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.”

“How House Oversight Conquered YouTube and What It Means”by Joseph Marks in Nextgov.

“Is Procurement Killing Innovation?” by Steve Towns in Government Technology.

“Twitter #Hashtags a #DoubleEdgedSword for #Obama, #Romney Campaigns” by Ray Suarez on PBS NewsHour.

“No Credible Proof that Twitter Can Predict Elections, Researcher Finds” by Nick Judd in TechPresident.

“Tired of ‘Tainted’ Image, Lobbyists Try Makeover” by Eric Lichtblau in The New York Times.

“State lobbyists spend record amounts: report” by Nannette Miranda on KABC-TV Los Angeles.

“Del. Senate Approves Bill on Lobbyist Disclosures” by The Associated Press on WBOC.com.

New Jersey Senate Republican Leader Tom Kean, Jr. is introducing legislation applying the state’s pay-to-play laws to labor unions.

According to the Senator’s press release, his bill applies the same restrictions on campaign contributions and activities to labor unions under contract with state, county, and municipal governmental entities as are currently applied to government service providers.

“Pay to play reform was passed to limit the influence of big spending contractors over the public officials from whom they are trying to obtain work. That law missed one of the biggest recipients of public dollars and thus, must be fixed in the interest of fairness and honesty,” argues Senator Kean.

Photo of New Jersey Senator Tom Kean, Jr. courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Arizona: The Arizona Legislature adjourned its session sine die on May 3. Governor Jan Brewer has 10 days to sign or veto legislation transmitted to her, or the legislation becomes law automatically.

Hawaii: The Hawaii Legislature adjourned sine die yesterday, May 3, 2012.

Mississippi: The Mississippi Legislature adjourned ahead of schedule on May 3, 2012.

Thank you to Research Associates George Ticoras, Shamus Williams, and Jen Zona for providing us with this legislative session information.

National:

Crowd-Sourcing Site Aims to Give Voters Lobbying Power

Federal:

Conservative Group Seeks FEC Approval to Keep Donors Secret

Obama Campaign Puts Bo on the Trail

From the States and Municipalities:

California

Lawmakers Mix Work with Fundraising in Sacramento

Illinois

Mayor’s Ethics Panel Offers Tweaks, Plans to Take Bigger Steps

Kentucky

Audit: Richie Farmer abused system

Maine

Lawmakers Decry Corruption Claim

Maryland

Legislation Would Give State Voters More Political Gift Information

Montana

Groups Ask That Montana Judge Toss Ban Restricting Campaign Donations

North Carolina

Second Tillis Staffer Admits to Inappropriate Relationship with a Lobbyist

Oklahoma

Oklahoma Ethics Panel Reprimands OU Doctor for Accepting Excessive Speaking Fees

Texas

Austin Approves New Campaign Finance Rules

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.

As the general presidential election begins, swing states will start to receive more attention from the candidates and national media. This week, our highlighted site focuses on the latest polling data of three major swing states from Quinnipiac University.

Quinnipiac conducted a survey from April 25 – May 1 of registered voters in Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania. These three states were targeted as no candidate since 1960 has won the White House without winning at least two of them.

When asked: “Turning to this year’s general election for president, if the election for President were being held today, and the candidates were Barack Obama the Democrat and Mitt Romney the Republican, for whom would you vote?”

• Florida: Mitt Romney 44% – Barack Obama 43% (1,169 voters, margin of error +/- 2.9%)
• Ohio: Barack Obama 44% – Mitt Romney 42% (1,130 voters, margin of error +/- 2.9%)
• Pennsylvania: Barack Obama 47% – Mitt Romney 39% (1,168 voters, margin of error +/- 2.9%)

Clearly the race is just beginning to heat up as both Florida and Ohio are within the statistical margin of error. Look for the candidates to start spending significant time and money in both of these states as well as a number of other swing states.

Check out the site for complete polling data including favorability ratings, voter opinions on the economy and which candidate for Vice President voters would most like to see Mitt Romney choose. You can also download crosstabs and demographic summaries for each poll and parse the data as deeply as you would like.

Have a great weekend!

The Bergen County, New Jersey Board of Chosen Freeholders issued a memorandum clarifying its pay-to-play ordinance adopted last year.

In the section of the ordinance concerning the prohibition on awarding contracts to certain contributors, the phrase “any candidate for elective office in the County of Bergen or holder of elective office in the County of Bergen” is used.

The Board’s memorandum states the phrase is limited to persons “who run for, or are elected to” county offices. The phrase does not include candidates for a municipal office held in the county, statewide candidates for the Assembly or Senate, or federal candidates whose district includes Bergen County.

More information can be found at the Corporate Political Activity Law Blog.

Elizabeth Bartz, President and CEO of State and Federal Communications, IT Executive Director Ren Koozer, and Social Media Coordinator Joe May attended Campaigns and Elections’ CampaignTech Conference 2012 on April 19-20 in Washington, D.C.

On the very next morning Elizabeth Bartz, Compliance Associate Jim Warner, and Joe May participated in Kent State’s Fourth Annual National Alumni Day of Service. We were put to the task of washing dishes at Akron’s Haven of Rest rescue mission. Let’s hear it for the Kent State Alumni!

It was a happy time at our staff meeting yesterday as we celebrated the anniversaries of five employees! We recognized Nola Werren for 15 years of service, Nicolette Koozer for 11 years, Jeff Roberts for nine years, Steve Quinn for two years, and Sarah Kovit for one year. Our warmest congratulations to each of you.

As a special token of appreciation, Elizabeth Bartz presented Nola Werren with an American flag that has been flown over the U.S. Capitol. The flag was received through the office of U.S. Rep. Betty Sutton.

A new electronic lobbyist registration is now available for the Commonwealth of Virginia. All lobbyists, including those already registered for 2012-2013, will need to create a new account on the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s Lobbyist Registration Portal and complete a new lobbyist registration.

New accounts must be activated through the confirmation e-mail sent from the state.

Lobbyists will also receive a confirmation e-mail when their electronic registration has been approved by the state.

Campaign Finance

New York: “Senate Democrats call for campaign finance reform” by Bill Lambdin on WNYT.com.

Vermont: “Campaign finance bill sent to Judiciary Committee” by Terri Hallenbeck in the Burlington Free Press.

Lobbying

North Carolina: “Second Tillis staffer admits to inappropriate relationship with a lobbyist” by Dan Kane and John Frank in the Charlotte Observer.

Texas:  “Texas legislator fined for failure to disclose gifts” in the  Fort Worth Star Telegram.

Ethics

District of Columbia: “D.C. Council Backs Off Pressuring Mayor to Select Ethics Panel” by Tom Sherwood on NBCWashington.com.

South Carolina: “SC House votes to open investigations into its own if ethics committee finds probable cause” by Seanna Adcox (Associated Press) in The Republic.