The Alabama Ethics Commission selected a new director, naming Tom Albritton as its chief.

Albritton is a former prosecutor and is leaving the position of deputy director of the Office of Prosecution Services to take the director position at the ethics commission.

According to the Alabama Media Group, Albritton will focus on three areas upon assuming the role: enforcement, education, and administration.

The Ethics Commission has voted to approve legislative amendments to update, simplify, and improve the city’s Campaign Finance Reform Ordinance during a meeting on January 26, 2015.

The amendments repeal aggregate contribution limits, simplify reporting requirements for corporations and committees, and clarify disclaimer requirements for campaign communications.

The amendments will become law only if approved by two-thirds of the Board of Supervisors.

The Ethics Commission has released a memorandum summarizing legislative amendments proposed by staff to update, simplify, and improve the city’s Campaign Finance Reform Ordinance. The proposed amendments will repeal aggregate contribution limits, simplify reporting requirements for corporations and committees, and clarify disclaimer requirements for campaign communications.

The amendments will be considered during the Ethics Commission’s meeting on January 26 and will become law only if passed by the commission and approved by two-thirds of the Board of Supervisors. The memorandum is available here.

Lobbying

“Republican Congress Lures Lobbyists Back to Capitol Hill” by Megan Wilson for The Hill

“Mollis Adopts Hearing Officer’s Decision that Corso Engaged in Unregistered Lobbying Related to 38 Studios” by Jennifer Bogdon for Providence Journal

Campaign Finance

“Secretive Nonprofits Flourished – and Succeeded – in 2014 State Elections” by Reity O’Brien for The Center for Public Integrity

“Who Wants to Buy a Politician?” by Binyamin Appelbaum for New York Times

“New FEC Chief on ‘Dark Money’ Mission” by Dave Levinthal for The Center for Public Integrity

“Ethics Commission Hits Former Candidate, Treasurer with $43,000 Fine” by Emily Alpert Reyes for Los Angeles Times

“PA Supreme Court: Law firm can forgive U.S. Rep. Bob Brady’s 2007 debt” by Chris Brennan for Philadelphia Daily News

“State High Court to Take up Doe Cases Centered on Walker’s Campaign” by Patrick Marley for Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Ethics

“Payouts to McCrory, Sanford from Mortgage Broker Raise Ethical Questions” by Michael Biesecker and Mitch Weiss (Associated Press) for Charlotte Observer

Elections

“Jeb Bush’s Decision to Explore Presidential Bid Scrambles the 2016 GOP Field” by Matea Gold and Philip Rucker for Washington Post

Legislative Issues

“Message to Lawmakers: Say what you really think” by Alan Greenblatt for Governing

Lobbying

“Hill, K Street: Grab a Drink, Get Your Party On” by Kate Ackley and Rebecca Gale in Roll Call.

“Watchdogs brace for surprises in massive $1.014T spending bill” by Rebecca Shabad in The Hill.

“Meat lobby to vegeterians: You’ll be back” by Lydia Wheeler in The Hill.

Texas: “New Texas House Rules Require the Press to Pledge Not to Lobby” by The Texas Tribune in Governing.

Washington: “New rules limit lobbyist meals for Olympia legislators” by The Associated Press in KGMI.

West Virginia: “Thursday deadline for lobbyists to register in WVa” by The Associated Press in the Bluefield Daily Telegraph.

Campaign Finance

“Obama Fundraising Goal: $225,000-Per-Day for Presidential Library” by John McCormick in Bloomberg.

“Should Judges Be Allowed to Court Campaign Donors?” by Daniel C. Vock in Governing.

Michigan: “Spending in Grand Rapids term limits election came from out of state and big local donor” by Matt Vande Bunte in MLive.com.

New York: “After Ethics Panel’s Shutdown, Loopholes Live On in Albany” by Thomas Kaplan, William K. Rashbaum and Susanne Craig in The New York Times.

Ethics

“House Lawmakers Exempt From Ethics Training in Emerging Rules Package” by Hannah Hess in Roll Call.

Arkansas: “Arkansas lawmakers to discuss new ethics rules” by The Associated Press in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Georgia: “State ethics agency faces more changes” by Christina A. Cassidy in the Gainesville Times.

