muni-Bond Lobbying Costs

California

Labor Beat Prop. 32 Via Social Media

Florida

Senate President’s Hire Seems at Odds with Ethics Reform

Georgia

Ethics Changes in Georgia Senate Could Include $100 Gift Cap

Louisiana

Ethics Board Tactics Disputed

Maine

Outsiders Spent More than Maine Legislative Candidates

Maryland

2012 Lobbyist Rankings

Missouri

Missouri Ethics Chief Headed to Kander’s Office

New Jersey

Jersey City ‘Pay-to-Play’ Restrictions Made Stricter by City Council

South Carolina

Mark Sanford House Run: Former South Carolina governor seriously considering bid for Congress

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.

Lobbying

Maryland: “2012 lobbyist rankings” by Erin Cox in the Baltimore Sun.

Campaign Finance

Maryland: “Maryland panel recommends campaign finance reform” in the Capital Gazette.

Wisconsin: “Gov. Scott Walker voices support for limits on political fundraising” by Bill Lueders in the Daily Page.

Ethics

“Philadelphia Ethics Board plans crackdown on independent expenditures” by Dave Davies in Newsworks.org.

“D.C. Ethics Board Names New General Counsel” by Sam Skolnik in The Blog of Legal Times.

New York:  “Updated indictment filed against ex-NC lawmaker” by The Associated Press in the Winston-Salem Journal.

Social Media

“Answering government officials’ hesitation toward social media use” by Aimee Ingalls in the Washington Times.

Maryland:  “Ethics Commission: No new ethics law eyed for social media” by Sherry Greenfield in the Southern Maryland News.

Campaign Finance

“2012: Reviewing the year of the super PAC” by Nancy Marshall-Genzer on American Public Media’s Marketplace.

California: “FPPC to enforce county’s campaign finance reform law” in the Victorville Daily Press.

Lobbying

Alaska: “Alaska lawmakers will likely see more bills inspired by outside groups” by Richard Mauer in The Sacramento Bee.

Utah:  “Former Utah senator Bob Bennett will return to Capitol as lobbyist” by Matt Canham in The Salt Lake Tribune.

Ethics

Kentucky: “Kentucky Ethics Commission Judge Awarded Internationally” by Paul McRee in SurfKY News.

Missouri: “Secretary of State Scott Gessler rebuts ethics complaint” by Tim Hoover in the Denver Post.

Q. I am an in-house employee; however, I am not a registered lobbyist in my responsible state. Although I engage in lobbying activities from time to time, I do not meet the state’s registration threshold. However, other people from my company are registered. Do I have to disclose my expenditure and/or compensation for lobbying activities on company reports?

A. In some jurisdictions, although you are not a registered lobbyist, you may be required to include your expenditure and/or compensation information on company lobbying disclosure reports. There are 27 states requiring some level of reporting for non-lobbyist employees, including Arkansas, California, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

Every state treats non-lobbyist reporting differently. For example, in California, you are only required to include your compensation and reimbursed expenditures on a quarterly employer report if you spend more than 10% or more of your compensated time in a calendar month engaging in lobbying activities. In states such as North Carolina, Illinois, or New Jersey, permissible expenditures on behalf of public officials must be reported by the employer or registered lobbyist.

In the above jurisdictions where your company has an active lobbying presence, monitoring potential reportable activity is incredibly important. Although your level of activity may not necessitate registration in a state, you must become familiar with the state’s non-lobbyist reporting requirements, and carefully track activity, which may include the following:

• Compensation for lobbying activity;
• Personal reimbursed expenditures for food, travel, or lodging in connection with lobbying activity;
• Expenditures on behalf of public officials or employees;
• Sponsorships for events where public officials or employees will be present and receive a benefit; and/or
• Subject matter lobbied, including agencies contacted.

In sum, as you are reviewing your potential lobbyist registration obligations for the new year, it is just as important to review your potential reporting obligations as a non-lobbyist employee in the jurisdictions where your level of activity does not require registration.

You can directly submit questions for this feature, and we will select those most appropriate and answer them here. Send your questions to: marketing@stateandfed.com.

(We are always available to answer questions from clients that are specific to your needs, and we encourage you to continue to call or e-mail us with questions about your particular company or organization. As always, we will confidentially and directly provide answers or information you need.) Our replies to your questions are not legal advice. Instead, these replies represent our analysis of laws, rules, and regulations.

At any given time, more than 1,000 legislative bills, which can affect how you do business as a government affairs professional, are being discussed in federal, state, and local jurisdictions. These bills are summarized in the State and Federal Communications’ digital encyclopedias for lobbying laws, political contributions, and procurement lobbying, and can be found in the client portion of the State and Federal Communications’ website.

Summaries of major bills are also included in monthly e-mail updates sent to all clients. The chart below shows the number of bills we are tracking in regards to lobbying laws, political contributions, and procurement lobbying.

If you are registered as a state lobbyist, there is a good chance you have received notification for the state to conduct an audit on your lobbying reports. California, Indiana, Pennsylvania, New York, West Virginia are just a few states with random acts of audit.

But, are you ready for an IRS audit of your federal reports?

According to State and Federal Communications friend and client, Ken Gross from Skadden Arps, about 75 percent of the filings to the US Secretary of the Senate are filed using the LDA method, as opposed to the IRS method. That’s fine in practice, but your organization’s IRS filings need to show everything but lobbying activities.

When we are speaking with clients and audiences we emphasize the importance of keeping track of time, not only for your lobbying reports, but for your company’s filing with the IRS since the time devoted for lobbying is not deductible. It is impossible for anyone to spend 100% of time on lobbying because there are other administrative things people have to do, meetings to attend, and conferences to attend.

