Arizona: “Arizona lawmakers OK money for redistricting panel” by The Associated Press in the Arizona Daily Sun.

Arizona: “Arizona redistrict panel to get more cash” by Mary Jo Pitzl in the Arizona Republic.

Florida: “Down to the wire, Senators propose last-minute changes to new Senate map” by Mary Ellen Klas in the Miami Herald.

Florida: “Florida Senate panel approves redistricting plan” by The Associated Press in the Daytona Beach News-Journal.

Florida: “Fla. Senate panel approves redistricting plan” by Bill Kaczor in the Deseret News.

Kansas: “Kan. Senate delays vote on redistricting bill” by The Associated Press in the Salina Journal.

Kansas: “Kansas House votes down latest redistricting bill” by Fred Mann in the Wichita Eagle.

New York: “Between the Lines: Map Complete, Time to Sort Out Who’s Running” by Joshua Miller in Roll Call.

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.

Arizona: “Arizona redrawn legislative maps sent to Justice” by Mary Jo Pitzl in the Arizona Republic.

Florida: “Redistricting is creating rifts in the state’s non-partisan high court” by Mary Ellen Klas in the Miami Herald.

Missouri: “Same Missouri Senate seat filed for in east and west” by David Lieb (Associated Press) in the Missourian.

New Mexico: “Legal fight may be nearing an end over map for state House districts in this year’s elections” by The Associated Press in The Republic.

New York:  “New congressional district lines expected in NY” by The Associated Press in the Long Island Business News.

New York: “State’s Congressional District Line Proposals Due Today” by NY1 News.

Ohio: “Bipartisan state lawmakers offer reform for map-drawing process in redistricting” by Aaron Marshall in the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Texas: “Texas political maps issued by federal court” by Alex Isenstadt in Politico.

Wyoming: “Wyoming Senate advances legislative redistricting bill” by The Associated Press in The Republic.

Lobbying

“Lobbyists sue Obama administration after being booted from boards” by Rachel Leven and Kevin Bogardus in The Hill.

Campaign Finance

Alaska: “House rejects last-minute Senate exemption of current politicians from campaign finance law” by Austin Baird (Associated Press) in The Republic.

“Super PACs echo parodies” by Kenneth Vogel in Politico.

“Bragging about bundling days over” by Anna Palmer in Politico.

Ethics

California: “California’s political watchdog panel eases its approach to ethics issues” by Patrick McGreevy in The Los Angeles Times.

Louisiana: “Gov. Bobby Jindal seeks adjustments in ethics rules” in the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

Government Transparency

“Iowa’s government websites score poorly, transparency group says” by Jason Clayworth in the Des Moines Register.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Connecticut

“GOP makes long-shot pitch for new congressional map” by Mark Pazniokas on CTMirror.org

“Court hears pleas on Ct. redistricting plan” by Ken Dixon on the Connecticut Post.

Florida

“House passes Florida redistricting maps in party line vote” by Mary Ellen Klas in the Tampa Bay Times.

Kansas

“Panel endorses Kansas House redistricting plan” by John Milburn (Associated Press) in the Kansas City Star.

Kentucky

“Judge weighs constitutionality of redistricting” by The Associated Press.

“Judge hopes to rule on redistricting dispute by Tuesday” by Tom Loftus in the Courier-Journal.

North Carolina

“Lawsuits challenging GOP-drawn boundaries can move forward” by The Associated Press in the Winston-Salem Journal.

Texas

“Rejected compromise in Texas redistricting case leaves state’s primary date in limbo” by The Associated Press in the Washington Post.

Wisconsin

“Lawmakers were made to pledge secrecy over redistricting” by Patrick Marley, Daniel Bice and Jason Stein in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Lobbying

“A record year for lobbying industry” by Michael Shaw in the Sacramento Business Journal.

“Lobbying Money Hits New Record” by Jenny O’Mara on KBPS.org.

