On October 19, 2012, Elizabeth Bartz, President and CEO of State and Federal Communications, received the Kent State University School of Journalism and Mass Communication William D. Taylor Distinguished Alumni Award.

“The William D. Taylor Award is the highest distinction given by the School of Journalism and Mass Communication to alumni who are nationally and/or internationally recognized for preeminent contributions to their professions or life’s work as they relate to the field of journalism and mass communication.”

Here is Elizabeth Bartz’s acceptance speech:

Lobbying

“K Street flags shortcomings of lobbying law” by Dave Levinthal in Politico.

“Lobbying spending goes up even with Congress away” by Dave Levinthal in Politico.

“K Street prepares for sequestration battle” by Kevin Bogardus in The Hill.

“Facebook continues record lobbying spending” by Jennifer Martinez in The Hill.

“Lobbying Groups Object to Proposed NY Ethics Regulations” by Chris Vest in Associations Now.

“Romney and the lobbysists” by Heath Brown in The Hill.

Campaign Finance

“Citizens United: What Obama, Romney would do about campaign finance reform” by Justin Elliott in the Alaska Dispatch.

“Mauled by Ads, Incumbents Look to Declaw Outside Groups” by Jennifer Steinhauer in The New York Times.

Campaigns and Elections

“Why Are Elections On Tuesdays?” by Selena Simmons-Duffin on NPR.

“Why Campaigns Are Happy Your Vote Isn’t as Private as Many Think It Is” by Nick Judd in TechPresident.

Tech and Social Media

“Federal website satisfaction dips slightly” by Joseph Marks in Nextgov.

Yesterday the United States Supreme Court denied an application to vacate the stay allowing Montana to enforce its political contribution limits.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals had stayed a District Court’s decision ruling certain state contribution limits unconstitutional and unenforceable. The U.S. District Court for the District of Montana, issuing a decision in Lair v. Murry, found the contribution limits in Montana Code Annotated §13-37-216 “prevent candidates from ‘amassing the resources necessary for effective campaign advocacy.’”

The case is pending in the Court of Appeals.

Since this is a presidential election year, State and Federal Communications has sent out its vote card instead of a holiday card to greet our friends and clients. More than 2500 cards were sent, along with a “Keep US Strong – VOTE” pin.

Every year we gather for a company photo to mark another exciting year serving our clients. Every year our challenge is to find a unique spot in Akron to highlight the event. So here is a little treat to our Lobby Comply readers – the 2012 company picture at the John S. Knight Center in Akron.

Thank you for reading Lobby Comply blog. We wish you a wonderful year and heartily encourage you to go out on November 6 and exercise your right to vote!

Lobbying

“Campaign season idles K Street” by Kevin Bogardus and Megan R. Wilson in The Hill.

“K Street Lobbyists Decamp to the Campaign Trail” by Kate Ackley in Roll Call.

“Chamber ramps up lobbying spending” by Peter Schroeder in The Hill.

“Jack Abramoff: Congress members don’t know they’re being bribed” by Louis C. Hochman on NJ.com.

Michigan: “Stateside: Lobbying in Michigan, the ‘Wild, Wild West’” on Michigan Radio.

Ontario: “Fixing ‘user errors’ in city lobbying registry not officials’ job” by David Reevely in the Ottawa Citizen.

Campaign Finance

New York:  “Spending big to take money out of politics” by Jimmy Vielkind in the Albany Times Union.

Colorado: “Springs considers new campaign finance rules” by Niel Chacón in the Colorado Springs Gazette.

Minnesota: “Minnesota serves as political campaign ATM” by Rachel E. Stassen-Berger in the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Tech and Social Media

“Crush Robocalls, Win $50K” in Government Technology.

“Tool helps agencies manage social media messaging” in Nextgov.

The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit on October 19, 2012 ordered the district court to enjoin Puerto Rico from enforcing provisions of Law 222, a campaign finance law passed in 2011. The provisions in question required corporations and unions to establish separate committees in order to make independent expenditures.

Such committees were required to hold membership meetings and vote to approve expenditures related to elections. The court found those provisions were likely to be held unconstitutional regulations of political speech.

Coat of Arms of Puerto Rico courtesy of Creative Commons on Wikipedia.

Campaign Finance

“Origins of campaign finance: Why private money floods politics” by David Sirota in the Oregonian.

“Super PACs meet solo PACs” by Brian Bakst (Associated Press) in the San Francisco Chronicle.

“Colbert’s super PAC may get last laugh” by Dave Levinthal in Politico.

“The Biggest Increase in Independent Spending Was among Party-Related Groups; Direct Citizens United Impact Not Demonstrated” by Rick Hasen in the Election Law Blog.

“How is modern political fundraising evolving?” by Erik Nilsson in Campaigns & Elections.

California:  “Business outspending labor on campaigns” by Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Colorado:  “Colorado’s liberal super PACs dominate spending in state races” by Karen E. Crummy in the Denver Post.

Connecticut: “State’s heavy campaign donations carry political clout” by Summer Ballentine in the Connecticut Post.

Montana:  “Supreme Court asked to rule in Montana campaign case” by The Associated Press in the Billings Gazette.

New York:  “Groups Push to Highlight Campaign Finance Reform” by Thomas Kaplan in the New York Times.

Social Media

“Facebook campaign advertisements don’t work, says new study” by Brendan Sasso in The Hill.

