The Georgia Alliance for Ethics Reform, which includes members of Common Cause and Georgia Tea Party Patriots, is pushing for gift limits that would cap lobbyist spending on lawmakers at $100 in the hopes of curbing lobbyist influence of elected officials. The group’s reforms would also ban public officials and their family members from serving on the state ethics board or holding government contracts.

State Representative Tommy Smith says he is willing to sponsor the bill this session and is looking for other lawmakers to join him.

However, House Speaker David Ralston downplayed the need for more ethics legislation. Speaker Ralston believes the existing reporting requirements sufficiently limit lobbyist influence by keeping the public informed.

Photo of the Georgia State Capitol dome by connor.carey on Wikipedia.

Sebastian N. Giuliano, the former mayor of Middletown, Connecticut, has been chosen by the State Elections Enforcement Commission to serve as the agency’s executive director and general counsel.

The selection was announced Thursday night by commission chairman Stephen F. Cashman, but will not be formally approved until the commission’s January 18, 2012 meeting.

Giuliano was selected for the position from a field of 35 candidates. He is due to assume the duties of the position January 20, 2012.

Lobbying:

“Group pushes ethics reform in hopes of curbing lobbyist influence at Georgia Legislature” by Errin Haines (Associated Press) in The Republic.

Campaign Finance:

“Late Night: Stephen Colbert drops ‘super PAC’ to run for president” by Meredith Blake in the Los Angeles Times. (with a wink…)

“Super PACs are making their rich presence felt in 2012 campaigns” David Goldstein in the Sacramento Bee.

“Summary of Kansas Senate Campaign Finance Reports” in the Missouri News Horizon.

“The 20 Largest Campaign Donors in Rhode Island” by Dan McGowan on golocalProv.com.

“No action taken on Oklahoma’s campaign disclosure laws” by Michael McNutt in the Daily Oklahoman.

Ethics:

“John Edwards trial: Lawyers request for delay will be considered by judge” by The Associated Press on Politico.

“Prison for ex-Rep. Siljander: He aided terrorist-linked charity” by Matt Pearce in the Los Angeles Times.

The Campaign Legal Center, Democracy 21, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, the League of Women Voters for the U.S., and other groups are petitioning the White House in order to get President Obama to make new appointments to the Federal Election Commission, which they deem ineffective because of political division. The terms for five of the six commissioners have expired.

The groups plan to do this via the administration’s “We the People” online petitioning tool, for which they will need 25, 000 signatures for their petition will be officially considered.

Here is the coverage this afternoon of the breaking news issue:

“Watchdogs push Obama to make FEC appointments before election” by Alicia Cohn in The Hill.

“Advocates Again Press Obama to Name FEC Appointees” by Eliza Newlin Carney.

“Watchdogs to Obama: Fix the FEC” by Susan Crabtree in the Washington Times.

The 2012 Presidential Primary Calendar (ordered by date)

and the 2012 State and Presidential Primary and Caucus Dates (ordered by state).

Here is the announcement posted on their blog.

Florida: “Senate committee finalizes redistricting maps as Democrats split” Mary Ellen Klas in the Miami Herald.

“Democrats prepare for partisan redistricting debate” by Aaron Deslatte in the Orlando Sentinel.

Kentucky: “Panel approves state House redistricting plan over Republican protests” by Jack Brammer in the Lexington Herald-Leader.

North Carolina: “N.C. lawyers want redistricting challenges dismissed“by The Associated Press in the Greensboro News & Record.

Texas:“Republicans say Texas may need to hold two primaries” by Aman Batheja in the Star-Telegram.

“More Confusion in Redistricting Case” by Richard Whittaker in The Austin Chronicle.

West Virginia: “W.Va. redistricting deadline lifted, but election calendar looms” by Lawrence Messina (Associated Press) in the Charleston Gazette.

The Ethics Resource Center reports in a new study that four times as many employees of large corporations have seen illegal donations given to public officials.

According to an article in today’s edition of Politico: “Four percent of 4,600 private-sector employees surveyed this fall by the Ethics Resource Center said they witnessed improper contributions to campaigns and parties. By comparison, only 1 percent of respondents reported these transgressions in the group’s previous study, completed in 2009.”

For the full story, read “Ethics Study: More Employees Report Seeing Illegal Donations” by Janie Lorber in Politico.

Electronic filing for lobbyist reports will be available beginning with the report due February 15, 2012 covering the month of January 2012.

You can read the press release from the Office of the Secretary of State here.

Take a look at this news item on NCSL’s blog, The Thicket: “TVW Introduces SCOUT” by Jan Goehring.

According to the post: “TVW, the Washington state public affairs network, is offering an innovative service to citizens who want to follow public policy issues and the legislative process. This new tool, called SCOUT, allows the public to easily keep track of issues. SCOUT will track video and bill information and automatically send it to those who open a free account.”

You can find the link to TVW here, and find out more about SCOUT at this link.

Photo of the Washington State Capitol dome by Tradnor on Wikipedia.

NEW MEXICO: The federal district court in Albuquerque has issued a preliminary injunction against enforcement of state limits on financial contributions to be used in federal campaigns and for independent expenditures in state races.

The contribution-limits law, which took effect at the conclusion of the 2010 election cycle, limits contributions to non-statewide candidates for office to $2,300 per election from any entity except a political committee, which can give $5,000 to non-statewide candidates. It limits contributions to statewide candidates for office, political action committees and political parties to $5,000 per election from individuals and groups.

The preliminary injunction is not a definitive ruling tossing any of the limits, but it is a temporary stay against the enforcement of non-statewide and independent expenditure limits based on findings that the plaintiffs were likely to be successful in their challenge to those limits, that they faced irreparable damage if the injunction wasn’t granted, and that the injunction serves the public interest.

The injunction was widely anticipated in light of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United. Limits on contributions to candidates for state office and to groups intending to spend money on state races in coordination with candidates remain in place.

The stories take a look at We the People, the White House online petition platform and Data.gov, the site that offers raw, readable government data sets for use by the public.

• “Fewer online petitions posted to We the People website” by Joseph Marks on Nextgov.com.

• “Most Data.gov apps are built by government, not the public” by  Joseph Marks on Nextgov.com.

On Monday a bill passed the New Jersey Senate that would prohibit political fundraising by any candidate on any public property in the state.

The legislation has gone to the Assembly and if it is passed, it would have to be signed by Governor Chris Christie.

You can find the story in the article “N.J. Senate passes bill banning political fundraising on all public property” by Christopher Baxter in the Star-Ledger.

With text ads, graphics ads, and even YouTube videos at their disposal, SuperPACs have a powerful tool with Google’s AdWords’ search-based advertising platform as a way to get their messages out.

This article on techPresident explores how Google is gearing up for big ad sales and what this may mean for the 2012 election cycle. Be sure to read “Google’s Preparing for Super PAC Spending Online in 2012” by Sarah Lai Stirland.