The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit has invalidated a Washington state law that prevented individuals from making contributions of more than $5,000 to PACs supporting ballot measures during the three weeks prior to an election.

The blackout period on contributions was challenged in a lawsuit filed by Family PAC, a political action committee that was formed to oppose Washington’s domestic partnership law.

While Family PAC was successful on the merits in challenging the blackout period, it was unsuccessful in its challenge to laws requiring PACs to report the name and address of anyone who contributes more than $25, and the occupation and employer of those who make contributions in excess of $100.

Thursday’s 4-1 decision by the Indiana Supreme Court upholds the Indiana law that restricts automated robocalls.

The court determined that requiring a live operator did not violate the right to free speech.

View the original press release, “State supreme court upholds Indiana robocall law” from the Associated Press.

You can find Politico’s coverage in “Super PACs go stealth through first contests” by Dave Levinthal and Kenneth P. Vogel.

According to the article, some in the Federal Election Commission are calling for a change of the rules to allow for greater disclosure:

The disclosure rules may need to be updated to reflect the rise of super PACs as driving forces in presidential politics, two Democratic FEC commissioners suggested in interviews with POLITICO. “Super PACs are functioning as the alter egos of the campaigns, and their activity was clearly not anticipated when the statutes were put in place,” said Ellen Weintraub, a Democratic FEC appointee. The commission, she said, “should reconsider the regulations about caucuses and disclosure or at least take a hard look at them.”

10)  “Hamilton Sentenced in Bribery, Extortion Case” – from The Washington Post on August 12.

9) “City Hall Plotters Accused in Gun-Smuggling Scheme” – from The Wall Street Journal on March 14.

8)  “Blagojevich Hit with 14-Year Prison Sentence” – from The Chicago Tribune on December 9.

7)  “Leslie Johnson Gets One-Year Sentence” – from The Washington Post on December 9.

6) “Second Bribe Case for Lawmaker Just Acquitted” – from The New York Times on November 29.

5) “Ex-Judge Gets 17 1/2 Years in Pa. Kickbacks Case” – from The Seattle Times on September 23.

4) “Disgraced DiMasi Is Given Eight Years” – from The Boston Globe on September 10.

3) “Casino Developer Gilley Pleads Guilty” – from  The Tuscaloosa News (Associated Press) on April 21.

2) “Weiner Resigns in Chaotic Final Scene” – from The New York Times on June 16.

And here it is, the number one most egregious news item of 2011 …

1) “Sen. Ensign, Under Ethics Inquiry, Admits No Wrongdoing But Says He Will Resign” – from The Washington Post on April 21.

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.

It is a time when the average citizen taking action and working to get their voice is heard is becoming increasingly common, and more and more tools are being created that help organize and mobilize such actions.

This week’s Highlighted Site Of The Week is Change.org, a site launched in 2007 which offers an effective way that people can engage in social issues. Anyone with a cause can log in, create and sign petitions, mobilize support, and cause change.

The site’s founder, Ben Rattray, says that Change.org aims to

Transform social activism by serving as the central platform that connects likeminded people, whatever their interests, and enables them to exchange information, share ideas, and collectively act to address the issues they care about.

Once someone creates a petition for their cause, Change.org may connect these advocates with nonprofits that work towards a similar goal, and in doing that they are making a dialogue possible between the two groups, mobilizing communities in a way what was not before possible.

Change.org has already contributed to many victories such as Bank of America dropping their debit card fee, JCPenny compensating families of Bangladash worker’s who were killed in the 2011 fire, and countless other victories for a variety of different causes.

Lately it seems like causes born from a grassroots movement are achieving success every day, and Change.org has made this easier to achieve.

Have a great weekend and a Happy New Year!

Since this is the last week of the year, I wondered which blog posts received the most visits, so I ran a content report for the past year. I thought I would share with you what I found. Here are the most-read blog posts of 2011:

The top spot goes to …

1. Highlighted Site Of The Week – All The Presidents’ Money by Emily Kesler

followed by

2. Wisconsin Special Election Set for May 3, 2011 by Nathan Shaker
3. Highlights from the NCSL Legislative Summit 2011 by Joe May
4. Corporations Must Disclose Independent Expenditures in Maryland by George Ticoras
5. Ask the Experts – Using Federal PAC Funds to Contribute to State Candidates by Nola Werren. This one actually was written in October 2010, but was still popular reading material in 2011.

Thank you for following Lobby Comply, and we’ll see you in 2012!