Tech and Social Media

“$6.9 Billion to be Spent on Civic Tech in 2015, Report Says” in Government Technology.

Hawaii: “Hawaii Adopts ‘Cloud-First’ Policy for IT Projects” by Brian Heaton in Government Technology.

The state Ethics Commission unanimously approved Rebecca Stepto as its next executive director.

The decision comes after a six-week search involving 15 candidates.

Stepto, the current interim executive director, is the fifth person to hold the position.

The state ethics commission met September 30, 2014, for the first public meeting following the firing of former Executive Secretary Holly LaBerge. The commission closed 14 complaints against officials and candidates, approved three new advisory opinions, and discussed the agency’s future.

New staff attorneys Robert Lane and Bethany Whetzel have identified nearly 200 open ethics cases needing processed.

The commission will continue to consider recently drafted amendments to campaign and lobbying rules with the hope of passing the amendments by the end of the year. The amendments will clarify campaign reporting thresholds, permit gift splitting by lobbyists, and require reporting of gifts to family members of officials.

Lobbying

“Police lobby fights to keep gear” by Megan R. Wilson in The Hill.

“Businesses hire lobbyists in push for legal marijuana — and big profits” by Thomas Maier in Newsday.

Toronto, Canada: “Toronto council urged to consider tougher sanctions on lobbyists who break the rules” by Paul Moloney in the Toronto Star.

Campaign Finance

“RNC spends more on Senate field efforts” by James Hohmann in Politico.

“Nickel and dining the taxpayers? Congress has spent nearly $15M in campaign donations on food since 2011” by Leslie Larson in the New York Daily News.

“PACs Back Incumbents; Just Ask Rep. Scott Peters” by Joe Yerardi in KPBS.

California: “Ed Lee campaign faces dilemma over alleged FBI contribution” by John Coté in the San Francisco Chronicle.

District of Columbia: “D.C. Council candidate Robert White’s reform plan: Ban campaign contributions altogether” by Mike DeBonis in The Washington Post.

Maine: “Maine Ethics Commission changes donor limit rule in governor’s race” by Christopher Cousins in the Bangor Daily News.

Maryland: “Primary campaigns cost almost $25 million” by Michael Dresser in The Baltimore Sun.

New Hampshire: “Political parties file dueling finance complaints” by Rik Stevens (Associated Press) in the Nashua Telegraph.

Ethics

Alabama: “Ethics Commission to offer acting director position former Cumberland Law School Dean John Carroll” by The Associated Press in AL.com.

Iowa: “Guilty plea in Iowa caucuses bribery” by The Associated Press in Politico.

North Carolina: “Carteret man to lead ethics commission” in the Jacksonville Daily News.

South Carolina: “Benjamin did not have to disclose Florida trip, ethics commission says” by Clif Leblanc in The State.

Elections

“2014 Senate map comes into focus” on Politico’s Driving the Day.

Legislative Sessions

West Virginia: “Governor: special session to change chemical leak bill ‘an option’” by Dave Boucher in the Charleston Daily Mail.

Tech and Social Media

“Civic Ninjas Find Long-Term Solutions to Government Problems” by Jessica Hughes in Government Technology.

New York: “How New York City Is Becoming Even More Map-Centric With Its Data” by Michael Grass in Government Executive.

Lobbying

“GOP staffers seek to cash in as odds grow of Senate takeover” by Megan R. Wilson in The Hill.

“How the Lobbying Top Tier explains an influence paradox” by Lee Drutman, Matt Grossmann, and Tim LaPira in the Sunlight Foundation Blog.

Massachusetts: “Martha Coakley owns up to lobbyist-held fundraiser” by Chris Cassidy in the Boston Herald.

Campaign Finance

“Election Panel Enacts Policies by Not Acting” by Nick Confessore in The New York Times.

“Joe Biden’s secret fundraisers” by Edward-Isaac Dovere and Tarini Parti in Politico.

“The PAC to End All PACs Is a Farce” by Walter Shapiro in Politico Magazine.

“Millennial PAC tries to inject youth, diversity into graying legislatures” by Aliyah Frumin in MSNBC.

Alabama: “Did Alabama state candidates violate law by taking money from Congressman Bonner’s campaign?” by Brenda Kirby in AL.com.

