Assemblyman Mike Gatto is preparing legislation in response to the alleged pay-to-play scandal at the Los Angeles County Assessor’s office. The bill, AB 404, would require tax agents to register as lobbyists in counties already regulating lobbying.

Tax agents are hired by property owners to persuade appraisers and the assessor that property values are lower than listed. While the bill leaves it up to the counties to craft specific regulations, the draft regulations would require tax agents to register as lobbyists with the county, would forbid them from making campaign contributions to any county elected official, and would also bar them from giving gifts worth more than $50 to county employees.

The district attorney’s office is investigating allegations that one tax agent, Ramin Salari, used contributions to obtain favorable treatment from Assessor John Noguez. A former appraiser, Scott Schenter, claimed to have cut roll values with the expectation that affected property owners would be more likely to donate to Noguez’s campaign.

Iowa legislators have finally decided to call it quits for 2012. More than 22 days after the schedule adjournment date, the Iowa Legislature adjourned sine die on Wednesday night.

Since the Legislature stayed in session beyond the adjournment date, they have not received any stipends for the past three weeks.

On the session’s final day, the Senate and House finalized the state budget and a major mental health system reform, but failed to come to an agreement on property tax relief. Since the property tax relief package was not agreed upon, both sides conceded there could be a special session called, but only if they can get closer to an agreement.

Photo of the Iowa State Capitol building by Ashton B. Crew on Wikipedia.

Colorado: The General Assembly adjourned May 9, 2012. Governor John Hickenlooper announced his intention to call a special session, primarily to address a civil unions bill. The special session could begin as early as Friday.

Connecticut: The General Assembly adjourned May 9, 2012.

Lobbying

“Panel discusses effect of campaign and finance reforms on lobbyist spending at St. Peter’s College” by Charles Hack in the Jersey Journal.

“Political favors ‘just the way you do business here,’ lobbyists say” by Joe Schoenmann in the Los Vegas Sun.

Jack Abramoff makes another statement in “Ex-lobbyist: Lawmakers, not lawbreakers, to blame” by Ross Ramsey in the San Angelo Standard-Times.

Campaign Finance

Connecticut: “Legislature splits with Malloy over campaign bill” by Mark Pazniokas in the Connecticut Mirror.

Louisiana: “Senate moves Jindal ethics bills” by Marsha Shuler in the Baton Rouge Advocate.

New Hampshire: “NH Senate considers campaign reporting today” by Grant Bosse in the New Hampshire Watchdog.

New Hampshire: “Campaign finance bill targets nonprofits” by Ted Siefer in the Union Leader.

Vermont: “State senator resigns from committee over campaign finance bill” by Olga Peters in The Commons Online.

Super Pacs

“Dem pollster: Independents want candidates to address money in politics” by Kevin Bogardus in The Hill.

“Insight: Super PACS: Follow the money – if you can” by Marcus Stern, Kristina Cooke and Alexander Cohen (Reuters) in the Chicago Tribune.

During an interview aired last night with ABC News Robin Roberts President Barack Obama expressed his personal support for same-sex marriage. The news broke when ABC news leaked portions of the interview yesterday afternoon.

“At a certain point I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married.” Obama told Roberts in the interview.

The admission comes after Vice President Joe Biden set off a media firestorm with comments he made during an interview with David Gregory on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday. Additionally, on Tuesday, North Carolina voters approved a constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union between a man and a woman.

While the President has personally come out in support of same-sex marriage, he told Roberts that he still believes the issue should be decided by the states and not at the federal level. Sources told the Associated Press the President was under increasing pressure from supporters and donors who threatened to withhold funds from the pro-Obama Super PAC, Priorities USA, without clarification from the President of his positions on same-sex marriage.

Following the announcement, Republican Party Presidential candidate Mitt Romney stated to KOCO in Oklahoma City “I believe marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman.”

While the issue will likely not be heavily debated in the coming months of the general election, the announcement is historic as it is the first time a sitting president or presidential nominee from either major political party has come out in support of same-sex marriage.

