The Colorado Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s decision that Secretary of State Scott Gessler overstepped his authority when he changed the financial disclosure threshold for issue committees to $5,000.

The previous threshold, established by constitutional amendment, required issue committees to register with the secretary of state and file financial disclosures if they accepted contributions or made expenditures of more than $200.

Secretary Gessler argued that the rule change was needed to clarify uncertainty in the law created by a federal appeals court ruling, but the court ruled that the change exceeded his rulemaking authority and voided the rule.

Campaign Finance

“Obama calls for constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United” by Byron Tau in Politico.

New York: “Candidates who didn’t file financial disclosure listed here” by Rick Karlin in Capitol Confidential.

Ethics

South Carolina: “‘Unusual alliance’ calls for tougher state ethics laws” by Andrew Shain in The State.

Social Media

“Answers from Barack Obama’s ‘Ask Me Anything’ on Reddit” by Micah L. Sifry on TechPresident.

“Obama vows to fight for Internet freedom on Reddit” by Joseph Marks in NextGov.

“Welcome to Excellence in Government Online” by Bryan Klopack in Government Executive.

The Board of Supervisors has adopted an ordinance limiting campaign contributions for all county elective office candidates, and increasing public disclosure requirements for independent expenditures.

The new ordinance limits contributions to $3,900 per election cycle from a single source, including corporations, special interest groups, and individuals. The ordinance also requires all county candidates and independent expenditure committees to electronically report contributions and expenditures exceeding $10,000.

The ordinance goes into effect January 1, 2013.

Seal of San Bernardino County courtesy of Jetijones on Wikipedia.

Lobbying

“The Art of Going Corporate at Political Conventions” by Diane Brady in Bloomberg Business Week.

“K Street preps for Hurricane Isaac” by Dave Levinthal in Politico.

“Lobbyists, businesses pamper New Jersey delegates with food, parties” by Melissa Hayes in The Record.

District of Columbia: “New D.C. Campaign Finance Reform Would Ban Lobbyist Bundling” in the Blog of the Legal Times.

New York: “Lawmaker-lobby guidelines emerge” by Rick Karlin in the Albany Times Union.

Ottawa, Canada: “New lobby registry looks easy as pie” by Joanne Chianello in the Ottawa Citizen.

Campaign Finance

California:  “Unleashing the Campaign Contributions of Corporations” by Eduardo Porter in The New York Times.

Pennsylvania:  “With money to burn, Fitzpatrick won’t limit spending” by Gary Weckselblatt in The Intelligencer.

Washington: “Churches can’t be intermediary for gay-marriage law donations, watchdog says” by Rachel La Corte (Associated Press) in The Olympian.

Ethics

Illinois:  “Emanuel appointees propose more oversight on ethics” by Hal Dardick in the Chicago Tribune.

New York: “NY ethics board hires another Cuomo aide” by The Associated Press in the Utica Observer Dispatch.

New York:  “Silver’s Sexual-Harassment Payout May Get New York Ethics Review” by Freeman Klopott in Bloomberg Business Week.

New York: “New York Can’t Escape Corruption as Senator Huntley Indicted” by Freeman Klopott and David McLaughlin (Bloomberg) in the San Francisco Chronicle.

North Carolina: “Dalton rolls out ethics package, term limits” by Travis Fain in the Greensboro News and Record.

Utah: “Utah cities, counties, guv preparing for new ethics commission law” by Cathy McKitrick in the Salt Lake Tribune.

Redistricting

Arizona:  “Ariz. GOP: Redistricting commission’s existence illegal” by Howard Fischer in East Valley Tribune.

Texas: “Texas redistricting plan ruled illegal” by Gary Martin and Gary Scharrer in the San Antonio Express-News.

Social Media

“Ann Romney Was Most-Searched, Most-Tweeted Tuesday Night Speaker” by Alex Fitzpatrick in Mashable.

Mayor Vincent Gray and Attorney General Irvin Nathan have introduced a proposal for an overhaul of the city’s campaign finance laws. The proposal includes pay-to-pay provisions that will limit when contractors may contribute to public officials. It will also make electronic disclosure mandatory and increase the disclosures already in place. The proposal would also ban lobbyists from bundling political contributions.

