A state appellate court has ruled that a trial court judge must reconsider the state’s large fine for lobbying law violations. Don Beason, once considered one of the state’s most influential lobbyists, was originally fined $111,000 for a violation of the state’s disclosure policy for lobbyists. This fine was eventually reduced to $30,000 after the court ruled it was too large. Beason was working on overturning the state’s “Buy America” law for Sigma Corporation, a New Jersey company who imports foreign-made iron and steel.

The state claims Beason was paid with money funneled from an Indian iron exporters’ trade association and other companies through Sigma and Beason knew of this arrangement and failed to disclose. The trial court ruled that state law defines a lobbyist as someone who communicates directly with legislators or their employees and there was no evidence Beason directly contacted anyone for these clients supposedly funneling money through Sigma.

The appellate court however found the trial court failed to consider a second aspect of Beason’s case; whether Beason’s activities for the client constituted lobbying. The trial court must rule on that issue and then can determine whether the state has the power to fine Beason.

There is no time frame on when the trial court will hear the second part of this case.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released its audit of federal lobbying compliance for 2012. For the audit, the GAO reviewed a random sample of 100 quarterly disclosure reports filed for the third and fourth quarters of calendar year 2011 and the first and second quarters of calendar year 2012.

Among its findings, the GAO concluded 97 percent of filers of lobbying disclosure reports were able to provide documentation to support reported income and expenses, 85 percent filed the required federal political campaign reports, and 74 percent of the reported income and expenses were properly rounded to the nearest $10,000. The audit also found at least 15 percent of all lobbying disclosure reports did not properly disclose formerly held covered positions.

The 47 page report, released on April 1, 2013, is titled “2012 Lobbying Disclosure Observations on Lobbyists’ Compliance with Disclosure Requirements” and can be found here.

Lobbying

“Street Talk: The Curious Cases of Vanishing Lobbyists” by Kate Ackley in Roll Call.

California: “Special interests spent $277 million lobbying in 2012 at state Capitol” by Marc Lifsher in the Los Angeles Times. (via the Political Activity Law blog.)

New Mexico: “Former New Mexico state senator, ex-lobbyist Odis Echols dies at 82” by The Associated Press in The Republic.

North Carolina: “NC Court of Appeals sends case against former lobbyist back to trial court” by Anne Blythe in the News & Observer.

Campaign Finance

Los Angeles, California: “Our porous campaign laws” op-ed piece in the Los Angeles Times.

New York: “Groups Seek State Campaign Finance Reform” on WNYF News.

Ethics

Connecticut: “Bills to address the costs of blight and conflicts of interest” by Ken Dixon in the Connecticut Post.

Iowa: “Session may adjourn with ethics charges unresolved” by William Petroski in the Des Moines Register.

Texas: “Senate panel OKs tweaks to ethics panel; critics say major reforms ignored again” by Mike Ward in the Austin American-Statesman.

From the State Legislatures

New Jersey: “150 candidates file peititons to seek legislative nominations” by Anthony Campisi in the Bergen Record.

“Expulsions of State Legislators are Rare” in NCSL’s The Thicket.

Elections

“Presidential Election Commission: It’s Official” by Wendy Underhill and Karen Shanton in NCSL’s The Thicket.

Government Teach and Social Media

“The Present, and Future, of Social Media in Government” by Mark Micheli in Government Executive.

As a result of the state of Maine’s observance of Patriot’s Day, the March lobbying report is now due on April 16, 2013. Normally, the monthly lobbying report is due on the 15th day of each month, but with the state holiday, the Ethics Commission has pushed back the due date.

All registered lobbyists must file a report, even if no lobbying was done during the month. If a lobbyist did not lobby during the month of March, he or she may file a short-form report.

Patriot’s Day is only a state holiday in Maine and Massachusetts (in Massachusetts it is officially Patriots’ Day) and celebrates the anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the first battles of the Revolutionary War. In Boston, the holiday is celebrated by the running of the annual Boston Marathon and a late morning Boston Red Sox game.

Photo of the Lexington Minuteman statue by Daderot on Wikipedia.

Lobbying

Florida: “Florida lawmakers weigh bill to tweak lobbyist gift ban” by Jim Saunders in the Miami Herald.

Georgia: “New lobbyist law leaves possible loopholes” by Aaron Gould Sheinin, Chris Joyner and James Salzer in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Kentucky: “Ethics Commission reports $4.2M spent on lobbying in Frankfort in January, February” by The Associated Press in The Republic.

