Jeff Brindle, Executive Director of the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC), has renewed efforts calling for campaign finance reform, specifically concerning political contributions from contractors.

In a press release detailing public contractors’ political contributions for 2011, ELEC’s analysis concludes that while contractors are making fewer contributions directly to candidates, they are making substantially more contributions to PACs.

Director Brindle states, “In some cases, contractors may be evading the intent of pay-to-play restrictions and contribution limits by giving indirectly through these PACs. That is why the Commission has recommended making it harder for one candidate or group to establish multiple, affiliated PACs.”

Director Brindle also reiterates the Commission’s recommendation to adopt a single statewide pay-to-play law. Previous LobbyComply blog posts discusses the earlier recommendations can be found here and here.

“State Dept. competition expands horizons of social networking” by Jared Serbu on Federal News Radio.

“5 Best Practices for Open Local Government” by Noelle Knell in Government Technology.

“Study: Social Media Has Mixed Impact on Elections” by John P. Mello, Jr. in PC World.

“Government Dashboards – Measuring Performance” by Vivienne Kamphaus on Govloop.

“What the Feds are Twittering Right Now” from Nextgov.

New York City, NY: “City to Install ‘Smart Screens’ in Some Public Phone Booths” by Matt Flegenheimer in The New York Times.

“White House abandons push for federal contractors to disclose political giving” by Mike Lillis in The Hill.

“F.C.C. Pushes for Web Site on TV Political Ad Spending” by Brian Stelter in The New York Times.

“Limits on Lobbyists as Hosts? Simply Unworkable, They Say” by Robert Pear in The New York Times.

“FEC Ruling Leaves Ad Uncertainty” by Eliza Newlin Carney in Roll Call.

Arkansas: “Campaign Finance Reform in Arkansas Enters a New Phase” by KARK 4 News.

Maryland: “Lobbyist scores a ‘scoop’ of sorts” by Michael Dresser in The Baltimore Sun.

National:

Boycotts Hitting Group behind ‘Stand Your Ground’

GE, J&J among Firms to Give More Lobbying Detail

Federal:

As Women’s Issues Become More Prominent, Men Dominate Super PAC Funders

Campaign Donor Advertising Rule Invalidated by U.S. Judge

GAO: Lobbyist disclosure compliance ‘similar’ compared to prior years

From the States and Municipalities:

Arizona

Rep. Patterson to Keep Seat amid Ethics Inquiry

California

Campaign Treasurer Kinde Durkee Admits $7-Million Theft

California

Figure in Coliseum Corruption Case Is in ‘Jungles of Brazil’

Georgia

Lawmaker Returns $800 after Expenses Questioned

Illinois

Blagojevich’s Chief of Staff Gets 10 Days in Prison

Massachusetts

Timothy Cahill Indicted in Corruption Case

Mississippi

Political Stress Erupts at Capitol

New Jersey

Some of Christie’s Biggest Bills Match Model Legislation from D.C. Group Called ALEC

New York

State Ethics Board Won’t Disclose Record of Hiring Cuomo Aide

Wisconsin

Recall Elections Ordered for Walker, Kleefisch, 4 GOP Senators

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.

Attorney General Dustin McDaniel certified the language of a proposed initiated act regarding campaign finance and ethics law. The measure would prohibit direct corporate and union contributions to individual campaigns. Currently, corporations and unions are able to directly contribute at the same $2,000 level as individuals.

The measure would also ban lawmakers from accepting gifts of any value from lobbyists. Legislators can currently receive gifts, food, or other items valued up to $100 from a lobbyist.

The group supporting the measure, Regnat Populus, must gather at least 62,507 signatures by July 6 to qualify for the November ballot.

Electronic filing of returns will be required by all consultant and in-house lobbyists in the Canadian province of Manitoba beginning April 30. The Lobbyists Registration Act, originally passed in 2008, comes into force only this year upon proclamation.

The Act outlines the registration and reporting requirements for individuals undertaking efforts to lobby the province, defines lobbyists as consultant or in-house lobbyists, establishes deadlines for filing returns, and lists which officials of the Manitoba government are covered.

User IDs and passwords will be required to file returns electronically, but will not be available for lobbyists to set up until April 30. There will be no fees for filing returns.

