Federal:

Special Interests Gave $3 Million to Members of New Budget Super Committee

The 2012 Election Brings a New Kind of Fundraiser: The super bundler

From the States and Municipalities:

Alabama

AP Interview: Juror says Alabama gambling trial jury favored acquittals on undecided charges

California

Porter Steps Down as Head of Political Watchdog Agency

Florida

Tallahassee Lobbyists Earning More This Year

Kentucky

Louisville Metro Council Ethics Panel Enforces Gift Rules

Maine

Federal Appeals Court Upholds Maine PAC Reporting Requirement

Nebraska

Attorney General: State campaign finance law likely unconstitutional

New York

Donor Limit Tops $100,000 at Capitol

New York

Gov. Andrew Cuomo Signs Government Ethics Law for N.Y. State Officials, Workers

Rhode Island

Anti-Gay Marriage Group Loses Appeal of R.I. Court Ruling

Virginia

Hamilton Sentenced in Bribery, Extortion Case

Washington

Public Disclosure Commission Seeks New Director

Wisconsin

GOP’s Senate Edge Stays at One after Recalls

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.

Jim Sedor is editor of News You Can Use.

Lorne Malkiewich, the director of the Nevada Legislative Counsel Bureau, has announced he is retiring before the next regular legislative session in 2013.

Malkiewich told the Reno Gazette-Journal, “I am applying for some jobs and if I get them, then obviously, it would be sooner,” he said. “But otherwise, it will probably be sometime next fall (of 2012). I just wanted to give leadership some notice so they will be able to work on recruiting a new director and things like that.” One of the duties of the Legislative Counsel Bureau is handling lobbyist registration, reporting, and information services.

Malkiewich has been with the Legislative Counsel Bureau since 1981.

Photo of the Nevada State Capitol by Dave Parker on Wikipedia.

We now provide information on lobbying, political contributions, and procurement lobbying for:

Chandler, Arizona

Fort Collins, Colorado

New Haven, Connecticut

Stamford, Connecticut

Chesapeake, Virginia

While the federal government has launched over 70 mobile apps of its own, many new developments in government apps have been made by the states.

Arkansas, for example, created an app that allows the families and friends of  incarcerated individuals to make secure payments into the inmates’ accounts, as well as creating an app that allows hunters to register deer and turkeys they have killed.

Many other states such as Indiana, Minnesota, and New York have released a variety of useful apps for services ranging from school bus inspections to lake safety. 

Read “Mobile Apps are Reshaping Government Services and Operations” by Joseph Marks on NextGov.com which addresses these state government apps in more depth.

Voters in Boulder, Colorado will have the opportunity to vote whether they support corporate personhood on the November 1, 2011 ballot.

By a 6 – 3 decision, the Boulder City Council approved placing a resolution on the ballot calling for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution declaring only human beings, not corporations, are entitled to constitutional rights and money is not speech, and therefore regulating political contributions and spending is not equivalent to limiting political speech.

The ballot measure is in response to the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court Citizens United decision, where the ability of the government to limit corporate and labor union independent expenditures was ruled unconstitutional.

“I think it’s a real threat to our government,” said councilman Ken Williams, “and whatever we can do to change that, I think we should.”

If approved by voters, Boulder would join a growing list of localities that have passed similar resolutions.

Photo of the Flatirons by Aza Toth on Wikipedia.

Most innovative ideas that have changed the world as we know it had just as many doubters as supporters. With hindsight it is easy to say the opposition of such innovations such as the telephone and computer must have been short-sighted and unimaginative. While this could be true, there may have been good reasons for their doubt, but without knowing what their reasons were, it is very entertaining to look at the doubtlessly inaccurate predictions people have made in the past.

Today’s Highlighted Site Of The Week is a Timeline of Failed Predictions that is posted on FastCompany.com. The author compiled a chronological list of over 80 predictions that contradict what actually happened beginning in the 1700s all the way up to the 21st century.

These predictions include failed predictions for nearly every topic including politics, technology, “fads” such as the car and radio, and music.

Some of my favorites were:

“This ‘telephone’ has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us.” – Western Union, 1878.”

“Four or five frigates will do the business without any military force.” – British Prime Minister Lord North, on dealing with the rebellious American colonies, 1774.”

“Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try and find oil? You’re crazy.” -Associates of Edwin L. Drake on his suggestion to drill for oil in 1859.”

“There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.” Ken Olson, president, chairman, and founder of Digital Equipment Corp, 1977.”

“The truth is no online database will replace your daily newspaper, no CD-ROM can take the place of a competent teacher and no computer network will change the way government works” – Clifford Stoll, 1995.”

It’s amazing to think of what would have happened if some of these predictions would have been right.

Have a great weekend!

Implementation of Measure H, a campaign finance reform approved by voters earlier this year, has been delayed by the Los Angeles City Council.

