Lobbying

Missouri: “Impact of Missouri’s ‘Revolving Door’ Lobbyist Law Questioned” by Jason Hancock for Kansas City Star

Campaign Finance

“Despite Recommendations, FEC Won’t Pursue Charges that Murray Energy Coerced Campaign Donations from Employees” by Sabrina Eaton for Cleveland Plain Dealer

“NRA to Pay $15,000 for Breaking State Campaign-Finance Rules” by Joseph O’Sullivan for Seattle Times

Virginia: “Officials: Federal prosecutors investigating Virginia Gov. McAuliffe” by Matt Zapotosky for Washington Post

Ethics

“Facebook Says an Investigation Found No Evidence of Bias in a News App” by Mike Isaac for New York Times

“NFL Tried to Influence ‘Unrestricted’ Research Gift, Congressional Report Says” by Rick Maese for Washington Post

Massachusetts: “Legislature Poised to Pass Public Records Measure” by Joshua Miller for Boston Globe

Elections

“Getting a Photo ID So You Can Vote Is Easy. Unless You’re Poor, Black, Latino or Elderly.” by Sari Horwitz for Washington Post

“Democrats Are Gay, Republicans Are Rich: Our stereotypes of political parties are amazingly wrong” by John Sides for Washington Post

“Reeling from 2016 Chaos, G.O.P. Mulls Overhaul of Primaries” by Jeremy Peters for New York Times

Gov. Terry is the subject of a federal investigation surrounding contributions to his gubernatorial campaign. The Department of Justice is looking into donations received while McAuliffe was a board member of the Clinton Global Initiative, a charitable foundation set up by former President Bill Clinton.

Among many contributions of interest, the FBI is focusing on $120,000 from a Chinese businessman, Wang Wenliang. Contributions from foreign nationals are illegal, though Wang holds permanent U.S. resident status. Wang has been known for his contributions in the U.S., giving to Clinton’s foundation as well as to universities and political causes in other states.

Last week, Gov. Terry McAuliffe signed Senate Bill 692, approving changes to the state’s ethics laws yet again.

Among the changes, lobbyists will only have to file one disclosure report each year, down from two, on July 1 for the preceding 12-month period. The bill also creates an exception in the definition of gifts for any item with a value of less than $20 and limits the definition of a procurement transaction, in terms of lobbying executive action, to contracts costing $5 million or more.

While most of the bill is effective January 1, 2017, an emergency clause applies to the definition change of procurement transaction, rendering it effective upon passage, and lobbyists will not be required to report until July 1, 2017.

In a surprise move, Senate Democrats voted yesterday to adjourn the special session of the General Assembly. Lawmakers had reconvened just hours earlier to redraw congressional district lines.

The maneuver is an attempt to allow Gov. Terry McAuliffe to extend a temporary appointment of a state supreme court justice.

Though many senators have left the capitol, House Republican leaders insist the session has not ended and are contemplating their next move.

The Virginia General Assembly adjourned sine die on Friday, February 27, 2015. Before adjourning, the legislature sent an ethics bill to the governor.

House Bill 2070 changes the $250 annual, aggregate gift limit to a $100 per-gift limit. However, the bill also contains a lengthy list of exceptions to the gift limit. Additionally, the bill creates an ethics council, but provides it with little power.

Gov. Terry McAuliffe spoke positively about the bill, but promised to look at it carefully due to the last-minute nature of its passage.

Photo of the Virginia State Capitol by Anderskev in Wikimedia Commons.

Governor Terry McAuliffe declared a special election will take place on November 4, 2014 to fill the seat vacated by Representative Eric Cantor.

Representative Cantor, who lost the Republican primary election on June 10, recently announced that he would resign from Congress effective August 18.

Cantor has been the representative from Virginia’s 7th District for the last seven terms.

Photo of Gov. Terry McAuliffe by Kate Wellington on Wikimedia Commons.

On June 20, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe signed the state’s two-year budget with a series of line-item vetoes. With plans to introduce stronger ethics reform legislation in next year’s General Assembly session, he vetoed all funding for the Virginia Conflicts of Interest and Ethics Advisory Council.

