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.

Governor Scott Walker has set the date for the special election to fill the vacant 98th district state assembly seat. The date will coincide with the already scheduled spring primary and general elections on February 19 and April 2 respectively.

Representative Paul Farrow’s former seat is vacant because he won a special election for a state senate seat in early December.

Four republicans have already announced their intention to run for the seat, but it is unclear who will run on the democratic side.

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.

The Michigan legislature has adjourned for the year after a busy lame duck session.

Bills passed, and sent to Governor Rick Snyder’s desk for approval, included legislation on right-to-work, abortion, and gun control.

The GOP will still control the legislature in the new session, scheduled to begin on January 9, but it will be a smaller majority after Democrats took back five seats in the November elections.

Photo of the interior dome in the Michigan State Capitol by Dave Parker in Wikipedia.

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.

This holiday season the staff of State and Federal Communications participated in a giving tree with bit of a different aim. We worked with Summit County Children Services and their Emancipating Youth Program to help outfit apartments for children who reach adult age and will no longer receive services from the agency.

The wish list we were filling were all practical things – the things anyone would need to run a house – pots and pans, towels, lamps, kitchen items, cleaning supplies, etc. Children who have been receiving help from Children Services often become a forgotten group as soon as they reach adult age. This program helps each one of them get some of the things they need to start running their own home.

Thank you, Summit County Children Services, for this crucial program. We felt it was a privilege to do our part to help!

The Fair Political Practices Commission has made upward adjustments to gift and contribution limits, using a formula provided in the Political Reform Act. Beginning January 1, 2013, the maximum value of a gift allowed to be accepted by an elected official goes up to $440, from $420.

The maximum contribution a legislative candidate can receive from an individual goes up to $4,100, from $3,900.

Candidates for governor will be able to accept $27,200, up from $26,000. The commission also adopted new rules concerning the public tracking of who is paying to qualify ballot measures and how much is being spent independently of candidates.

The image of the Seal of the State of California courtesy of Zscout370 in Wikipedia.

Every year the staff of State and Federal Communications gathers for a holiday celebration. This year we had a delightful dinner at Luigi’s Restaurant, and then came back to the office for a cubicle decorating contest, a round of Name that Tune, plus laughing, visiting, and lots of eggnog and desserts.

As a special treat, we had the chance to have our caricature done by a wonderful local artist named Kari Fry. What a hoot!

The party was a treat and we would like to say thank you to Elizabeth Bartz for making it happen!

Campaign Finance

“What’s Left for Campaign Finance Reform?” by Steven D. Schwinn in Jurist.

“Colbert donates super PAC funds to charity” by Dave Levinthal in Politico.

New York: “Campaign finance reform on 2013 Albany agenda” by Karen DeWitt on North County Public Radio.

District of Columbia: “DC Council to consider emergency ban on large money-order campaign contributions” by The Associated Press in the Washington Post.

Ethics

California: “Political ethics panel accuses brothers of money laundering” by Patrick McGreevy in the Los Angeles Times.

Florida: “Palm Beach County ethics commission to decide whether national search needed for director’s post” by Jennifer Sorentrue in the Palm Beach Post.

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.

Texas Governor Rick Perry announced a special election for the currently vacant district six state senate seat. The position was held by Senator Mario Gallegos, who died last October but was nonetheless reelected posthumously in November.

The Governor has set the election for Saturday, January 26, 2013.

In the event a single candidate does not receive a majority of the votes in the January election, a runoff election will be held between the top two candidates receiving the most votes.

A special session of the legislature is set to convene today, December 14, 2012. Governor John Kitzhaber called the legislature into session to approve a tax incentive program for Nike.

The governor believes the potential economic development benefits are worth the costs associated with a special session.

Nike says it will expand in Oregon and hire at least 500 people if the state will immediately promise not to change the method of calculating its state income taxes.

The Ethics Commission is now accepting online lobbyist registrations for 2013.

Lobbyists can register by creating an account and following the detailed instructions here.

Additional information and paper registrations are still available on the commission’s website.

A Montana judge has dismissed parts of a complaint brought by an organization seeking to block disclosure of its activities that the state believes to be political activity.

On Monday, December 10, 2012, District Court Judge Jeffrey M. Sherlock issued an order dismissing five counts from the court complaint of American Tradition Partnership (ATP), striking additional requests for relief made by ATP, ordering ATP to comply with previously made discovery requests, and requiring ATP to pay the attorney fees and costs incurred by the state in bringing the initial motion to discovery and the motion for sanctions.

Judge Sherlock was upset at ATP’s apparent refusal to comply with his orders, writing, “Never in this author’s 24 years on the bench has he had a litigant flatly refuse to comply with two discovery orders.”

ATP had initially brought the court action against the state in 2010 to prevent Montana from classifying the organization as a political committee required to disclose expenditures and contributions. ATP maintains it is an educational organization not subject to political disclosure and disclaimer statutes.

The organization, known as Western Tradition Partnership (WTP) when it initially filed suit, additionally maintains the state’s statutes are unconstitutional and has repeatedly raised this objection is its discovery responses. Judge Sherlock ended his decision decreeing, “The Court is no longer interested in hearing WTP’s objections. All the Court wants is answers to the questions that have been propounded.”