Alabama: “Alabama Attorney General’s office drops criminal charges against Lowell Barron” by Paul Gattis in AL.com.

Tennessee: “State auditing Brenda Radford’s campaign finance report” by Stephanie Ingersoll in The Leaf-Chronicle.

Ethics

Florida: “Scott campaign, GOP have paid $227K for use of jet” by Steve Bousquet in the Miami Herald Blog.

Georgia: “Judge hears arguments on call for sanctions in ethics commission saga” by Aaron Gould Sheinin in The Atlanta Journal Constitution.

Elections

“Ten weeks out from Election Day, is a Republican wave coming?” by Domenico Montanaro, Terence Burlij, Rachel Wellford and Simone Pathe in PBS NewsHour.

Arizona: “Arizona primary election: 5 key races to watch” by Alia Beard Rau in The Republic.

Political Advertising

“The 2014 digital ad juggernaut” by Darren Samuelsohn in Politico.

“New regs for Wednesday: TV ads, military health plans, truck drivers’” by Tim Devaney in The Hill.

“Political TV ads will soon know who you are” by Jon Fingas in Engadget.

On August 21, the Texas Ethics Commission issued two advisory opinions and a proposed rule amendment.

Advisory Opinion 519 holds a state candidate is not prohibited from accepting an in-kind political contribution from an out-of-state political committee. The contribution to a candidate is allowed if made from a permissible source and the candidate properly complies with the applicable disclosure requirements.

In Advisory Opinion 518, the commission upheld that a group is not a political committee if not accepting or intending to accept political contributions and not using or intending to use more than 20 percent of its funds and other resources to make political expenditures.

The Ethics Commission also voted to propose a rule change by defining “principal purpose” in relation to a group making political contributions and expenditures. While a group can have more than one principal purpose, the definition would create a threshold triggering the disclosure of political contributions and expenditures. The commission also proposed other rule changes. The proposed rules are currently open for comment.

Photo of the Texas Capitol Rotunda dome interior by Ed Uthman on Wikimedia Commons.

The Hawaii State Ethics Commission voted Wednesday to withhold from the public all financial disclosure statements filed by public officials prior to July 8. The decision came in response to a new law expanding the list of financial disclosure statements to be made publicly available.

More than two dozen volunteer board members resigned since the bill’s passing, citing privacy concerns over the release of information regarding income, investments, real estate holdings, and business interests of members, their spouses, and their dependent children.

Les Kondo, executive director of the Ethics Commission, initially interpreted the law as requiring public disclosure of statements already on file. A state deputy attorney general recently found retroactive application of the law to be inappropriate; the financial information of those who resigned will remain confidential and active members’ statements will not be made public until filing again in 2015.

City Council has approved a proposal by Councilmember Dan Kalb to amend the Oakland City Charter to strengthen the authority, resources, and independence of the Public Ethics Commission.

The amendment would expand the authority of the commission by transferring filing officer duties from the city clerk for lobbying and campaign finance reporting. The seven-member commission would also be given the authority to enforce state ethics laws by imposing fines when four members agree by vote.

The amendment will now be placed on the November 2014 ballot.

The Hawaii State Ethics Commission, in a 3-2 vote on June 18, approved new guidelines for lawmakers to follow in an effort to regulate the spending of their annual allowance.

Each legislator receives almost $12,000 each year to cover incidental expenses related to legislative duties.

The legislative leadership welcomed the recommendations and will consider revising their current rules, despite failing to acknowledge the commission’s jurisdiction with regard to the matter.

In an ongoing battle for independence, the Honolulu Ethics Commission sent a letter to Mayor Kirk Caldwell highlighting the latest affront by corporation counsel and asking the administration to demonstrate its commitment to a strong ethics program.

The letter mentioned commission plans to investigate city employees suspected of getting paid for work they did not do. The suspected fraud is estimated to cost the city a quarter of a million dollars per year, and the commission requested authority to purchase a $600 GPS tracking device to use as part of its investigation. Donna Leong, the city’s corporation counsel, took five weeks to conditionally approve the purchase, by which time the investigative window had closed.

The Caldwell administration did not respond or comment on the letter; it will likely be discussed at the June 26 Ethics Commission meeting.