• The rise of the digital age has transformed the meaning of open government – Open Government: A New Window on the World
• As demands for transparency and amount of data grow for government agencies, budgets shrink – What’s in Store for Government IT in 2012?
• How much is a Twitter follower worth? Man sued for $340,000 for company’s 17,000 Twitter followers – Lawsuit May Determine Who Owns a Twitter Account

Federal:

FEC Quashes New Disclosure Rules

Super PACs: The bad cops of 2012

From the States and Municipalities:

Alaska

Pebble Opponent Fined for Flying Candidates to Villages

Arizona

Arizona Prosecutor Won’t Charge Politicians Who Took Free Tickets, Trips from Fiesta Bowl

California

California Lobbyists Write Checks to Legislators Running for Congress

Colorado

Gessler, Lawmakers Clash on Campaign Finance Deadlines

Connecticut

Draft Report Renews Fears about Watchdogs’ Autonomy

District of Columbia

D.C. Council Overhauls Ethics Laws

Illinois

Donor to Madison County Judge Says Contribution Looks Bad, But Isn’t

Kentucky

Ex-Lobbyist Jack Abramoff to Speak at Kentucky Legislative Ethics Session

Maryland

Baltimore County Council Scales Back, Passes Ethics Reform Bill

Utah

Utah Lawmaker Resigning Due to Fundraising Ban

Washington

Firm Agrees to Big Fine over Tactics in Political Campaign

Wisconsin

State Elections Board Should Be Replaced, Assembly GOP Leader Says

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.

Every year since 1984, PNC Bank has launched a version of “The True Cost of Christmas”, the bank’s annual Christmas Price Index. The 2011 report takes the viewer through a Winter Wonderland with interactive train stations that allow the viewer to find the different gifts of the “12 Days of Christmas.”

If you stop at the Inflation Station, the price of every gift since 1998 is provided, as well as the change in price that occurred from last year. The prices range from $58 for eight maids-a-milking to $6,294.03 for nine ladies dancing.

The Christmas Price Index hit a record $24,263 this year, but that isn’t even the “true cost of Christmas.” The true cost of Christmas includes a total of 364 gifts spread out over 12 days as described in the Christmas carol, which this year would cost you $101,119.84 – of course a gift to your true love is definitely worth that, right?

The Atlantic created a graph of the development of the true cost of Christmas, and it shows that excluding a steep decline in 1994, the “true price of Christmas” has been steadily rising and reaching record highs nearly every year. How much will you have to pay for your true love in 5 years?!

Even though I doubt many people are going to spend that amount of money to recreate the “12 days of Christmas” for someone, it is fun to see how a Christmas Carol that has been around for hundreds of years applies to the 21st century.

Happy Holidays everyone!

We have many things for which we are thankful at State and Federal Communications. Before the day gets away from us, we would like to thank you for following Lobby Comply Blog.

We have had a great year and look forward to giving our very best service to our clients in 2012. Health and happiness to you and your families.

From all of us at State and Federal Communications, we wish you Happy Holidays!

If things are running slowly in your office this afternoon, don’t miss out on this fun photo slideshow from the National Conference of State Legislatures: “Holidays at state capitols around the country”

Here is their description on the NCSL website: “Legislative staffers from across the nation shared their capitol Christmas decorations with NCSL. You can view the entire slideshow in full screen mode on NCSL’s Flickr homepage.”

Photo of holiday ornament by Kris De Curtis on Wikipedia.

Below is a video released by NASA that shows the pattern of snowfall across the globe every month for a 10 year period beginning in February of 2000 and ending last month.

The observations were collected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite.

To learn more, read this article by Samantha Murphy from Mashable.

Many people enjoy killing time by getting on YouTube and watching the latest viral videos for a quick laugh. Andrew Kaczynski, on the other hand, enjoys digging into C-SPAN’s online archives and posting his favorite videos onto his YouTube channel, AKaczynski1, many of them which are embarrassing and problematic for current Republican presidential hopefuls, such as Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich.

This week’s Highlighted Site Of The Week features the YouTube channel of Andrew Kaczynski. This 22 year-old college student has made recent headlines by posting videos he discovered like this video of a lecure Mitt Romney gave about John Kerry and the art of flip-flopping that could easily be used to describe himself today.

As the Republican presidential hopefuls campaign to become their party’s presidential candidate, a forgotten video can create an embarrassing and difficult obstacle to overcome.

Andrew Kaczynski currently has 141 videos posted on his channel. That is a lot of forgotten footage that would likely never have been noticed if not for his unique hobby. While Kaczynski describes himself as a moderate Republican, he admits he is more concerned with scoring page views than gaining political points for his party of choice. This provides more enjoyment for the rest of us!

This article provides more information about Kaczynski.

Happy Holiday!

Photo of Newt Gingrich by Gage Skidmore on Wikipedia.

Photo of Mitt Romney by c.berlet/publiceye.org on Wikipedia.

For full news coverage of the group’s statement, read “Trade group says Abramoff shouldn’t teach ethics” by Catalina Camia in USA Today.

According to the article: “To have a state-run, government ethics commission give this ex-con a paid platform sends the public the wrong message about the Kentucky Legislature,” Howard Marlowe, president of the American League of Lobbyists, said in a statement. “I doubt that many of the lawmakers will want to have their picture taken with this crook.”

Here is the League’s press release on Scribd.

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK:  The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has dismissed a challenge to the city’s campaign finance laws.

The laws which prohibit corporate contributions to political campaigns and require candidates to disclose contributions from people and groups that do business with the city were found to not violate constitutional free speech rights and to appropriately address the risk of corruption.

