Campaign Finance

“‘Dark money’ flowing back to issue ads” by Kevin Bogardus in The Hill.

Arizona:  “Ex-aide charged with stealing Ariz. campaign cash” by The Associated Press in Tucson News Now.

California: “California voters rejecting change to campaign financing” by The Associated Press in the Mercury News.

Iowa: “Charges dropped in Iowa campaign contribution case” in the Muscatine Journal.

Texas: “PAC wants state approval for text donations” by Dave Nyczepir in Campaigns & Elections.

Lobbying

“New report outlines N.J. lawmakers’ use of controversial ALEC group” by Salvador Rizzo in the Star-Ledger.

Ethics

Pennsylvania: “In Pa., Where’s the Payback?” by Craig R. McCoy in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Rhode Island: “Ethics commission sets hearing on disclosure of paid trips for officials” by Philip Marcelo in the Providence Journal.

Technology and Social Media

“What Facebook’s Planning for the First Romney-Obama Debate” by Michael Catalini in the National Journal.

New Jersey: “New Jersey Mulls Ad-Powered Websites” in Government Technology.

Kentucky:  “Ky. house candidate admits error in email” by The Associated Press in the Bangor Daily News.

Elections

“State probe looms for firm registering GOP voters” by Elisabeth Arriero in the Charlotte Observer.

Lobbying

“K Street Files: Ogilvy Government Relations Nabs Two GOPers” by Kate Ackley in Roll Call.

“Does corporate lobbying benefit society?” by Moshe Silver in Fortune.

Kentucky:  “New spending record could be set for lobbying” by The Associated Press in the Bowling Green Daily News.

Campaign Finance

“Super PAC Assails Super PACs, Big Money” by Eliza Newlin Carney in Roll Call.

“Friend of U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan pleads guilty to campaign violations” by Susan Taylor Martin in the Tampa Bay Times.

Washington:  “Owen is fined over his tardy campaign finance reports” by Mike Baker in the Seattle Times.

Elections

“8-time felon running for seat in Michigan House” by John Wisely in the Detroit Free Press.

Social Media

“Social media have big debate plans” by Steve Friess in Politico.

National:

Aflac and Chubb Join Ranks of Companies Expanding Disclosure

Federal:

Judge Backs Obama Ban on Lobbyists Serving on Federal Advisory Panels

Super PACs Get New Use – As Lobbying Arms on Hill

From the States and Municipalities:

Alabama

Judge Sentences Gambling Lobbyist Pouncy to 3 Years Probation

California

Gov. Jerry Brown Signs Bill to Modernize Campaign Disclosure Web Site

Georgia

Deal Lawyer Goes After Accuser for Legal Fees

Maryland

Bill Before City Council Aims to Close ‘Gaps’ in Ethics Code

Massachusetts

Goldman Sachs Will Pay $12 Million in SEC ‘Pay-to-Play’ Case

Minnesota

Catholics Asked to Pay for Marriage Vote Ads

North Carolina

Ethics Guidance on Legislative Staffers and Lobbyists

South Carolina

Harrell Offers No Details on Self-Reimbursement of $325,000 from Campaign Funds

Washington

Lobbyists, Staff Aided Lt. Gov. Owen’s Nonprofit

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.

Lobbying

“Trade groups fear gift ban after the election” by Kevin Bogardus in The Hill.

Florida: “Senate president scolds lobbyists who opposed his candidates” by Mary Ellen Klas in the Tampa Bay Times.

Campaign Finance, Campaigns and Elections

“How the presidential campaigns are spending money, in one chart” by Sean Sullivan in the Washington Post.

“‘Super PACs’ Finally a Draw for Democrats” by Nicholas Confessore in the New York Times.

“Money trouble: Barack Obama faces a cash gap in the final weeks of the campaign” in The Economist.

“Attentive.ly, a Tool to Mine Your Supporters’ Minds, Just Launched” by Miranda Neubauer in TechPresident.

Pay-toPlay

“Goldman Sachs Will Pay $14.4 Million to Settle Pay-to-Play Cases” by Joshua Gallu, Michael McDonald, and Christine Harper in Bloomberg’s Businessweek.