The council, established to oversee state ethics provisions related to lobbying, gifts, and conflicts of interest, is a product of the recent omnibus ethics reform bill signed by the governor in April.

Lawmakers needed two-thirds of the votes in each legislative body to override the veto; the House overrode the veto on Monday but the closely divided Senate lacked enough votes to follow suit. The veto of funding for the ethics commission was sustained.

Photo of Gov. McAuliffe courtesy of Kate Wellington on Wikimedia Commons.

Lobbying

“K Street powerhouse loses founding partner” by Megan R. Wilson in The Hill.

“Is Akin Gump the New King of K Street?” by Marisa M. Kashino in the Washingtonian.

“Lobbyists want spot on Team Scalise” by Megan R. Wilson in The Hill.

“K Street hits the jackpot with casino magnate” by Julian Hattem in The Hill.

Campaign Finance

“Study Examines Role Of Citizens United Ruling On Politics” by Jim Letizia on WCBE.

“National Party Committees Report May Financial Figures” by Kent Cooper in Roll Call.

Alaska: “APOC staff says Anchorage mayor broke campaign finance law, proposes $187.50 fine” by Nathaniel Herz in the Anchorage Daily News.

Oklahoma: “Election Records: ‘Dark-Money,’ Campaign Groups Have Close Connections” by Oklahoma Watch & Clifton Adcock in KGOU.

Ethics

“‘Ms. Ethics’ Carol Dixon Remembered Fondly (Video)” by Colin Diersing in Roll Call.

“Don Young Must Repay $59K for Improper Trips/Gifts” by Kent Cooper in Roll Call.

Florida: “New Miami-Dade task force to target state public corruption” by David Ovalle in the Miami Herald.

Georgia: “Ethics commission to get new member” by Aaron Gould Sheinin in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Virginia: “Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe vetoes funds for ethics commission” by Rachel Weiner in The Washington Post.

Wisconsin: “Report: Scott Walker Accused of Campaign Finance ‘Criminal Scheme’” by Mark Murray in NBC News.

Wisconsin: “Scott Walker and campaign-finance law: Just how dodgy?” in The Economist.

Elections

“Democrats Playing Defense in 2014 State Legislative Races” by Louis Jacobson in Governing.

Oklahoma: “Is Oklahoma Senate headed for a runoff?” by Cameron Joseph in The Hill.

Government Tech and Social Media

“How the White House’s We the People E-Petition Site Became a Virtual Ghost-Town” by Dave Karpf in TechPresident.

“Awareness, Tech Projects are Top Crowdsourced Goals in Government, Study Says” in Government Technology.

EU: “Lobbyists increasingly look online to influence EU policy” in Euractiv.

Gov. Terry McAuliffe has vetoed two bills unanimously passed by the legislature designed to restrict his ability to solicit gifts and campaign contributions. The identical bills would have prevented the governor, his campaign committee, and any PAC established on his behalf from soliciting or accepting gifts or contributions exceeding $50 from any person or entity seeking loans or grants from the Governor’s Development Opportunity Fund.

The governor sent the bills back with amendments extending the rules to members of the General Assembly, but both houses rejected the amendments to their bills.

The governor argued the restrictions should extend to the General Assembly because, although he awards loans and grants from the fund, the money is appropriated by the General Assembly. Legislators responded it would be impractical to include them in the bills, because they are not privy to such high-level economic development talks or information about the parties involved.

Photo of Gov. Terry McAuliffe courtesy of Kate Wellington on Wikimedia Commons.

Terry McAuliffe was sworn in as Governor of Virginia this weekend, and already he is making ethics a priority for his administration. Executive Order 2 establishes a gift limit for all executive branch officials and employees, prohibiting acceptance of gifts exceeding $100 per calendar year. Gifts from lobbyists and principals are restricted to $25.

The order does allow for some exceptions, such as excluding items of $25 or less from the definition of gift, and allowing for receipt of certain items while engaging in an activity serving a legitimate public purpose, such as food and refreshments served at certain events.

These restrictions became effective upon his signature on January 11, 2014.

The full text of Executive Order 2 can be viewed here.

Photo of Gov. Terry McAuliffe by Edward Kimmel on Wikimedia Commons.