Measure H bans campaign contributions from contractors to elected officials responsible for reviewing proposals for city work valued at $100,000 or more.

Photo of the Los Angeles by BRION Vibber on Wikipedia and the Seal of Los Angeles by Mysid on Wikipedia.

When President Obama launched his Campaign to Cut Waste back in June, the White House also enacted a freeze on new federal websites meaning no one can get a new one without a written waiver from the federal CIO.

In an article posted on ExecutiveGov when the freeze first began, there were nearly 2,000 top-level, federal .gov domains, with smaller sub-sites and microsites adding up to an estimated 24,000 websites “of varying purpose, design, navigation, usability and accessibility.”

A more recent article, “No New Fed Websites for Rest of This Year“, confirms that a memo on behalf of the new federal CIO, Steve VanRoekel, said that the freeze on new federal websites will continue through the remainder of this calendar year.

Read the full memo here.

Elizabeth Bartz was elected president of the State Government Affairs Council (SGAC) at the annual Member Business Meeting and Luncheon held in San Antonio.

She succeeds departing president Joseph Crosby for the 2011-2012 term.

In addition to our congratulations, we would like to share a video of Elizabeth’s speech at the event, which was held during National Conference of State Legislature’s 2011 Legislative Summit in San Antonio Texas:

New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez has called for the Legislature to begin a special session on Tuesday, September 6, 2011.

The purpose of the special session is to address redistricting and a number of the governor’s economic development proposals.

Photo of Governor Susana Martinez by The State of New Mexico on Wikipedia.

The Ohio Statehouse may be the first to be home to a full-service bar available to those reserving The Capitol Cafe which resides in the basement of the building.

An ariticle from National Public Radio says that state officials are debating a proposal to establish what would apparently be the nation’s first statehouse bar — a venue where lawmakers and even members of the public could tip a few back after hours if they reserve the space.

As would be expected, the idea has supporters who welcome the idea of having a bar in their statehouse as well as opposition who think it inappropriate to open a bar in a government building frequented by schoolchildren.

The panel that oversees Statehouse operations has slowed the project’s pace, assigning it to a study committee that will sort out what the business should offer.

Read this article, “Drinks On The House? Ohio Statehouse Considers Bar”, to learn more.

I do have a manual typewriter. I will not throw it away because I used to type a lot of articles.

I wanted to bring out that manual typewriter today after I heard John Dean speak at the Watergate CLE for the Ohio State Bar Association today. And, HBO recently showed All the President’s Men where we could see Woodward and Bernstein hammering on their Washington Post Royal typewriters. Today, I am opting to just use the courier font on my laptop!

John Dean was disbarred because of his involvement in Watergate and he has never considered requesting reinstatement. However, he is teaching continuing legal education courses on a lawyer’s obligations when a client engages in crime.

I am a product of Watergate having been a journalism student in the 70s and State and Federal Communications owes its existence to what happened at that time.

Dean pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit obstruction of justice for his role in the Watergate cover-up and believes his experience is instructive.

I did get a chance to ask him if Watergate was an albatross around his neck. He had been an investment banker and retired when he was 60. (He is now 72.) He said he did not spend his life wallowing in Watergate. He returned to business school and had a lucrative career as an investment banker. He has written a number of books, including:

1. Blind Ambition—now autographed and on my bookshelf;

2. Warren G. Harding;

3. Conservatives without Conscience; and

4. Worse than Watergate: The Secret Presidency of George W. Bush.

John Dean was born in Akron, Ohio and holds a BA from the College of Wooster. He is still married to Maureen “Mo” Dean and lives in Beverly Hills, California.

Today’s program was amazing. We met a man who affected history and wanted to share with us the ultimate ethical dilemma. He is going on the road with this four-hour program, which basically focuses on June 16, 17, and 18, 1972.

The Fair Political Practices Commission has issued a notice to adopt two new regulations. The commission has also announced it will hold a public hearing on September 22, 2011 to consider the proposed regulations. The regulations to be considered have previously been made available for public comment and have since been revised.

The first proposed regulation to be considered modifies the reporting requirement for payments made at the behest of an elected officer which is made principally for a legislative, governmental, or charitable purpose in the aggregate amount of $5,000 or more. The regulation requires that a behested payment report be filed within 30 days of the date the payment is made. The Commission is considering whether a communication made on behalf of a charity which results in a donation is a behested payment.

The second proposed regulation would allow committees that have terminated to accept refunds from governmental entities and unexpected refunds from any other entities totaling $10,000 or less after termination of the committee. It would also permit terminated committees to transfer refunds to other committees without having to reopen the terminated committee. Refunds that are transferred to a new committee would be reported as if they had been received prior to termination and attributed accordingly when transferred to the new committee.

Original image of the Seal of the State of California by Zscout370 on Wikipedia.