Ethics

“Atlanta region sees spike in public corruption cases” by Bill Rankin and David Wickert in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Arizona: “Arizona attorney general’s office blocked embarrassing info about public officials” by The Associated Press in the Oregonian.

Georgia:  “Ga. governor’s campaign chairman tied to lab site” by The Associated Press in the Athens Banner-Herald.

Certain Arizona statutes requiring registration and reporting by political committees are unconstitutional, according to a ruling made by Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Crane McClennen on October 10, 2012. Presently, however, reporting is still required, according to the Secretary of State.

The Secretary’s office e-mailed registered political committees the following: “By way of gentle reminder, the recent trial court decision in ‘Committee for Justice and Fairness v. the Secretary of State’ does NOT affect the requirements to file campaign finance reports.”

In deciding whether a television advertisement made by the Committee for Justice & Fairness (CJF) was “express advocacy” or issue-oriented speech, and therefore requiring registration and reporting by CJF as a political committee, the county court found, “A.R.S. §§16–901, –901.01, –902.01, –913, and related statutes are unconstitutional.”

The Secretary of State will appeal the ruling, according the Verde Independent.

South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley has created an independent commission responsible for making recommendations to reform state ethics and open records laws.

The executive order establishes an 11-member panel to review several ethics areas including conflict of interest rules, lobbying regulation, and enforcement of existing laws.

The governor expects a report from the commission by January 28, 2013, just weeks after the beginning of the next legislative session.

Photo of Governor Haley courtesy of Albert N. Milliron on Wikipedia.

Federal:

American Bridge Super PAC Uses Unique Research, Tracking Strategy to Hold Republicans Accountable

Lobbyists Ready for a Comeback under Romney

From the States and Municipalities:

Alabama

91-Year-Old Alabama Mayor Admits to $201,000 Theft

California

Campaign Watchdogs Say Arizona Group’s $11 Million Donation Exploits Loophole in California Law

Florida

Legislature’s New Leaders Back Tough Ethics Reform

Georgia

Loopholes Abound in Some Lobbyist Gift Bans

Illinois

City Axes Speed Camera Firm’s Bid, Citing Delay in Reporting Ethics Case

Montana

Montana Contribution Limits in Place through Election

New Jersey

Bergen Executive’s Veto of Changes to Political-Contributions Law Draws No Challenge

Ohio

Ohio Early Voting Cleared by High Court in Obama Victory

Oklahoma

Oklahoma Ethics Commission Will Lose Three Key Workers on Same Day

Pennsylvania

Lobbyists’ Checks Buy Lawmaker Access

Washington

Seattle City Council Revamps Campaign Finance Rules

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.

Mashable has a list of six apps, but I am featuring the three most interesting. One of them is NBC Politics, which is an app for the iPad and iPhone.  It provides up-to-date NBC election coverage and allows users to predict which candidate will win in each of the states.

Talking Points Memo’s PollTracker is an app for the iPhone. This app gives you the latest news on where the polls stand in both the congressional and presidential elections.

Washington Post Politics is an iPad-only app.  It has a map, which is different from the one on NBC Politics. Washington Post Politics shows the polling data of each state and the campaign ads running in the swing states.

The second site I am covering is Venture Beat and I’ll highlight two of the apps they list. Ad Hawk is an app for Android and iOS. It can listen to any political ad and give you the information behind the ads sponsors.  It’s pretty much Shazam for campaign ads.

YouTube Election Hub is not a mobile app but is a channel on YouTube that features content from the conventions, the debates, and election news.  It also gets its information from ABC News, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and more.

Check out these sites for more political apps.

Have a great weekend and I’ll see you next time.

City Council has passed the resident-driven Sunshine Ordinance with the intention to make city government more transparent. The ordinance requires builders to hold community meetings in connection with certain developments and calls for online posting of additional information regarding requests for proposals.

Although advocates originally proposed registration requirements for lobbyists, the new law provides only online access to city officials’ scheduled meetings with lobbyists and to information on forms already required to be filed by campaign committees and public officials.

The measure’s effective date will be November 14, 2012, 30 days from Monday’s final vote.

Photo of the Santa Ana City Hall courtesy of Eli Pousson on Wikipedia.

Yesterday, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a 41 page opinion explaining its continuing stay of a lower court’s decision ruling certain statutory contribution limits in Montana were unconstitutional and unenforceable.

On October 3, the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana, issuing a decision in Lair v. Murry, found the contribution limits in Montana Code Annotated §13-37-216 “prevent candidates from ‘amassing the resources necessary for effective campaign advocacy.’”

On October 9, after the District Court had denied a request to stay its Order, the Court of Appeals reinstated Montana’s campaign contribution limits, overruling the District Court. The District Court was ordered to outline the reasoning for its decision.

The next day, on October 10, the District Court issued a 38 page Opinion and Order detailing its reasoning. The Court of Appeals has rejected the District Court’s arguments, concluding “the state is likely to succeed on appeal.”

James. W. Murry, the Commissioner of Political Practices, has stated “that contribution limits are in effect and will be enforced.”

A special election is set for December 11 in the race for the Iowa State Senate District 22 seat due to very unfortunate circumstances. State Senator Pat Ward passed away from breast cancer on October 15, making the special election necessary.

Both Ward and her opponent, democratic candidate Desmund Adams, will still appear on the November 6th ballot, but the state will not count any of the votes. The Republican Party will select a candidate at a special nominating convention to run against Adams. The republicans must select a candidate by November 13.

Adams has decided to suspend his campaign to allow the district to mourn the loss of Ward.