Ethics

“Watchdog Groups Urge House Leaders to Fill Vacancies on Ethics Board” by Janie Lorber in Roll Call.

California: “After shoplifting plea, lawmaker seeks another office” by Michael J. Mishak in the Los Angeles Times.

Maryland: “Alston’s Maryland law license lifted for ethical violations” by David Hill in the Washington Times.

Procurement

“New federal contracting jobs site launches” by Kedar Pavgi in Government Executive.

Lobbying

“K Street Follows Lawmakers Outside the Beltway” by Kate Ackley and Janie Lorber in Roll Call.

“Super PACs get new use — as lobbying arms on Hill” by Dave Levinthal in Politico.

“Report: D.C. lobbyist on ‘The Bachelor’” by Patrick Gavin in Politico.

“Federal court tosses out lawsuit challenging Obama’s lobbyist ban” by Kevin Bogardus in The Hill.

“Judge sentences gambling lobbyist Jennifer Pouncy to 3 years probation” by Sebastian Kitchen in the Montgomery Advertiser.

Campaign Finance

“Report ranks corporate political openness” by Dave Levinthal in Politico.

Ethics

“N.J. Democrats ask ethics commission to look into Christie’s use of GOP video at town hall” by Jenna Portnoy in the Star-Ledger.

Elections and Political Campaigns

“Secretaries of State Still Juggling Politics, Elections” by Louis Jacobson in Governing.

“New voter laws could delay outcome of close elections as states scrutinize provisional ballots” by The Associated Press in the Washington Post.

“U.S. Supreme Court Lets West Virginia Voting Maps Stand” in Governing.

Social Media

“Cities and Counties Try Facebook for Government” by Hilton Collins in Government Technology.

Today the FEC posted an article answering some questions about political contributions made and received by text messaging.

The article can be found here.

Lobbying

“D.C.’s Riches: More Lobbying Over Less” by Matthew Yglesias in Slate.

Alabama: “Alabama gambling lobbyist seeks probation” by Phillip Rawls (Associated Press) in GoErie.com.

California: “California taps the lobbying crowd” in the Central Valley Business Times.

New York: “Court papers: Convicted NYC lobbyist cooperating with prosecutors in inquiry” by The Associated Press in The Republic.

Washington: “Lobbyists, state staff helped Washington lawmaker’s charity, records show” by The Associated Press in The Oregonian.

Campaign Finance

“Trevor Potter Talks Campaign Finance, Super PACs With Bill Moyers” by Tracy Bloom in Truthdig.

“Ben & Jerry’s co-founder talks campaign finance reform” by Tarini Parti in Politico.

New Mexico: “Albuquerque lawmaker spends campaign money on massages” by The Associated Press in KOB News.

Vermont: “Vt. GOP: Sorrell ad may violate campaign finance law” by WCAX News.

Ethics

“Rep. Waters formally cleared by Ethics panel” by Jordy Jager in The Hill.

“Ethics Committee Details ‘Lessons Learned’ From Maxine Waters Case” by Amanda Becker in Roll Call.

Florida: “State Rep. Mike Horner resigns after being linked to brothel in Orange County” by Toluse Olorunnipa, Steve Bousquet and Marc Caputo in the Miami Herald.

Social Media and Government Tech

“Report: States Should Switch to Digital Resources Within 5 Years” in Government Technology.

“Social Media Now A Must Have In The Political Campaign Toolbox” by Amanda Falcone in the Hartford Courant.

“More than 50 members of Congress just say no to Twitter’s 140 characters” by Alicia M. Cohn in The Hill.

“Facebook lets users announce voter registration” by Jennifer Martinez in The Hill.

Political Campaigns

“‘Trackers’ now a weapon in the modern campaign arsenal” by Ry Rivard in the Charleston Daily Mail.

Campaign Finance

“Phone Company PAC Funds Campaigns Against Republicans With Customer Overpayments” by Janie Lorber in The Hill.

“Super PAC Influence Falls Short Of Aims” by Neil King, Jr. in The Wall Street Journal.