These proposed reforms come at a time when the district has been inflicted with a rash of campaign scandals, including one involving Mayor Gray’s campaign.

The proposal will now go through a public comment period until September 17th. At that point, the proposal will be formally sent to the district council.

Photo of the John A. Wilson Building by Awiseman on Wikipedia.

A St. Louis County judge ordered a new election between state Representative Stacey Newman and Susan Carlson for the 87th House District. The new Democratic primary election is scheduled to be held on Monday, September 24, 2012.

Initial results of the August 7, 2012 primary showed Newman had won the election by a single vote, but the St. Louis County Board of Election found irregularities soon after the results were announced. The mistakes occurred at a polling place in Brentwood, where poll workers accidentally handed voters ballots with the 83rd District race between James Trout and Gina Mitten.

During the court hearing, it was revealed that 100 voters in the 83rd District received ballots to vote in the 87th District, while two 87th District residents received ballots for the 83rd District. Judge Michael Jamison cited Revised Missouri Statute section 115.593, which allows the court to order a new election if the evidence provided demonstrates irregularities were sufficient to cast doubt on the outcome of the election.

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) issued an advisory opinion offering limited guidance on what type of solicitations for political contributions are permissible and what type of advertisements qualify as expressly advocating the election or defeat of a candidate.

In Advisory Opinion 2012-27, the FEC found two of four proposed donation requests permissible. The Commission also concluded three of seven proposed advertisements did not expressly advocate the election or defeat of a clearly identified federal candidate.

The remaining advertising and donation requests were not decided by the FEC because it lacked the required four affirmative votes for agreement.

Campaign Finance

Tennessee:  “TN nears record for political donations” by Paul C. Barton in The Tennessean.

“Obama Outpaces Romney in Small-Dollar Donations” by Jonathan D. Salant in Bloomberg Business Week.

“Super PACs see GOP convention in Tampa as a fundraising opportunity” by Chris Moody in Yahoo News.

“Convention Contributions Down and More Discreet” by Janie Lorber in Roll Call.

“Romney ‘absolutely’ would return to public funding in ’16” by Darren Samuelsohn in Politico.

Lobbying

California: “20 California lawmakers accepted gifts despite ‘no-gift’ signs” by The Associated Press in the Mercury News.

New York:  “Opponent hints McDonald is lobbyist” by Jimmy Vielkind in the Albany Times Union.

“The 10 Lobbying Firms That Rake In The Most Money” by Abby Rogers in Business Insider.

“Convention is not siren call for K Street firms” by Kevin Bogardus in The Hill.

Ethics

“N.Y Can’t Escape Corruption as Senator Says She’ll Be Arrested” by Freeman Klopott and David McLaughlin in Bloomberg News.

Federal:

Skinny-Dipping in Israel Casts Unwanted Spotlight on Congressional Travel

Text ‘GIVE’ to Obama: President’s campaign launches cell phone donation drive

Twitter’s Role in the Upcoming Conventions

From the States and Municipalities:

California

Higher Lobbyist Fees Approved to Fix Campaign Finance Database

California

San Bernardino County: Contribution limits approved

Florida

Campaign Vendors Say Republican Congressman David Rivera Funded Democrat’s Failed Primary Bid

Illinois

Illinois House Expels Rep. Derrick Smith over Bribery Charge

Minnesota

Donor against Marriage Amendment Will Remain Unnamed

Missouri

Akin Says He’ll Stay in Senate Race, Heightening Tension within GOP

New Hampshire

Most Campaign Money Remains Hidden in New Hampshire

New York

Gifts End in $1.7 Million Deal

North Carolina

Despite Laws, NC Legislators Still Ask Lobbyists for Money

Oregon

Oregon Political Social Scene a Thing of the Past

Pennsylvania

Report Faults Ethics Board: Small staff and lack of authority cited

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 state legislature will convene a special session Friday afternoon to approve a flood relief package for parts of the state which were devastated by summer flooding. The session will convene at 2:00 p.m. and must end by 7:00 a.m. Saturday morning.