Howard Marlowe, the president of the American League of Lobbyists was featured on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal program. Marlowe discussed the LDA reforms the group is proposing.

According to C-SPAN’s post, Role of Federal Lobbyists: “Howard Marlowe talked about the role of federal lobbying, and he responded to telephone calls and electronic communications. Topics included legislation that affects the industry, and changes the industry itself is proposing that would alter law that governs those engaged in lobbying Congress and senior officials in the Executive Branch.”

The Chicago Tribune posted an article giving an account of the nature of the conversations Marlowe faced from callers on the program. Be sure to read “Lobbyists’ lobbyist draws public anger” by David Ingram.

The Connecticut House and Senate passed House Bill 5556 on May 8, 2012. The bill makes changes to Connecticut’s campaign finance disclosure law, requiring corporate board authorization for campaign-related expenditures exceeding $4,000 and disclosure of donor identities for donations aggregating $1,000 or more.

The bill now awaits action by Governor Dannel P. Malloy, although the governor’s general counsel has indicated that there are constitutional concerns with the bill, raising the possibility of a veto.

North Carolina citizens voted in the 2012 primary last night, but some races did not yield a true winner. According to state law, if no candidate receives 40% of the vote in a primary, a second primary (or runoff) election is needed.

Over 10 races, including republican races for Lieutenant Governor and three U.S. House seats, will be headed to a runoff election.

Thanks to a new law passed by the North Carolina General Assembly last year, the primary will be held 10 weeks following the first primary, rather than the usual seven weeks. The new law took effect, because at least one of the races headed to a runoff was a U.S. Congress seat.

The runoff election will take place on July 17, 2012.

Alaska:  “High court to hear redistricting petition” by The Associated Press in The Anchorage Daily News.

Kansas: “GOP redistricting fight could mean courts make final decision” by John Hanna (Associated Press) in the Lawrence Journal World.

North Carolina: “Redistricting sets stage for fall elections” by Emery Dalesio (Associated Press) in the Winston-Salem Journal.

Washington:  “Supreme Court upholds state redistricting plan” by Warren Kagarise in the Issaquah Press.

“Obama campaign curating songs for Spotify playlist” by Natalie Jennings in the Washington Post.

“Twitter playing a big role in 2012 presidential campaign” by The Associated Press on the Times-Picayune.

“The 140-Character-or-Less Campaign” by Charlie Warzel in AdWeek.

This morning State and Federal Communications’ Elizabeth Bartz made a guest appearance on WAKR radio to help News Anchor Lindsay McCoy pick songs for her wedding reception! Opa!

Michael Sullivan, the Director of the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance, has been reappointed for another six-year term to the agency.

According to the Boston Herald, the decision was unanimous to reappoint Sullivan, who has been the director for almost 18 years.

For full news coverage, read:

“Michael Sullivan reappointed as OCPF chief” by Gintautas Dumcius in the Boston Herald.

A thank you goes to Jim Sedor, Editor of News You Can Use, for alerting us to this news.

Governor Martin O’Malley has ordered the General Assembly to convene a special session on May 14th.

Lawmakers are expected to pass legislation regarding state revenues and income-tax increases.

The special session became necessary after a stalemate during the regular session between the House and Senate.

The photo of the Chamber of the Maryland House of Delegates courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Elizabeth Bartz, President and CEO of State and Federal Communications, is speaking today in Washington, D.C. at the American League of Lobbyists State Lobbying Educational Seminar. The event is part of the group’s Lobbying Certificate Program.

According to the event details on the American League of Lobbyists website, this is the aim of the session:

“For many in D.C., lobbying starts with what goes on in the Beltway. But it doesn’t end there. No organization or corporation seeking to fulfill their entire legislative agenda can rely solely on federal lobbying. State-level lobbying, however, comes with an entirely new set of regulations and compliance landmines than federal lobbying. Did you know that ‘lobbying activities’ has a different definition depending where you are and to correctly filing disclosure forms takes a whole new process? Plus, even if you simply want to monitor what’s going on at the state level, you’ve got to coordinate effectively with different in-house or entirely new outside government relations teams.”