The plaintiffs argued that the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission made the laws unconstitutional. The Court rejected that argument, finding that Citizens United applies only to independent corporate expenditures, and not to contributions limits such as those enacted by New York City.

Photo of the Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse by Americasroof on Wikipedia.

“In the latest act of online political sabotage, individuals who type newtgingrich.com into their browsers will be directed to one of a number of sites that are embarrassing to Republican primary candidate Newt Gingrich” – Newt Gingrich Attacked By Digital Vandals

“The White House is taking its fight over payroll tax to Twitter with a campaign using the hashtag #40dollars that asks what you can buy with that amount” – White House Uses #40dollars Twitter Campaign to Influence Payroll Tax Debate

“Using cloud technology for elections reporting and results can also save governments money” – Elections Results Websites Heading to Cloud

“The federal government is on pace to close at least 1,200 of its 3,100 data centers by the end of 2015” – Federal CIO: 1,200 Data Centers to Close by 2015

“Proceedings in the Iowa House will be streamed live over the Internet when lawmakers begin the legislative session next month” – Iowa House Action Will be Streamed on Internet

Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich, and President Obama are especially successful at utilizing Facebook – Campaigns Capitalize on Facebook

Enjoy!

We had lunch at the Tangier restaurant and then headed back to the office for more festivities.

Days in advance, the staff made the office look merry by decorating their cubes. On the day of the party we held a cube decorating contest and, as you can see, we have some true artisans in our midst. Santa showed up, as well as reindeer, penguins, the North Pole, and even Lucy van Pelt’s counseling booth. It is amazing what can be done with post-it notes, lights,  and cotton batting!

Next, we pitted the Compliance, Research, and IT departments against each other in contests requiring feats of skill, endurance, and great courage. A political button quiz was followed by stacking apples, blowing balloons, building chapstick architecture (with chopsticks, of course), and a tissue-pulling contest. Much was at stake for each department, but the Compliance Department came out the winner of the day.

My personal favorite event was the baking contest with an amazing array of sweets. The pictures speak for themselves. There was, of course, the Herculean task of tasting all of those fine creations, but we the staff managed just fine.

Our holiday Giving Tree was full, with the gifts going to the Battered Women’s Shelter of Summit County.

We were thankful for the chance to get together for a party. It has been a good year.

Q:  I’m a registered lobbyist in many different states.   I’ve noticed some states have badge requirements.  Am I really required to wear a badge? 

A:  The 2012 registration season is upon us.  As legislative sessions commence in various states, it is important to take stock of your various lobbyist registration requirements.   As you probably know, it is important to timely file your registration renewal.  However, there are other auxiliary requirements you must mind before you step onto capital grounds, such as your jurisdiction’s training and badge requirements.

The short answer to your question is a resounding yes—in some jurisdictions, wearing your badge is required to engage in lobbying activity.  In some states, you are unable to complete your registration, or file lobbyist disclosure reports unless you pick up your name badge.   Some states may require a personal visit to have your picture taken.  For example, in Georgia, upon initial registration, you must visit the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission to have your photo taken for your badge.  For quick reference, here is a list of states where badges and/or name tags are required:

• Connecticut
• Georgia
• Kansas
• Maine
• Missouri
• North Dakota
• New Hampshire
• New Jersey
• Nevada
• Pennsylvania
• Rhode Island
• South Dakota
• Wyoming

However, in some jurisdictions, although wearing a badge is encouraged, it is not absolutely required.  These states include Colorado, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, and West Virginia.

You can directly submit questions for this feature, and we will select those most appropriate and answer them here. Send your questions to: marketing@stateandfed.com.

(We are always available to answer questions from clients that are specific to your needs, and we encourage you to continue to call or e-mail us with questions about your particular company or organization. As always, we will confidentially and directly provide answers or information you need.) Our replies to your questions are not legal advice. Instead, these replies represent our analysis of laws, rules, and regulations.

Lobbying:

“Lobbying a bust in AT&T T-Mobile bid” by Tony Romm in Politico.

“Not all Missouri lawmakers accept gifts from lobbyists” by Jake Wagman in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Campaign Finance

“OUR VIEW: Fortunately, a judge’s ruling last week does not gut the state’s ban on money transfers between political action committees” by the Birmingham News editorial board.

Government Ethics:

“Blagojevich attorneys begin appeals process” by The Associated Press in NWI Times.

“Secrecy cloaks new [NY] ethics watchdog panel” by Jimmy Vielkind in the Albany Times Union.

Redistricting:

“The Texas Redistricting Case Explained”  by Karl Kurtz on NCSL’s blog The Thicket.

Gov 2.0:

“Agencies question value of social media” by Alice Lipowicz in Federal Computer Week.

As the presidential primaries are quickly approaching, alleged threats have surfaced from the “hacktivist” group Anonymous that some worry could jeopardize the caucus results.

Anonymous is a group known for its cyber-attacks on companies and agencies which it deems corrupt. The alleged threat reported by the Associated Press surfaced in a YouTube video and targets the Iowa contest.

“We are calling on you to occupy the campaign offices of presidential headquarters … and peacefully shut down the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses on Jan. 3,” the voice in the video says.

These threats which target Iowa are putting other states who are holding early primaries, such as South Carolina who is holding primaries on January 21st, on the alert.

“Everybody in the computer security world is aware of [Anonymous] and its capabilities. Their threats are not taken lightly,” said Chris Whitmire, a public information officer with the South Carolina Election Commission.

In a world that is becoming more and more reliant on web based programs and tools, security on the web seems to be getting worse instead of better, and every program seems to have a loophole that hackers can use to their advantage.

Read this article from The Hill to learn more about the steps South Carolina is taking to protect their primary from hackers.