New York: “Lobbying spending in N.Y. dropped to $205M in 2012” by Jon Campbell in the Democrat and Chronicle.

New York: “Pro-Cuomo Group Repeats as Top Spender on Lobbying” by Thomas Kaplan in the New York Times.

Oregon: “State, colleges lobbying costs top $1M” by Raju Chebium in the Statesman Journal.

Campaign Finance

Connecticut: “Boosting public financing for campaigns is off the table” by Mark Pazniokas in the Connecticut Mirror.

Nebraska: “Measure repeals Neb. campaign finance law but seeks to put campaign spending reports online” by The Associated Press in The Republic.

New York: “New Ads to Press Albany on Campaign Financing” by Thomas Kaplan in the New York Times.

Vermont: “Campaign finance reform bill in jeopardy” in the Rutland Herald.

West Virginia: “W.Va. House seeks anti-Citizens United amendment” by The Associated Press in WTRF.com.

Ethics

“Larry Craig Loses Major Battle in Fight Against FEC” by Steven T. Dennis in Roll Call.

“STOCK Act Endangers National Security, Report Says” by Niels Lesniewski in Roll Call.

North Dakota: “Gov. Dalrymple’s energy stocks, contributions raise questions” by Amy Dalrymple in InForum.

Ohio: “Jimmy Dimora files federal appeal claiming innocence” by James F. McCarty in the Plain Dealer.

From the State Legislatures

Georgia: “Ga. lawmakers take flurry of votes on final day” by The Associated Press in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Redistricting

Texas: “Texas redistricting fight resumes” by Tim Eaton in the Austin American-Statesman.

Open Government

“Which States Aced the Spending Transparency Test?” in Government Technology.

Government Tech and Social Media

“Internal Website HouseNet Gets a Makeover” by Emma Dumain in Roll Call.

“NASA Becomes The Most-Followed Government Twitter Account, Nominated For Second Shorty Award” by Benny Luo in NewMediaRockstars.com.

Hawaii: “Bill would require state to post more information online” by The Associated Press in the Honolulu Star Advertiser.

Federal:

Why Republicans Still Run K Street

From the States and Municipalities:

Arizona – Arizona Legislature Is Short on Ethics Rules

Florida – Florida Governor Shuts Down Office after Resignation

Georgia – Georgia Lawmakers Reach Deal on Lobbying Rules

Illinois – Illinois Supreme Court Reverses Ruling on Chicago Inspector General’s Power

Illinois – Lobbyist Uses Political Savvy in Springfield to Tackle Bill – Her Water Bill

Kentucky – Richie Farmer’s Sister Placed on Leave over Ethics Charges against Her

Montana – Murry Will Not Seek Confirmation to Political Practice Post

Nevada – Banishment Ends Brooks Saga: ‘We did not feel safe’

Nevada – Senate OKs Bill for Quarterly Lobbyist Reports

New Jersey – Campaign Finance Watchdog Agency Says Outside Democratic Group Must Adhere to Contribution Limits

New Jersey – Seven from Birdsall Services Group Engineering Firm Indicted in Plot to Hide Political Gifts

Pennsylvania – Turnpike Case Has Bribery Charges, But Not Against Bribers

Wyoming – Judge Rejects Lawsuit by Wyoming Free Speech

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.

Legislators have passed an ethics overhaul capping lobbyist gifts at $75 and eliminating a prior proposal to require lobbying registration for volunteer advocates. The House and Senate voted unanimously for House Bill 142 shortly before adjournment on Thursday, March 28, 2013.

This is the state’s first limitation on gifts to public officials. Exceptions to the $75 limit include committee dinners, dinners for caucuses, and certain lobbyist-funded travel. The $75 cap is per occurrence and per lobbyist.

There is no explicit limit on the number of gifts permitted. As part of the deal, volunteers will not have to register as lobbyists unless they are reimbursed $250 or more in expenses from an organization.

UPDATE: The bill will also remove the $300 lobbyist registration and renewal fee when it becomes effective on January 1, 2014, following approval by the Governor

Lobbying

“Internet Association bolsters lobbying force” by Jennifer Martinez in The Hill.

Colorado: “Colorado gun lobbyist says he did nothing to warrant an ethics charge” by Lynn Bartels in the Denver Post.

Georgia: “Deal reported on lobbyist gift reform” by Greg Bluestein and Chris Joyner in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Campaign Finance

“OFA Campaign Finance Reform Push Explained In Call To Supporters” by Paul Blumenthal in the Huffington Post.