Penalties for violating the act can include a fine of up to $25,000.

“Twitter, Facebook now tools for Big Brother” by David Saleh Rauf in Politico.

“Blending Governance and Twitter” by Chrystia Freeland in The New York Times.

“Social media as election predictor? Not so fast” by Puja Murgai on Politico.

“A Road Map Emerges for State Digital Preservation” by Noelle Knell in Government Technology.

“Louisville government rated among top 10 social media cities” by Thomas McAdam in the Louisville City Hall Examiner.

This articles talks about the trend toward tagging objects in the physical world in order to track it all with the internet and mobile devices: “Internet of Things Comes to Government” from Government Technology.

How does your state measure up in providing high speed internet access? “States Race to Improve Broadband Speeds” by Mike Maciag in Government Technology.

The State Department held a social media contest where the participants were given the task of finding fake jewel thieves. MIT’s Team Crowdscanner was the winner: “MIT team thinks outside the box to snag social media prize” by Andrew Lapin in Nextgov.

Here is a Govloop discussion “What Are Your Tech Needs for Teleworking?” posted by Pat Fiorenza.

We are the leading authority and exclusive information source on legislation and regulations surrounding campaign finance and political contributions; state, federal, and municipal lobbying; and procurement lobbying.

Contact us to learn how conveniently our services will allow you to say “I Comply” for your compliance activities.

Be sure to visit stateandfed.com and if you have any questions, you can contact us at 330-761-9960, or info@stateandfed.com.

1797-1801   John Adams*

1825-1829   John Quincy Adams*

1837-1841   Martin Van Buren*

1841-1841   William Henry Harrison

1841-1845   John Tyler**

1845-1849   James Polk

1849-1850   Zachary Taylor

1850-1853   Millard Fillmore**

1853-1857   Franklin Pierce

1857-1861   James Buchanan

1865-1869   Andrew Johnson

1877-1881   Rutherford Hayes

1881-1881   James Garfield

1881-1885   Chester A. Arthur

1885-1889   Grover Cleveland ****

1889-1893   Benjamin Harrison*

1909-1913   William Taft*

1921-1923   Warren Harding

1929-1933   Herbert Hoover*

1961-1963   John Kennedy

1974-1977   Gerald Ford**

1977-1981   Jimmy Carter*

1989-1993   George H.W. Bush*

2016-2020   Donald J. Trump*****

2020-2024   Joseph R. Biden***

* Ran for re-election unsuccessfully

** John Tyler, Millard Fillmore, Andrew Johnson, Chester Arthur and Gerald Ford were never elected President.

*** Pulled out of the 2024 November General Election and his VP Kamala Harris ran in his place.

**** Ran for re-election unsuccessfully – 1889.  Then ran successfully in 1897.

*****  Ran for re-election unsuccessfully – 2020 .  Then ran successfully in 2024.

Updated:  November 6, 2024

The 2010 ethics law increased disclosure requirements for lobbyists, banned campaign committee-to-campaign committee transfers, and gave greater investigative powers to the Missouri Ethics Commission. The court affirmed a circuit court decision holding all provisions of Senate Bill 844, except those relating to procurement, to be in violation of article III, section 21 of the Missouri Constitution, which prohibits changes in the original purpose of a bill. Senate Bill 844 violated this provision by being introduced as an act relating to contracts for purchasing but being passed as an act relating to ethical administration.

Reaction to the decision has been swift and urgent. On January 14, 2012, the same day the opinion was released, the Missouri Ethics Commission stated in a press release that the court’s decision “deals a blow to the Commission’s ability to enforce and administer the law.” Several lawmakers and Governor Jay Nixon quickly called for bills to reinstate the voided provisions. Representative Jason Kander sponsored a bill (House Bill 1756) filed the day after the decision that would reinstate the voided provisions.

Prior to the decision, Kander also sponsored a bill (House Bill 1080) that would go beyond Senate Bill 844 to prohibit gifts from lobbyists and limit campaign contributions. Senate Bills 546 and 825 propose contribution limits. Senate Bill 826, filed by Senator Crowell, would reenact the voided provisions of Senate Bill 844. Currently, Missouri does not have any campaign contribution limits and is the only state to allow lawmakers to receive both unlimited campaign contributions and unlimited gifts from registered lobbyists.