California: “Measure attacks corporate campaign funds” by Heather Knight in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Iowa: “Iowa sees $29.6 million TV ad inundation” by Jennifer Jacobs in the Austin Post-Bulletin.

Washington: “State watchdog says Owen violated campaign laws” by The Associated Press in The Seattle Times.

Lobbying

Alabama: “Probation sought for ex-lobbyist Jennifer Pouncy in bingo bribery trial” by Kim Chandler in the Birmingham News.

Canada:  “Feds respond to Lobbying Act review, but don’t scrap controversial 20 per cent rule” by Bea Vongdouangchanh in The Hill Times.

North Carolina: “Ethics guidance on legislative staffers and lobbyists” by Mark Binker in WRAL.com.

North Carolina:  “Tillis: Second staffer had relationship with lobbyist” by Mark Binker and Laura Leslie in WRAL.com.

Pennsylvania: “Lobbying.ph updated: which tech orgs spent the most lobbying in Philly so far this year?” by Juliana Reyes in Technically Philly.

Ethics

Michigan:  “Kwame Kilpatrick prosecutor: Bernard Kilpatrick acted to ‘cash in’ on son’s mayoral power” by Gus Burns in the Detroit News.

Political Campaigns

“Obama Campaign Adopts ‘Wet Signature’ to Entice New Voters” in Government Technology.

“Campaign expense list: Beer, limos, Chick-fil-A” by Tarini Parti in Politico.

Open Government and Gov 2.0

“One year later We the People petitioners have mixed reviews” by Joseph Marks in Nextgov.

“Open government partnership marks first anniversary” by Kedar Pavgi in Nextgov.

Canada:  “Alberta gets a ‘D’ in freedom of information audit” by Darcy Henton in the Edmonton Journal.

Campaign Finance

Federal: “FEC launches two new campaign finance disclosure tracking tools” by David Phillips in the Examiner.

“Political Fundraising Post-Citizens United” on PBS Newshour.

District of Columbia: “Wells joins call for D.C. campaign reforms” by Tom Howell, Jr. in the Washington Times.

Florida: “N Miami Bch ex-mayor charged in campaign case” by The Associated Press in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Maryland: “Franchot calls for real-time campaign finance reporting” by Holly Nunn in the Gaithersburg Gazette.

Ethics

“Maxine Waters Expected to Be Cleared of Conflict of Interest Charges” by Emma Dumain and Amanda Becker in Roll Call.

“Venue change nixed; Kilpatrick corruption trial gets under way” by Tresa Baldas and Jim Schaefer in the Detroit Free Press.

The city council’s rules committee has tentatively approved amendments to the city’s campaign finance laws that would increase the contribution limits for citywide offices from $500 to $1,000.

Limits for elections within districts would remain at $500.

If the entire city council approves the amendments, the new contribution limits would be in effect for the 2014 election cycle.

Seal of San Diego courtesy of Zscout370 on Wikipedia.

National:

Bain Capital Gives Millions to Democrats

Federal:

Appeals Court Overturns Political Donor Disclosure Ruling

Behind The Big-Ticket Political Fundraisers

From the States and Municipalities:

California

State Ethics Czar to Scale Back Proposed Disclosure Rules on Blogs

Connecticut

Ethics Agency Destroys Public Records of State Officials’ Financial Interests

Georgia

Ethics Commission: State has defanged its watchdog

Kansas

Kansas Ethics Panel Fines Candidates for Posts about Fundraisers on Facebook during Session

Maryland

More Than Half of City Officials, Employees Fill out Ethics Forms Wrong

Michigan

Detroit’s Former Mayor Faces Corruption Trial

Minnesota

Lobbyist Fined Who Donated to Davids’ Campaign

Montana

Federal Appeals Strikes Ban on Partisan Endorsements in Montana Judicial Elections

Oklahoma

Executive Director of Oklahoma State Ethics Commission Retires after 25 Years on Job

Pennsylvania

Pa. High Court Wants Review of Voter ID Access

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.

Lobbying

“Street Talk: From K Street to School Corridors” by Kate Ackley in Roll Call.