Campaign finance

“Michigan Democrats are taking 1st shot at corporate funding with proposed ethics, campaign finance reform” by Rob South in Michigan Live.

Gov 2.0 and Social Media

“Consumers Turn to Social Media for Presidential Campaign Info” in yesterday’s eMarketer.

“New York City Readies for a Website Overhaul” by Sarah Rich in Government Technology.

Redistricting

Iowa – “5 Iowa legislators resign following redistricting” by The Associated Press in the Muscatine Journal.

Massachusetts – “In redistricting’s wake, Rep. Paul Adams opts to run for state Senate” by Matt Murphy in the Boston Herald.

Ohio – “Only 3 of 16 districts competitive in new map” by William Hershey in the Dayton Daily News.

Pennsylvania – “Targeted lawmakers stuck in ‘political limbo’” by Rachel Weaver in today’s Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

“Va. appeals court affirms campaign finance law” by Larry O’Dell in CBS News.

“Former DeLay aide pleads guilty in campaign finance case” by Laylan Copelin the Austin Statesman.

“Conservative Super Pacs turn to social media and internet to expand reach” by Ed Pilkington and Amanda Michel in the Guardian.

“Funny-named political committees are proliferating” by Aaron Deslatte in the Orlando Sentinel.

State and Federal Communications, Inc. is home to the one-and-only News You Can Use digest and its accompanying daily newsletter, LobbyComply News Roundup. For 23 years, Jim Sedor, Manager of News Services, has been providing this award-winning news service to clients and followers.

Jim started his career by earning a Bachelor’s degree in Social Sciences at Edinboro University and later attending graduate school for Library Information Science at Kent State University. In 2000, Jim came across an ad in the Akron Beacon Journal to be the first Manager of News Services at State and Federal Communications, Inc. He has been here ever since.

“This job had just been created when I applied for it and got it, so I’ve been able to sort of shape how it’s done, which has been satisfying. It started out as an in-house report so we could show our seven or eight employees at the time what was going on,” Jim explained.

What began in-house evolved into daily newsletters and a weekly e-mail digest that gets sent to hundreds of recipients. Additionally, State and Federal Communications, Inc. received the Outstanding Service Award from the Council of Governmental Ethics Laws in 2020 primarily because of News You Can Use.

“We couldn’t have done this before the internet because that’s where I do all the research. Then we saw there was so much information that our clients and others would need to know or would want to know about. So it’s just grown as the company has grown,” he said.

Jim’s contributions have been invaluable to our Research and Compliance departments, as well as the Marketing and Sales teams.

“If a court decision comes up or if a governor signs a new law that we need to know about because it affects lobbying or campaign finance, I’m able to alert them, send out information, so that we keep up-to-date,  don’t miss anything, and everything is updated  in a timely manner.”

When it comes to helping our clients, Jim provides a unique and invaluable product. When he meets clients and industry experts at events like the Annual COGEL Conference, he’s able to hear from them about what issues they are seeing, problems they may be having, and solutions that are being considered.

“And after 23 years, I think that’s given me some gravitas,” he said.

Jim’s contributions don’t only provide up-to-date information and the latest news, however. Through the LobbyComply News Roundup and News You Can Use, government affairs professionals can also understand why compliance is so important.

“Big companies realize they need to know the law before they act, and that’s where State and Federal comes in, because we know the fine points of the law and we can alert them when they’re running into problems and how to avoid having their company name in a headline,” he explained.

State and Federal Communications, Inc. provides government compliance

information and consulting services to Fortune 500 companies; trade, professional, and labor organizations; legal and accounting firms; and corporate and contract lobbyists.

Our mission is to provide clients accurate, timely, and comprehensive information and professional services, which enable them to achieve and maintain strict compliance with government laws regarding lobbying, campaign finance and procurement activities at every level of U.S. government and in Canada.