It is important companies keep two sets of books.

No, this is not The Producers where Matthew Broderick has two books—one to show the government and one not to show the government. It allows your organization to file its LD2 report without having to disclose lobbying expenditures for state and grassroots activities and still have the information to include in the IRS filings.

Take the opportunity to ask the accounting department if they are keeping track of time two different ways to insure your LD2 reports are accurate and, more important, when the IRS is a’knocking you can rest assured your reports are A-OK.

Until next month, I wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

National:

NRA Power and Money Goes a Long Way in States

The GOP’s Electoral College Scheme

Federal:

Colbert Super PAC to Give to Charities

Crossroads GPS Claim: What Karl Rove’s dark money nonprofit told the IRS

From the States and Municipalities:

Alaska

Legislative Aide Resigns after Anti-Islamic Agenda Crosses into Public Role

Arkansas

Admitted Inappropriate Relationship Threatens McDaniel’s 2014 Bid to Become Arkansas’ Governor

California

More Valuable Gifts, Contributions Allowed to Politicians in 2013

California

State Political Watchdog to Enforce San Bernardino County’s Campaign Finance Ordinance

Louisiana

New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu to End Contracts with Firm Tied to Ray Nagin Bribery Probe

New York

Cup of Coffee Limit Perks Up Again

New York

NY State Urges Aetna to Reveal Political Spending

Washington

House Bill Would Impose Fees on Lobbyists, Others

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.

Campaign Finance

“D.C. Council pushes campaign finance to ’13” by Tom Howell, Jr. in The Washington Times.

Rhode Island: “R.I. House Speaker’s November opponent cleared of campaign wrongdoing” by Philip Marcelo in the Providence Journal.

Lobbying

“K Street Files: Progressives Come, Single Out ‘Naughty’ Lawmakers” by Kate Ackley in Roll Call.

“Clock running out for passing big bills” by Kevin Bogardus and Bernie Becker in The Hill.

“APOC complaint accuses Coffey of failing to register as a lobbyist” by Lisa Demer in the Anchorage Daily News.

“Cup of coffee limit perks up again” by Rick Karlin in the Albany Times Union.

Lobbying

“The top 10 lobbying victories of this year” by Kevin Bogardus in The Hill.

“K Street gathers strength behind Hurricane Sandy relief bill” by Kevin Bogardus in The Hill.

“Former Texas Congressman Joins King & Spalding Lobbying Team” by Matthew Huisman in The Blog of Legal Times.

Wisconsin: “Milwaukee County’s lobbying list is somewhat vague” by Steve Schultze in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Campaign Finance

“Analysis: Campaign Finance Reform Takes a Step Forward in Albany” by Gabe Pressman on NBC New York.

Ethics

“House Names Conaway as Ethics Chairman” by Amanda Becker in Roll Call.

A bill has been pre-filed for the upcoming 2013 legislative session that will affect lobbyists and PACs. The bill will require that all reports filed by lobbyists be done electronically by January 1, 2014. Currently, electronic filing of reports is voluntary.

Also, a new yearly fee of $200 will be required of all PACs and lobbyists and lobbyist employers whose compensation received or expenses paid is more than $10,000 in the previous calendar year.

The Washington legislature will not convene its new legislative session until January 14, 2013.

Campaign Finance

“The Question at the Heart of Citizens United” by Paul Sherman in Jurist.

“D.C. campaign finance misdeeds call for further inquiry” opinion piece by Colbert I. King in the Washington Post.

Lobbying

“New lobbying firm spans both sides of the aisle” by AnnMarie Timmins in the Concord Monitor.

Ethics

“House Ethics Confirms Cases of Owens, Schock” by Amanda Becker in Roll Call.

Oklahoma:  “Ethics Commission top post to be offered to 1 of 4 finalists” by Michael McNutt in Tulsa World.

South Carolina:  “Haley tells ethics panel their work will produce results” by Tim Smith in the Greenville News.

Legislative Issues

Maine: “Campaign tracking becoming year-round practice in Maine” by Glenn Adams (Associated Press) in the Bangor Daily News.

North Dakota:  “Finding room at the inn isn’t always easy for legislators” by Nick Smith in the Bismarck Tribune.

Texas:  “Seeking Fresh Policies and Faces, Lawmakers Push for Term Limits” by Ross Ramsey in the New York Times.

Open Government

South Dakota:  “Open government receives boost” by David Montgomery in the Argus Leader.

Federal:

Corporate Money Allowed for Inaugural Donations

Federal Court Hears Arguments on Senate Filibuster Challenge

From the States and Municipalities:

California

San Jose to Keep Strict Rules on Disclosing Lobbyists’ Texts, E-mails

Louisiana

Guilty Plea Seems to Set Stage for Charges against Former Mayor Ray Nagin

Maryland

Revolving Door for Government Staffers Questioned

Massachusetts

Jurors Deadlock on Corruption Charges against Cahill

Minnesota

Minnesota Watchdog Panel Wants to See Campaign Financing Overhaul

Missouri

Great Power Equals Greater Funding? Ethics Commission Hopes So

Montana

Judge: ATP engaged in ‘long-standing and pervasive’ abuse of discovery process

New Jersey

Bergen Insurance Broker Sentenced to Five Years for Illegal Contributions to Menendez Campaign

New York

Attorney General Seeks to Force Disclosure of More Political Donors

Ohio

Cuyahoga County Council Bans Corrupt Contractors

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.