“K Street abuzz over who will get the $1.8 million Roundtable job” by Kevin Bogardus in The Hill.

“Report: gambling interests spend heavy in Albany” by The Associated Press in the Wall Street Journal.

“Facebook, Google, Amazon join forces in D.C. lobby” by Cecilia Kang in the Washington Post.

“Twitter hires GOP congressional staffer” by Brendan Sasso in The Hill.

Campaign Finance

“Romney campaign took out $20-million loan, still owes $11 million” by Melanie Mason in the Los Angeles Times.

“FPPC Delays Vote on Paid Political Blogger Regulations” by Ben Adler in Capital Public Radio.

Electoral Maps

“2012 Swing States Map” in Politico 2012 Live.

“The Electoral Map: Building a Path to Victory” in the New York Times.

State Legislatures

“Too Much Information: Enemy # 1 for New Member Orientation” by Bruce Feustel in NCSL’s The Thicket.

Social Media

“Gov Website Evolution: Changes in 2013” by Sarah Rich Government Technology.

“The time of the ‘social media’ candidate is nigh” by Jen Doll on TechPresident.

A federal appellate court has reversed a district court’s electioneering reporting decision, sending the issue back to the FEC.

The significance of today’s decision, pending further possible rule changes or court decisions, is that political contributors giving to an organization making an electioneering communication will not have to be disclosed to the FEC unless the donor specifically earmarks his or her contributions to fund electioneering communications.

This was the rule from 2007 until this spring when a district court ruled that all contributors giving over $1,000, regardless of whether they gave for the specific purpose of electioneering communications, had to be disclosed to the FEC.

In the initial lawsuit, Van Hollen v. FEC, the plaintiff,  U.S. Representative Van Hollen, claimed the FEC regulation 11 C.F.R. §104.20(c)(9), which requires disclosure only of those making contributions over $1,000 to an entity for the purpose of furthering electioneering communications, contradicts the statute requiring disclosure of all donors making contributions over $1,000.

In the spring, a U.S. district court agreed and declared 11 C.F.R. §104.20(c)(9) invalid and vacated the regulation. The court reinstated the FEC’s prior regulation, which was promulgated on December 17, 2002 and was in effect until December 25, 2007. The FEC had formally reiterated the district court’s requirement on July 27, 2012, retroactively applying the disclosure of donors to March 30, 2012.

Today, in Center for Individual Freedom v. Van Hollen, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit reversed Van Hollen v. FEC, vacated the district court’s prior judgment, and remanded the case to the district court. Presently, under the jurisdiction of the district court, the FEC must pursue rulemaking to address the issues brought by the lawsuit or defend 11 C.F.R. §104.20(c)(9) in court against the parties bringing the action.

This is a signature issue for Representative Van Hollen who will probably continue to vigorously litigate this issue.

The FEC has not publicly declared its next course of action.

Lobbying

“At Holland & Knight, lobbyists no longer have corner offices” by Catherine Ho in the Washington Post.

Florida: “Lobbyist’s lobbying group coming to Jacksonville for annual conference” by Matt Dixon in the Florida Times-Union.

Campaign Finance

“Poll: Americans largely in favor of campaign spending limitations” by Morgan Little in the Los Angeles Times.

“Republican super PACs ramp up spending in House races” by Jake Sherman in Politico.

District of Columbia:  “Michael A. Brown’s missing campaign funds” in the Washington Post.

Washington: “Parties pouring cash into race for governor” by Andrew Garber and Justin Mayo in the Seattle Times.

Elections

“Voter Information Guides Go Social With TheBallot.org” by Sarah Lai Stirland in TechPresident.

Ethics

Georgia: “Ethics commission: State has defanged its watchdog” by Chris Joyner in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

New Hampshire: Opinion piece by Grant Bosse,“Election laws grow more confusing” in the New Hampshire Watchdog.

Social Media

“Could a workplace social network replace email and phone? One agency thinks so.” by Joseph Marks in NextGov.

“Facebook knows how to trick you into voting” by Kevin Charles Redmon in Nextgov.