We publish extensive online resources for lobbying laws, political contributions, and procurement lobbying in the U.S., Canada, and Europe. Through our ALERTS consulting services we assist clients with lobbying disclosure compliance at federal, state, and municipal levels of government. We also offer Corporate Contribution Compliance services to provide information to corporations making political contributions with corporate funds.

Several additional resources include News You Can Use (NYCU) and LobbyComply News Roundup (LCNR), online national news summaries on ethics, lobbying, and campaign finance; quick-reference Guidebooks; white papers; tip sheets; and webinars.

Here are articles from major news sources analyzing the election outcomes:

“5 things we learned from Election Night 2013” by Peter Hamby, Paul Steinhauser, Ashley Killough, and Dan Merica in CNN Politics.

“Election Day 2013: What happened, and what it all means” by Alia E. Dastagir in USA Today.

“2013 Election: State and Local Race Results” by Louis Jacobson in Governing.

“Now the Midterm Campaign Begins — With Both Sides on Offense” by David Hawkings in Roll Call.

“Markos Moulitsas: House in play in 2014” by Markos Moulitsas in The Hill.

Connecticut: “How Much Do State Politics Matter In Local Elections?” by Christine Stuart in CTNewsJunkie.com.

New Jersey: “Democrats retain control of New Jersey legislature” by Michael Linhorst (Associated Press) in The Record.

New Jersey: “Chris Christie Coasts to 2nd Term as Governor of New Jersey” by Kate Zernike and Jonathan Martin in The New York Times.

New York: “Democrat Bill de Blasio elected mayor of New York” by Jonathan Lemire (Associated Press) in the Times Union.

Ohio: “Lawmakers looking at tougher ballot-access thresholds for minor political parties” by Jeremy Pelzer in The Plain Dealer.

Virginia: “Terry McAuliffe, Democrat, Is Elected Governor of Virginia in Tight Race” by Trip Gabriel in The New York Times.

Lobbying

Ottawa, Ontario: “Council endorses lobby registry, integrity commissioner” by Errol McGihon in the Ottowa Sun.

The Hill’s “Lobbying World” staff report.

Campaign Finance

Alaska: “Assembly to weigh resolution on campaign finance” by The Associated Press in the Juneau Empire.

District of Columbia: “Vast ‘shadow campaign’ said to have aided Gray in 2010” by Mike DeBonis and Nikita Stewart in The Washington Post.

New York:  “Cuomo turns to campaign finance” by Jimmy Vielkind in the Albany Times Union.

Pennsylvania: “SEPTA found to violate federal lobbying rules” by Mark Fazlollah in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

West Virginia: “W.Va. group wants contribution limit blocked” by The Associated Press in The Republic.

Ethics

“Panel Seated in Ethics Inquiry Into Nevada Lawmaker” by Eric Lipton in The New York Times.

Campaign Finance

“Political Spending by Unions Far Exceeds Direct Donations” by Tom McGinty AND Brody Mullins in The Wall Street Journal.

“Campaigns to Compete for Ads During Olympic Games” by Nathan L. Gonzales in Roll Call.

Alaska:  “Committee weighs in on ethics of pre-election pledges” by Becky Bohrer (Associated Press) in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.

District of Columbia: “Jeanne Clarke Harris is charged in ongoing investigation of Mayor Vincent C. Gray’s campaign” by Mike DeBonis and Nikita Stewart in the Washington Post

District of Columbia: “D.C. activists deliver 30,000 signatures for ballot initiative to ban corporate contributions” by Nikita Stewart and Tim Craig in the Washington Post.

Idaho:  “Idaho Democrats use state seal for campaign email” by John Miller (Associated Press) in the Idaho Statesman.

Ethics

“Ethics panel clears Buchanan on charge of misleading Congress” by Jordy Yager in The Hill.

Procurement

Arkansas: “New Arkansas Site Reveals State Salaries” in Government Technology. “The contracts page offers details on contracts or individual purchase orders for more than $25,000. Construction contracts with a value of greater than $20,000 are also listed.”