For those of you who may have missed some of today’s relevant social media articles, here’s a few for you to check out!

• The Environmental Protection Agency is challenging the public to help develop apps that utilize EPA data in unique ways in their Apps for the Environment challenge, with a deadline of September 16th. EPA App Challenge Article
• The Government Business Council is looking for input from the public concerning mobile phone apps and how they could be used in the federal government and corresponding agencies. Mobile apps are changing government: Tell us how
• Are you social media savvy? The Obama re-election campaign is hiring “social media copywriters”. Obama Campaign Seeking Social Media Staffers
• A former advisor for President Obama suggested that the real key to open government is for governments to compete for openness. Using Technology to Open Government Should Be a Competition

I hope you find these interesting. Enjoy!

The Wall Street Journal reported last night that Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz will not give a penny in campaign contributions to incumbents until Congress comes up with a long-term solution to the debt problem. According to the article, 100 other heads of corporations have joined him in that pledge.

Schultz also made a plea to business leaders to start hiring again.

In “Starbucks CEO: Pledge to Halt Campaign Donations Gains Steam,” Julie Jargon names a few of the other CEOs following Schultz in the promise.

Could a movement be brewing?

According to an article on the LasVegasSun, mock Twitter accounts are being created for the sole purpose of impersonating political figures. Some creators are looking to entertain, while others have a more ambitious goal of influencing the outcome of an election.

One prominent example @BPGlobalPR, a satirical mock account that was created soon after the BP oil spill, has accumulated thousands more followers than the actual BP Corporate Twitter page.

Many political figures in Nevada such as U.S. Rep. Dina Titus and Republican congressional candidate Mark Amodei have also been victims of less prominent mock Twitter accounts that focus on topics such as Rep. Dina’s accent and Amodei being lazy.

Most targeted politicians don’t seem too bothered by their Twitter alter-egos, but Tracy Viselli, a social media expert advises that if these alter-egos accumulate more followers than the candidate’s offical page to consider possibly acknowledging and engaging the impersonator, but do so carefully.

Read the full article by Anjeanette Damon, “Fake Twitter accounts force their way onto political landscape“.

The Federal Election Commission has entered into a Stipulated Order and Consent Judgment with the National Defense PAC (NDPAC) agreeing not to enforce some provisions of law regarding contribution limits for political committees and candidates.

These provisions, 2 U.S.C. §§ 441a(a)(1)(c) and 441a(a)(3), were ruled unenforceable by the District Court in a prior decision, Carey v. FEC. Prior to the District Court’s decision, the FEC had been unable to issue a binding resolution for an earlier NDPAC advisory opinion request.

As a single committee, the NDPAC may now contribute directly to candidates and political committees, and make independent expenditures, separating the funds only by using two separate bank accounts. It must maintain the statutory limits on the solicitation of funds used for direct contributions while it may simultaneously seek unlimited funds for use in their independent expenditures. While the Stipulated Order and Consent Judgment specifically regards the FEC withholding enforcement of the law as it applies to NDPAC, it does not address other PACs utilizing the same procedures for solicitation and separation of funds.

This post updates a previous article by George Ticoras, “One PAC is Enough” from June 15, 2011.

Social media has become such a huge part of our culture that terms such as “retweet” and “cyberbullying” have been added to the Oxford English Dictionary.

According to a blog post by Oxford Dictionaries , every quarter they update the current English dictionary in Oxford Dictionaries Online with new words and meanings that have made it into common usage. With over 750 million Facebook users and over 200 million Twitter members, its no surprise that such social media specific terms are considered relevant to every day conversation.

As defined by the OED, a retweet is:

Pronunciation:/riːˈtwiːt/

verb [with object]: (on the social networking service Twitter) repost or forward (a message posted by another user)

noun: a reposted or forwarded message on Twitter

“Retweet” is not the first nor likely the last social media term to be added to the Oxford English Dictionary.

Governor Nathan Deal has appointed B. Chan Caudell to replace Josh Belinfante as a member of the State Ethics Commission.

Caudell is an attorney and former commissioner of Habersham County, Georgia. He also serves on the board of directors for North Georgia Technical College and is vice chair of Common Cause Georgia as well as the State Bar of Georgia advisory committee that reviews legislation.

Belinfante resigned last week, stating he was looking into running for state senate.

State and Federal Communications  is the most trusted source in the nation for comprehensive, accurate, and timely compliance information lobbying laws, political contributions, procurement lobbying, and Canadian Compliance for U.S. Companies.

Our Executive Source Guides cover every important jurisdiction – federal, all 50 states, and more than 200 municipalities. We cover Canada too!

For the latest information on campaign finance requirements in Michigan, the state’s Bureau of Elections now has a Twitter account to keep you informed. The Twitter feed will include information about reporting deadlines, electronic filing updates, and announcements regarding training sessions. You can follow the Twitter account at @MichCFR.

According to a Michigan Department of State press release, “Secretary of State Ruth Johnson announced today that the Bureau of Elections is launching a Twitter account to alert candidates, committees and those interested in campaign finance of reports detailing campaign contributions and expenditures.”

For another way to receive the latest information, the release also mentions that the Secretary of State also has a Facebook presence.

In a time of increasing austerity in the government, we are also experiencing an increasing demand for many government services.

While most agency websites have made it increasingly possible for the public to participate on their websites since President Obama’s Open Government Initiative was launched, an industry report released August 22 asserts that much more research needs to be done for these agencies to make sure that they are providing opportunities for quality public participation and to better be able to measure the impact this participation has on their agency.

Read the full industry report published on GovernmentExecutive.com.

The Council of the District of Columbia has passed the Campaign Finance Reporting Emergency Amendment Act of 2011 which requires increased campaign finance reporting in the year preceding an election, commensurate with the change of the September primary election and the February presidential preference election to the 1st Tuesday in April in an election year.

A political committee supporting a candidate or candidates participating in the April 3, 2012 primary election must file reports of receipts and expenditures in the 7 months preceding the date on which the election is held.

Political committees supporting a candidate or candidates participating in the April 3, 2012 primary election must now file reports of receipts and expenditures on October 10, 2011; December 10, 2011; January 31, 2012; March 10, 2012; and March 26, 2012.

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon has called the Legislature to begin a special session on Tuesday, September 6, 2011.

The special session was called to address a number of the governor’s job creation proposals.

Photo of Missouri Governor Jay Nixon by Bernard Pollack on Wikipedia.

Josh Belinfante, Vice Chairman of the State Ethics Commission, has announced he is resigning his position in order to consider a run for state senate. While he has yet to commit to running for the position, Belinfante has indicated an interest in the seat for senate district 6 following the release of the proposed maps for redistricting.

Belinfante’s resignation comes on the heels of the recent announcement by Chairman Patrick Millsaps that he will be stepping down from his position due to what he has determined to be his illegal appointment by Governor Nathan Deal.

The State Ethics Commission is also currently engaged in the process of finding a person to fill the role of Executive Secretary for the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission following the departure of Stacey Kalberman.

Kalberman’s departure and the termination of the Deputy Executive Secretary position, once held by Sherilyn Streicker, were the result of cost-cutting maneuvers implemented by members of the Commission this past June.

The West Virginia Legislature adjourned the second special session on redistricting on August 21, 2011.

Here is the announcement on the West Virginia Legislature’s blog.

Photo of the West Virginia State Capitol by Garkeith on Wikipedia.

Elizabeth Bartz, President and CEO of  State and Federal Communications, will be attending the Public Affairs Council Consultant Member Meeting in Washington, D.C. on August 23, 2011.