Lobbying

“Poll: Lobbyists rank last on ethics” by Tal Kopan in Politico.

“Business to Boehner: Hit ’em hard” by Ken Bogardus in The Hill.

California: “Report: Special Interest Groups Paid Lobbyists Millions to Influence City Officials” by Alexander Nguyen in the Pacific Palisades Patch.

Campaign Finance

“Politicians move to rake in more campaign cash” by Fredreka Schouten in the Detroit Free Press.

“United Association’s Pipelines Move $651K in Political Funds” by Kent Cooper in Roll Call’s Political MoneyLine.

Michigan: “Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder signals ʹevolutionʹ on issue ads as campaign finance bill reaches desk” by  Jonathan Oosting in Michigan Live.

Michigan: “Campaign bills win final OK from Mich. Legislature” by Bob Brenzing in WZZM 13 News.

Mississippi: “Attorney General Jim Hood appealing federal judge’s ruling on Mississippi campaign finance law” by The Associated Press in The Mississippi Press.

Missouri: “Mo. legislature to look at campaign ethics laws” by Dan Verbeck on KBIA Mid-Missouri Public Radio.

Ethics

Alaska: “Rep. Bob Herron fined $5,000 for ethics violation” by Jim Paulin in the Bristol Bay Times.

Maine: “Maine campaign ethics panel expands scope of Lewiston casino campaign inquest” by Scott Thistle in the Bangor Daily News.

Ohio: “Concerns raised over Ohio disclosure exemptions” by The Associated Press in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Another Virginia special election has been scheduled for January 7, 2014.

The seat in Senate District 6 will be vacated when Sen. Ralph Northam becomes lieutenant governor.

A special election for the Massachusetts Fifth Middlesex Senate District has been called to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of state Senator Katherine M. Clark.

The Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin announced the special primary election will be held on March 4, 2014. The general election will follow on April 1, 2014.

On December 10, 2013, Clark won a special election for the U.S. House of Representatives seat left vacant by Ed Markey.

The Joint Commission on Public Ethics is performing maintenance on its Lobbying Online Filing System beginning today.

The system will not be accessible starting Friday at 4 p.m. through Monday until 8:00 a.m.

Filers will be unable to log into the system and no electronic filings or amendments will be accepted while the system is down.

Also, the data contained in the system will not be accessible by the public during the shutdown.

On Thursday, the Colorado Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court ruling striking down rules reducing or eliminating disclosure requirements for issue committees, political committees, and more than 500 political organizations. The rules, put forth by Secretary of State Scott Gessler in 2012, also capped penalties for failure to file major contributor reports in the days leading up to an election.

Challengers argued the rules were invalid because Gessler exceeded his authority by effectively amending the Colorado constitution and campaign finance laws passed by the General Assembly.

In addition to finding the rule changes invalid, the appeals court overturned Gessler’s 2012 rule narrowing the definition of “electioneering communications.”

The Texas Ethics Commission issued a resolution “unanimously condemn[ing] the use of misleading campaign communications regarding the activities of the [Ethics] Commission.”

In its resolution, issued on December 3, 2013 and released online this week, the commission states the use of statements like “‘a sworn complaint has been filed against Candidate A’ or ‘the Texas Ethics Commission is investigating a complaint against Candidate A’ are improper attempts to mislead the public.”

The commission asserts “anyone can file a complaint” with or without merit and the commission must investigate every sworn complaint, “whether it has merit or not.” Because of that, the bipartisan commission finds the use of such campaign advertising “an unfair practice” and argues the use of statements concerning the mere filing of a complaint or a legally required investigation of a complaint doesn’t provide “meaningful information” to voters.

Photo of the Texas State Capitol dome interior by Edward Uthman in Wikimedia Commons.

Lobbying

“New lobbying business slows to a trickle” by Byron Tau in Politico.

“For K St., nowhere to go but up” by Kevin Bogardus and Megan R. Wilson in The Hill.

“Under contract” in The Hill.

“Major Dem fundraiser closes lobby shop” by Megan R. Wilson in The Hill.

“ʹLobbyistʹ Not Curse Word to All Influencers” by Dave Levinthal in The Center for Public Integrity.

“Ex-congressman lobbies for group he used to fund” by Paul Singer in USA Today.

“SpaceX Launches Second Lobbying Team” by Kent Cooper in Roll Call’s Political MoneyLine.

San Francisco: “S.F. lobbying laws due for tightening” in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Campaign Finance

“Deals on campaign finance, corruption likely in Albany” by Yancey Roy in Newsday.

“All Senate Freshmen Now Have Personal PACs” by Kent Cooper in Roll Call’s Political MoneyLine.