Arizona: “Clean Elections’ funding could be returned to ballot” by Sean Peick in the Arizona Republic.

Illinois: “Bernard Schoenburg: Gaps remain in campaign finance reporting rules” – opinion piece by Bernard Schoenburg in the State Journal-Register.

Corporate Political Advocacy

“Poll: Public wary of corporate politics” by Byron Tau in Politico.

Open Government

“New law requires 72 hours of notice for public meetings” by The Associated Press in the Santa Fe New Mexican.

From the State Legislatures

Virginia: “Lacey Putney, longest-serving Va. lawmaker, to retire” by The Associated Press in the Times Dispatch.

Lobbying

“K St. winners and losers in budget votes” by Kevin Bogardus in The Hill.

“Under Contract” in The Hill.

“K Street Files: SEIU Launches Immigration Ads” by Kate Ackley in Roll Call.

Georgia: “Drama over ethics reform builds toward session’s finale” by Aaron Gould Sheinin, Chris Joyner and Kristina Torres in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Nevada: “State Senate votes for more lobbyist transparency” by Ed Vogel in the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Campaign Finance

New York: “OFA joins New York campaign finance reform fight” by Maggie Haberman in Politico.

West Virginia: “Campaign financing bill advances” by Phil Kabler in the Charleston Gazette.

Ethics

Maryland: “Dixon to give talk, consider return to politics” by Jena Marbella in the Baltimore Sun.

From the State Legislatures

“Committee recommends Brooks be expelled from Legislature” by Anjeanette Damon in the Las Vegas Sun.

Political Advertising

“Think Your Advocacy Group is Not Subject to FEC Rules? Think Again.” in Political Law Briefing via Eric Brown’s Political Activity Law Blog.

Open Government

“New Transparency Grades Issued for States” by Mike Maciag in Government Technology.

Arkansas: “Arkansas gets ‘C’ in spending transparency report” in Arkansas News.

Tennessee: “Rep. Glen Casada withdraws bill on open meetings law” by The Associated Press in The Tennessean.

West Virginia: “W.Va.’s spending transparency grade falls” by Eric Eyre in the Charleston Gazette.

Redistricting

Florida: “Legislators ask court to shield them from having to testify over maps” by Mary Ellen Klas in the Miami Herald.

Lobbying

Georgia: “House makes ethics changes; Deal urges action” by Greg Bluestein, Aaron Gould Sheinin and Kristina Torres in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“Ex-lawmakers go to lobbying-related jobs” by Fredreka Schouten in USA Today.

“Facebook’s Zuckerberg to launch lobby group with Washington consultants” by Jennifer Martinez in The Hill.

Campaign Finance

Florida: “Friend of U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan evades prison time for illegal fundraising” by Susan Taylor Martin in the Tampa Bay Times.

Montana: “Bill to overhaul campaign finance law passes” by Charles S. Johnson in the Billings Gazette.

Ethics

“Michele Bachmann under investigation for campaign finance violations” by John Bresnahan and Byron Tau in Politico.

Connecticut: “Today’s lesson: Politicians dislike being called corrupt” by Mark Pazniokas in the Connecticut Mirror.

Texas: “Donations to Judicial Campaigns Spur Ethics Worries” by Maurice Chammah in the Texas Tribune.

Elections

Alabama: “Election runoffs targeted; legislation would allow candidates to win nominations with just 35 percent to win in a primary vote” by Brian Lyman in the Montgomery Advertiser.

Maine: “Bill would bar secretary of state, attorney general and treasurer from running for office” by Christopher Cousins in the Bangor Daily News.

From the State Legislatures

Idaho: “House targets Friday adjournment – barring mishaps” by The Associated Press in the Idaho State Journal.

South Dakota: “SD Legislature ends annual legislative session” in the Rapid City Journal.

Utah: “Utah Legislature passed record number of bills” by Lee Davidson in the Salt Lake Tribune.

Government Tech

“San Francisco Tells New York: Our Data Is Bigger Than Your Data” by Sarah Lai Stirland in TechPresident.

Lobbying

Georgia: “Lobbying reform: what’s gone down, what’s up next” by Chris Joyner and Kristina Torres in the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

Pennsylvania: “Lobbying money flows in state store debate” by Steve Esack and Scott Kraus in the Morning Call.

