State and Federal Communications is proud to be one of the sponsors of the Ohio Birthday Reception in Washington D.C.! The grand event will take place tonight at the Library of Congress.

Elizabeth Bartz, the company’s President and CEO, will be in attendance.

California: “Former Gov. Schwarzenegger faces fines for campaign violations” by Patrick McGreevy in the Los Angeles Times.

District of Columbia: “Raids target home and office of Gray campaign figure” by Mike DeBonis and Nikita Stewart in The Washington Post.

Photo of the Vince Gray for Mayor group courtesy of Jrrhet on Wikipedia.

“Can social media predict election outcomes?” by Jon Swartz in USA Today.

“Twitter and The Countdown To Super Tuesday” by Shea Bennett on All Twitter.

“Romney to Win Republican Nomination, Facebook Says” by Kate Knibbs in Mobiledia.

“Facebook users not talking about Rick Santorum (infographic)” by Emil Protalinski on ZDNet.

“Will Romney’s Facebook fans help win Super Tuesday?” by Athima Chansanchai on MSNBC’s Digital Life.

“Santorum’s Facebook Fans Silent Before Super Tuesday” by Jennifer Moire on All Facebook.

Federal: “Biden hires former lobbyist” by T.W. Farnam in The Washington Post.

Federal: “Abramoff says his corrupting influence reached into the media” by Jordy Yager in The Hill.

California: “Record $287M paid to Calif. lobbyists in 2010” by The Associated Press in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Georgia: “Yarbrough: Lawmakers just don’t see need for lobbying reform,” an opinion piece by Dick Yarbrough in the Athens Banner-Herald.

Michigan: “Lobbying in Capitol’s hallways is one business flourishing in Michigan” by Peter Luke in Michigan Live.

The 2013 Federal Budget proposed by President Obama would remove provisions put in the Fiscal Year 2012 National Defense Authorization Act which prohibit federal agencies from requiring the disclosure of political contributions and expenditures from vendors bidding on federal contracts.

The prohibition was inserted into the 2012 Act as a response to a draft executive order which was leaked in the spring of last year. The executive order would have required disclosure of campaign contributions and political expenditures by bidders of federal contracts.

“The White House, contrary to the intent of Congress, is apparently still trying to advance a policy that would inject politics into the federal contracting process instead of focusing on promoting competition and best value in contracting,” said U.S. Senator Susan Collins in a minority press release from the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs.

Even with the current prohibition of disclosure from bidders, some groups are urging the President to require federal contractors disclose their political contributions after the bidding process is completed and a federal contract is awarded.

A brief review of this issue can be found here.

“Campaigns, Super PACs spend $7.6 million on Michigan primary ads” by Kathleen Gray in the Detroit Free Press.

“FEC’s bad rap getting worse” by Robin Bravender in Politico.

“Super PACS Target Congressional Races” by Eliza Newlin Carney in Roll Call.

“Super Tuesday ad spending nearly tops $10 million” by Beth Fouhy in The Associated Press.

“Super PACs Fuel a Race to the Bottom” by Albert R. Hunt in the New York Times.

“The Campaign Spendageddon That Already Happened” by Adam Sorensen in TIME.

Legislators have introduced bills to remove limitations on the amount of money they can accept from PACs.  Senate Bill 3645 and companion House Bill 3281, remove the aggregate limitations on PAC donations to candidates.  The bills also remove the reporting requirements for large contributions made within 10 days of an election and remove an existing prohibition on insurance companies making campaign contributions.

Senate Speaker Pro Tempore Bo Watson, who introduced the senate bill, has stated the bill is a logical follow through to Senate Bill 1915 enacted last year that authorized direct corporate contributions to state candidates and treats corporations as if they were PACs for reporting purposes.

National:

Wealthier People More Likely To Lie or Cheat, Study Says

Federal:

K Street Democrats Warn Clients

Romney and Obama Super-PAC Backers Also Spent Big Dollars on Lobbying

Two Ads Sired Five Years Apart Spark Fight over Election Rules

From the States and Municipalities:

District of Columbia

Elections Board Backs Initiative to Ban Corporate Campaign Giving

Florida

Ethics Commission Votes to Restrict Doling Out of Free Tickets to Politicians

Florida

State Rep. Richard Steinberg Resigns over Stalker-Like Text Messages

Illinois

Relatives of Lobbyists, Campaign Donors Got Lawmakers’ Help to Enter U of I

Maine

Justices Shun Appeal of Group that Fought Maine Gay Marriage

Maryland

Baltimore Co. Public Ethics Law Falls Short of State Standards

Maryland

Garagiola’s Lobbying Work Wasn’t Included on Maryland Ethics Forms from 2001 to 2003

Montana

Judge Blocks More Montana Campaign Finance Laws

New Mexico

Lap-Dance Extortion Details Revealed

Oklahoma

Judge in Mike Morgan Trial Drops All of Case against Oklahoma Lobbyist, Part of Case against Attorney

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 Nebraska Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments concerning the state’s “fair fight” campaign finance law on Wednesday, March 7, 2012.

The Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission voted unanimously in August to stop enforcement of the 1992 law aimed at leveling the playing field in state political races following a United States Supreme Court decision concerning the state of Arizona where a similar law was deemed unconstitutional.

Under the law, candidates could qualify for “fair fight” money from the state if they adhered to voluntary spending limits and their opponent had exceeded such limits.

A federal court has pushed back Texas’s primary date from April 3 to May 29.

Additionally, the Texas general primary runoff election has also changed to July 31 from June 5.

A three judge panel from the US District Court for the Western District of Texas San Antonio Division, having entered redistricting plans for the 2012 elections for the US House of Representatives, the Texas House of Representatives and the Texas State Senate, found it necessary to make certain adjustments to the election schedule. The court’s order, issued March 1, stipulates various other changes of filing dates and deadlines for candidates and for voting activities concerning elections of federal, state, county, and local offices held in the state.

The court order also mandates that for the 2012 elections to the Texas House and Senate, a person must be a continuous resident of the district the person seeks to represent from April 9, 2012 until the date of the General Election.

The court’s order can be found, via the website Texas Redistricting.

The election took place at WASRG’s Annual Membership Meeting & Luncheon on February 9. Congratulations, Rebecca!

According to their site, “The Washington Area State Relations Group (WASRG) is one of the nation’s largest organizations dedicated exclusively to serving state government relations professionals.  Since the mid-1970s, WASRG has been providing its corporate, trade association and public sector members with a unique and valuable opportunity to interact with their peers, key state officials and public policy experts.”

Rebecca South, based in Washington, D.C., has extensive background in federal government compliance. She served 15 years as Government Relations Administrator for a national lobbying firm where she directed internal political compliance programs to ensure adherence to local, state, and federal laws regarding lobbying, ethics, and campaign finance. She also has substantive experience in the creation, management, and rules governing political action committees.

Rebecca began her career as a staff member on the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary in the early 1990s, and also served as a Program Director with an association management firm. She is an active member of Women in Government Relations, Toastmasters International, Public Affairs Council, and American League of Lobbyists.

For this week’s Highlighted Site, we turn to the Historical Highlights page of the United States House of Representatives’ Office of the Clerk. What I saw there rattled my ideas about electronic voting. When would you guess the first proposal was offered for electronic voting in Congress? I was way off. Take a look!

On this date in 1848, a Baltimore inventor named Francis Smith petitioned the U.S. House to adopt his “voting register,” a legislative telegraph to count the members’ votes. Smith sent a proposal and a prototype for the House to consider. Two other inventors did the same that year.

According to the site, “Despite repeated calls for modernizing the voting process, the House would not implement electronic voting until 1973.”

Other fascinating facts for this week:

February 28, 1860 – Representative Victor Berger of Wisconsin, the first Socialist Member of Congress

February 29, 1932 – Speaker John Nance Garner of Texas Receives a 400-Pound Gavel from his Constituents

March 1, 1945 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s final address to a Joint Session

Enjoy and have a terrific weekend!

Photos courtesy of the Library of Congress.

In the spring of 2011, a draft presidential executive order was leaked to the public. The order would require every entity submitting offers for federal contracts to disclose certain political contributions and expenditures made within the two years prior to submission of their offer. The disclosure requirement included contributions made to federal candidates, parties, and committees by the bidding entity, its officers, and any affiliates or subsidiaries within its control. Contributions made to parties for independent expenditures and electioneering communications would also be reported. These disclosures would be required whenever the aggregate amount of the contributions and expenditures by the bidding entity exceed $5,000.

Reaction to the order was swift. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, writing on behalf of a coalition of more than 80 business groups and trade associations, strongly protested the proposed executive order. Meanwhile, a letter in support of the order, signed by more than 30 public interest groups, urged full disclosure of campaign contributions and expenditures by federal government contractors. U.S. Representative Anna G. Eshoo sent a letter to President Obama, signed by more than 60 members of the House, in support of the proposed executive order.

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the House Small Business Committee held a joint hearing to examine the order, evaluate its impact and consequences on the federal acquisition system, and determine whether it introduced politics into the procurement process. Bills opposing the proposed order were introduced in both the House and the Senate. Finally, a compromise amendment, precluding an executive agency from requiring a vendor bidding on a contract to disclose political contributions, was added to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal 2012. The act passed and was signed by President Obama at the end of 2011.

Passage of the bill did not end calls for disclosures of political contributions from federal contractors, however. Petitions with more than 100,000 signatures were submitted by Public Citizen and MoveOn.org to the White House, urging the President to require federal contractors to disclose their political contributions after the bidding process is completed and a federal contract is awarded.

March 7, 2012  Ohio’s Birthday Party, Washington, D.C.

March 15, 2012  Greater Akron Chamber Annual Meeting, Akron, Ohio

March 21-23, 2012  SGAC Annual Meeting, Boston, Massachusetts

April 15-17, 2012  NASPO 2012 – How to Market to State Governments Meeting, Orlando, Florida

April 16-17, 2012  National Summit on Strategic Communications, Washington, D.C.

April 27-29, 2012  Greek American Foundation – National Innovation Conference, New York, NY