The legislature will vote on a $167.5 million relief package, but it is expected to pass without issue. Governor Mark Dayton and the legislative leaders have already agreed on the package and the deal restricts any other legislators from making changes to the bill.

If you live in the Washington, D.C. area, be sure to listen to WAMU 88.5 American University Radio for your direct line to the National Conventions. Elizabeth Bartz, president and CEO of State and Federal Communications, said,”We are very excited to be a part of this crucial service!”

Lobbyists and political committees will be paying more for registration when Governor Jerry Brown signs Senate Bill 1001 into law. The bill passed both houses with the two-thirds majority required to amend the state’s Political Reform Act. Political committees would pay $50 to register and lobbyists would pay $100 to register for a biennial session.

The increased revenue will help with maintaining California’s Cal-Access website, which tracks lobbying activity and campaign finance reports. Political committees currently have no registration fee and lobbyists currently pay $50 to register for the biennial session.

The New York Times, CBS News and Quinnipiac University today released a poll of likely voters in Florida, Ohio and Wisconsin. Florida and Ohio have long been considered battleground states, but according to the new numbers, Wisconsin has now been added to the list of states where the Presidential election will be fought. The poll shows President Obama with only a two point lead over Governor Romney, well within the margin of error. If the election were held today, 49% of respondents in Wisconsin would vote for Obama, while 47% of respondents would vote for Romney.

The new poll comes on the heels of Gov. Romney’s selection of Wisconsin Republican Paul Ryan as his running mate. During a poll conducted in the week prior to the selection, President Obama maintained a six point lead over Gov. Romney. In 2008, President Obama handily won the state over Senator John McCain by a healthy margin of 14 points. Recently, Wisconsin has been slowly moving towards toss-up status, and the Ryan selection seems to have pushed it over the edge. A Republican presidential ticket has not won the state since Ronald Reagan’s reelection in 1984.

Similarly in Florida, Obama maintains a lead with likely voters of only three points at 49% to 46%. However, in Ohio, Obama’s advantage has held steady from the previous poll at six points with 50% to 44% of likely voters favoring the President. The poll further shows that voters in all three states view the economy as the most important issue in the election; 60% of voters in Florida, 59% of voters in Ohio, and 54% of voters in Wisconsin characterized the issue as “extremely important”.

Other notes from the trail:

• Representative Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) has been chosen by the Obama campaign as the stand-in for GOP Vice Presidential Nominee Paul Ryan during debate prep for Vice President Joe Biden. Van Hollen is the ranking member of the House Budget Committee, which Ryan chairs. Ryan and Van Hollen regularly go head to head on the issues that will be discussed in the vice presidential debate. The campaign has also confirmed that Sen. John Kerry will play the role of Gov. Romney in President Obama’s debate prep. Both Kerry and Romney hail from Massachusetts, and with Sen. Kerry comes the added advantage of a debate partner who has previously run for President as well. The Romney campaign has not announced who will stand-in for the President and Vice President during their debate prep.

• Following comments he made that “legitimate rape” rarely causes pregnancy and therefore is not a valid provision for allowing abortion, Representative Todd Akin (R-MO) announced that he will stay in the race for the Senate seat from Missouri. Akin has received numerous phone calls from members of his own party, including Gov. Mitt Romney and Rep. Paul Ryan, to withdraw from the race. As Akin did not step aside from the race prior to a 5 p.m. Tuesday, August 21 deadline, it would now take a court order to remove his name from the ballot should he change his mind. Additionally, under Missouri law, after September 25, his name would remain on the ballot regardless of his intentions.

“Text ‘GIVE’ to Obama: President’s campaign launches cellphone donation drive” by Dan Eggen in The Washington Post.

“Super PAC Contributions Top $300 Million, Most Goes To GOP Groups” by Paul Blumenthal in the Huffington Post.

California: “L.A. campaign finance overhaul scaled back by City Council members” in the Los Angeles Times.

New Jersey: “N.J. judge: Former Newark mayor violated campaign finance laws” by Phil Gregory in Newsworks New Jersey.