Maine: “Use of ‘large, untraceable expenditures’ to influence Maine elections jumps 600 percent, report says” by Mario Moretto in the Bangor Daily News.

Michigan: “Legislature approves increase in campaign contributions, but says some donors can stay anonymous” by The Associated Press in Crain’s Detroit Business.

Missouri: “Nixon urges Missouri campaign contribution limits” by Bill Draper (Associated Press) in the Columbian Missourian.

Vermont: “Ruling on super PACs may ripple in Vt.” by Neal Goswami in the Times Argus.

Ethics

“The Year in Congressional Ethics | A Question of Ethics” by Simon Davidson in Roll Call.

Alabama: “Alabama ethics Director Jim Sumner wins national award for his work” by The Associated Press in The Republic.

Georgia: “Subpoenas related to Ga. gov’s ethics complaints” by Christina A. Cassidy (Associated Press) in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Kentucky: “Former lawmaker won’t face sanctions from House” by Roger Alford (Associated Press) in the San Francisco Chronicle.

West Virginia: “W.Va. ethics panel admits open meetings violation” by The Associated Press in The Herald Dispatch.

West Virginia: “For first time in years, Ethics Commission full” by Phil Kabler in the Charleston Gazette.

Open Government

“This Group Could Make (or Break?) FOIA Reform” by Joseph Marks in Nextgov.

Government Tech and Social Media

“The Future of Election Monitoring” by Jessica McKenzie in TechPresident.

The Hawaii State Ethics Commission issued an advisory last week urging public school employees to refrain from promoting charitable fundraisers at school.

The advisory was issued after Department of Education teachers and administrators were asked to support and encourage students to participate in a popular holiday fundraising campaign for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

The state ethics code prohibits state employees from using work time and state resources for non-state related business purposes, which generally include supporting or promoting private charities.

Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s administration is currently at odds with the City Ethics Commission. Earlier in the year the Commission inquired as to whether the Department of the Corporation Counsel has the power and duty to advise city employees on matters of ethics.

In a memorandum to all municipal agencies, the Department announced it does have said authority; the Ethics Commission disagrees.

The administrative decision may potentially result in city attorneys and Ethics Commission attorneys offering conflicting advice. Also problematic, the Ethics Commission is insulated from retaliation as an autonomous agency, whereas city attorneys are afforded no such protection.

If nothing else, the memo is likely to cause public confusion as the relationship between administration and Commission deteriorates. Subpoenas may be on the horizon for Mayor Caldwell’s top executives as the Ethics Commission investigates possible corruption in city hall.

State school board member Bryan Williams resigned after allegedly violating provisions of the state ethics laws by lobbying the government for private interests. The law prohibits an elected member of a state board or commission from receiving compensation for services he or she performs personally on a matter before any state agency.

When first appointed to fill a vacant seat, an exemption in state law allowed Williams to simultaneously serve in a public position while advocating as a lobbyist. Upon his election in 2012, however, the exemption no longer applied. The Ohio Ethics Commission has not confirmed any investigation or future legal actions.

On December 6, the Missouri General Assembly adjourned its first special session sine die.

The legislative body convened earlier in the week to prepare an aerospace industry incentive bill.

Effective immediately, Senate Bill 1 is designed to encourage growth and expansion of the aerospace industry and serves as an incentive proposal for Boeing to build its new commercial 777X airplane within the state.

Photo of the Missouri State Capitol courtesy of RebelAt on Wikimedia Commons.

State Rep. Mike Reynolds filed hundreds of ethics complaints with the Oklahoma Ethics Commission. The complaints, filed against candidates and legislators, call attention to what he believes is a lack of enforcement.

Most of the violations involved late filings of campaign contribution and expenditure reports. Reynolds reports he spent three weeks, using computer programs he developed, to analyze Ethics Commission data. Lee Slater, the Oklahoma Ethics Commission’s new executive director, declined to comment on the complaints. –

The Michigan Legislature is considering a bill to amend existing campaign finance law.

The bill would require those making independent expenditures for a candidate or ballot question within 60 days of an election where that candidate or ballot question is on the ballot to file an electronic report with the secretary of state within seven days of making such expenditure.

Failure to file such a report would result in a late filing fee equal to the lesser of the total amount of the independent expenditure or $2,000.

The Delaware Department of Elections has begun construction on a new campaign finance reporting system, which will debut on December 17.

The new system will allow all contribution reports, both those filed online and via paper submission, to be searched with one system. It will allow the public to track all contributions by one donor, an action taking more than 40 hours using the current online system.

The system upgrade does not affect filing or reporting requirements.