Not all of Missouri’s lawmakers are ready for change. House Majority Leader Tim Jones believes an ethics bill would have a better chance after this year’s elections. Jones notes that both Kander and the governor are proposing limits that will go into effect after their own campaigns benefit from the status quo.  To date, no new ethics bill has been passed in Missouri, by any name.

Image of the Seal of the Missouri Senate by Tom Lemmens on Wikipedia.

Q.  I am a registered lobbyist who would like to attend a charitable golf tournament.  Are there specific restrictions or requirements for this type of event?

A. Mere attendance at a charitable golf tournament or similar event is not typically restricted.

However, this activity may be prohibited or subject to disclosure requirements depending on the circumstances.

Being a registered lobbyist does not hinder your ability to donate independently to a 501(c)(3) organization.  However, in some instances, your attendance may be requested because the event is associated with a public official.  If an official asks you to attend or sponsor the charitable event, this may be considered making a contribution “at the behest of” the official, depending on the laws in your jurisdiction.

If a charitable contribution is made “at the behest of” a public official, there are two considerations: permissibility and disclosure.  First, is the charitable contribution permissible?  A jurisdiction may consider the charitable contribution to be a gift to the public official who requested it.  For example, Massachusetts considers a charitable contribution in this scenario to be a prohibited gift.  Even if the charitable contribution is a permissible gift, there may be a limit as to how much a lobbyist may donate.

Second, if a lobbyist may make the charitable contribution, is it disclosed on a lobbying report?  In Illinois, these charitable contributions are not reportable on a lobbying report.  In California, the official who made the request of the lobbyist must disclose the charitable contribution.  However, this type of expenditure is reportable on a lobbying report in Connecticut.

If you are a registered lobbyist, check with the applicable state regulatory agency before making a charitable contribution “at the behest of” an official.

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.

There still might be a few of you out there who remember before BCRA and HLOGA, when we only needed to submit a quarter of a page card as our federal lobbying report. Those were the days, my friend!

These days you need to clear your schedule so you can:

1. Compile and track activity in accordance with your organization’s needs;
2. Conduct extensive outreach and follow up to capture applicable expenses/costs;
3. Obtain salaries of all employees engaged in lobbying activities—whether registered or not;
4. Respond to questions about reporting requirements;
5. Provide definitions for determining applicability;
6. Institute tracking mechanisms for Issues and Agency contacts;
7. Coordinate with outside consultants to ensure accurate reporting;
8. Coordinate LD-203 filing process;
9. Prepare documentation in case of an audit; and
10. File the report.

What??? You are not doing this? You are guesstimating! Tell me that is not the case.

If you are in DC you have probably seen me with Rebecca South, Federal Compliance Associate. She has created an amazing program to help the top Fortune 500 companies insure timely and accurate compliance for the LD-2 and LD-203 reports. If we can help alleviate your quarterly headaches, please feel free to contact her at rsouth@stateandfed.com.

Until next month, remember the LD-2 isn’t the only report due in April. According to our Key Dates chart, there are 112 lobbying/employer reports due in this country’s states, counties, and cities.

A bill requiring lobbyists to disclose all legislation they are trying to influence will be introduced into the Delaware Senate, possibly as soon as this week.

Senate Bill 185, as proposed by Senator Anthony J. DeLuca and endorsed by Governor Jack Markell and members of both parties of the General Assembly, mandates lobbyists report to the Public Integrity Commission the identity, by number, of each bill, resolution, or regulation for which the lobbyist has tried to promote, advocate, influence, or oppose. Disclosure of the name of the employer on whose behalf such direct communication occurred is also required.

Additionally, lobbying relating to any subject contained within any budget appropriation bill or bond and capital improvement bill must also include identification of the specific subject of the direct communication. Reports will be due within five business day after the date the first direct communication with a relevant public official regarding bills, resolutions, and regulations takes place. The bill provides for electronic filing of registration and reporting with the Public Integrity Commission.

The Commission will make the reports available online in a manner which can be easily reviewed by bill, resolution, regulation, lobbyist, or employer.