Even something as small as following a candidate on Twitter or liking a candidate’s Facebook page could make someone feel more connected to that candidate and sway them to cast a vote in their direction. While a large portion of voters still claim to be undecided about who they are voting for in the upcoming Republican primaries, this is what Republican candidates are hoping to accomplish by dedicating so many resources to keeping their social media outlets up to date and engaging.

As the Iowa and other early caucuses are coming ever closer, GOP presidential hopefuls are turning more and more to their Twitter, Facebook, and other social media tools to get their messages out to voters and to gather volunteers.

After the success of President Obama’s grassroots social media based campaign back in 2008, social media has been an increasingly important tool that many consider necessary for the success of a political campaign, a fact which nearly all Republican presidential hopefuls have grasped and acted upon.

Read about all the ways the Republican presidential candidates have been utilizing social media in “Republicans Shake More Hands Using Social Media” from the New York Times.

Spending in Michigan’s upcoming Congressional and state Supreme Court elections could be near $100 million in 2012.

The decision of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United case in 2010 which made it possible for special interest groups to spend unlimited funds supporting thier candidates of choice has caused an explosion of campaign related spending that is becoming more apparent while more and more campaigns are underway.

Now that those who have large amounts of money can freely support campaigns with any amount of money, money from special interests is expected to make up a large proportion of the overall total campaign spending in the upcoming elections.

Read this article by Angela Wittrock to learn more.

The Washington State Redistricting Commission has released a plan for a new map of congressional districts for the state. It must be approved by the Commission by January 1, 2012.

For full news coverage read:

“New Washington map creates competitive district” by Aaron Blake in the Washington Post.

“Radical changes in U.S. House district boundaries” by Joel Connelly in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

“Deal reached on new Washington congressional districts” by Mike Baker in the Seattle Times.

A rule issued Tuesday, December 27th by Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler requires candidates who plan on being in Colorado’s 2012 primary election to begin filing biweekly campaign-finance reports January 30th. This rule was issued with a statement saying that the Secretary of State hopes that the issue will be taken up by the General Assembly when they convene.

After the primary date was moved earlier this year from August to June by the General Assembly, Gessler altered the filing deadlines, initially adopting rules that would require biweekly reporting to begin next September and until then, reports to be filed either quarterly or monthly.

State lawmakers argued that Gessler didn’t have the authority to change the reporting schedule, and this month the Legal Services Committee voted to not include this rule on the grounds that Gessler had overstepped prompting this issuance of the new rule.

The rule issued Tuesday says candidates are not required to file retroactive reports covering July through December 2011.

To learn more, read this article by Sara Burnett.

A new Facebook application called Fanitics, expected to be functioning at the start of the new year, will allow users to compete against others with their fantasy political teams in a similar way as they would compete in fantasy sports games.

Fanatic’s creator, Todd Bouldin explained,

“It’s a lot like fantasy football. You create a league and friends populate it with teams. Your team is populated with politicians who gain points based on a variety of metrics from fundraising, media mentions and public appearances.”

Once you create your team, you can switch out politicians as you wish. Your team can include presidential candidates, governors, and House and Senate members whose actions are all tracked by the game.

Although, the game will probably be utilized more by political buffs early on, this game offers a great learning experience and tool to keep up on local politicians to all participants.

To learn more, read this article.

Ohio Ethics Commission Chair Ben Rose has asked Governor John Kasich not to reappoint him to the Commission in 2012.

Rose, who was first appointed to the Commission in 2006, has been elected Chair during each of his last three years.

In making his request, Rose cited desires to become involved in endeavors where a conflict of interest may have been previously raised due to his Commission membership and to spend more time with his family as reasons for his decision.

Rose, whose term expires January 1, 2012, has indicated a willingness to remain on the Commission for a reasonable period of time after the expiration of his appointment until a successor is appointed, if permitted.

California State Senator Leland Yee has formally announced plans to introduce legislation to raise the lobbyist registration fees upon commencement of the 2012 legislative session.

The money raised by the increased fees would be used to finance maintenance and upgrades to CAL-ACCESS, the state transparency database for lobbying and campaign finance filings. CAL-ACCESS has been down since the end of November.

Governor Nathan Deal of Georgia delivered writs of election today setting February 7, 2012 as the date for special elections to fill vacancies in House District 60 and House District 107.

The election for House District 60 will occur in portions of Clayton, DeKalb and Fulton Counties.

The election for House District 107 will occur in portions of Gwinnett and Walton Counties. The runoff election, if needed, will be March 6, 2012.