Washington: “Washington Teachers’ Union Top Lobbying Spender In Olympia So Far” by Austin Jenkins in Oregon Public Broadcasting.

Campaign Finance

“Rules of the Game: Hispanic Caucus Leverages Latino Power” by Eliza Newlin Carney in Roll Call.

California: “Former ethics chief would ban fundraising while California lawmakers work” by Torey Van Oot in the Sacramento Bee.

Florida: “House approves no limits on campaign contributions” by Mary Ellen Klas and Michael Van Sickler in the Miami Herald.

Florida: “Campaign finance bill allows higher limits, mandates quicker reporting” by Aaron Deslatte in the Orlando Sentinel.

Montana: “Coalition ‘blasts’ campaign finance bill” in the Independent Record.

Ethics

New Jersey: “Sexually explicit e-mails sent by Assemblyman Joe Cryan to lobbyist are revealed, report says” in the Star-Ledger.

From the State Legislatures

Georgia: “Georgia lawmakers have 3 days left” by Walter C. Jones in the Augusta Chronicle.

Kentucky: “Dizzying pace for Ky. legislators in next 2 days” by The Associated Press in the Bowling Green Daily News.

Mississippi: “Miss. state Rep. Jessica Upshaw found dead” by The Associated Press in the Hattiesburg American.

Missouri: “Missouri lawmakers to return from midsession break” by Chris Blank (Associated Press) in the Columbia Missourian.

Montana: “Montana Senate backs amendment to limit legislators to 16 years in office” by The Associated Press in the Missoulian.

Nevada: “Nevada Legislature sees quiet session so far” by Ed Vogel in the Las Vegas Review Journal.

New York: “No new budget bills; final voting pushed to Thursday” by Jimmy Vielkind in the Capitol Confidential.

Open Government

Missouri: “Missouri lawmakers don’t follow open records rules, auditor says” by Elizabeth Crisp in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Tennessee: “Casada says open meetings bill can be fixed” by Lucas L. Johnson II (Associated Press) in The Tennessean.

Procurement

Kentucky: “Well-paid Kentucky lawmaker Dennis Horlander a toothless watchdog” by Tom Loftus in the Courier-Journal.

The Senate approved its version of a House ethics bill on Friday, March 25, 2013. Now the House and Senate are seeking common ground between the different versions of House Bill 142.

The House version of the bill bans most gifts from lobbyists to individual legislators, but allows unlimited gifts to legislative groups. The Senate version imposes a $100 gift cap and erases the exception for legislative groups, but does not limit the number of gifts allowed. The Senate version also erases the House version’s expanded lobbyist registration for unpaid advocates.

Both chambers are expected to appoint a joint committee to negotiate in an effort to reach compromise before the session reaches its scheduled end on Thursday, March 28, 2013.

Photo of the Georgia State Capitol dome by Connor Carey on Wikipedia.

National:

Conflicts of Interest Run Rampant in State Legislatures

Democratic Women Eye City Hall Gains

From the States and Municipalities:

Arizona – Supreme Court Hears Arguments over Whether States Can Ask for Proof of Citizenship to Register

California – Bell Trial Ends in Chaos

California – Judge Orders San Jose to Disclose Officials’ Messages on Private Devices

Florida – Gaming Committee Chairman Relies on Flights from Gaming Lobbyist for Travel to Tallahassee

Georgia – State Senate Offers $100 Lobbying Cap in Split Plan

Kansas – Kansas House Passes Bill on Union Pay Deductions

Kentucky – Richie Farmer Could Be Fined $210,000 over 42 Ethics Violations

Maryland – Campaign Finance Reform Passes House and Is Moving in Senate

Maryland – Former Anne Arundel County Executive John Leopold Gets Jail Time from Judge

New Mexico – Social Media Plays a Bigger Role in Legislative Session

New York – Artists Against Fracking May Not Be Registered As New York Lobbying Group

South Carolina – Former Governor Advances in South Carolina Race

South Carolina – Misuse of SC State Plane Alleged

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.

The City Ethics Commission is upgrading the Lobbyist Electronic Filing System (LEFS) at 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, March 27, through 5:00 p.m. on Monday, April 1, 2013.

Filers will not have access to LEFS and will not be able to file or amend registrations and quarterly reports during this time.

Lobbyists and authorized signers for firms must submit a paper CEC Form 59 by April 1 in order to use the new paperless system.

Photo of the Los Angeles City Hall by Brion Vibber on Wikipedia.