Campaign Finance

“McCain predicts ‘huge’ U.S. campaign finance scandals” by Alina Selyukh (Reuters) in the Chicago Tribune.

“McCain Calls SCOTUS Decision on Campaign Spending ‘Stupid’” by Rebekah Metzler in the Chicago Tribune.

“Beware of the super-PAC: More lawmakers are fearing an ad ambush” by Joe Picard in The Hill.

Montana: “Conservative groups challenging campaign finance law formally seek Supreme Court intervention” by The Associated Press in The Republic.

Lobbying

“Lobbyists reaping $220M bonanza” by Rich Karlin in the Albany Times Union.

“Memo details oil, gas industry lobbying expenditures” by The Associated Press in the News Tribune.

“Review of lobbyist spending prompts House ethics meeting” by Jason Clayworth in the Des Moines Register.

The Kentucky Senate unanimously approved House Bill 300 on Monday. The bill requires “placement agents” to register as lobbyists and follow state ethics laws. Placement agents are individuals or firms who are compensated for the purpose of influencing an executive agency decision regarding the investment of Kentucky Retirement Systems or the Kentucky Teachers’ Retirement Systems assets.

The bill is a response to concerns raised by last year’s audit of the state pension system. Now the bill returns to the House following technical changes made by the Senate.

The Cuyahoga County Inspector General, Nailah Byrd, has issued an advisory opinion (IGADV-0005) regarding whether a public official or employee’s acceptance of a ticket to a charitable fundraising event violates any provision of the ethics ordinance.

The opinion states that while the ethics ordinance does not explicitly prohibit the acceptance of a ticket, it does require certain conditions to be met.

A charitable event ticket given by a lobbyist or contractor must not include an extravagant or lavish meal, entertainment of significant value, or a fair market value price exceeding $75.

Federal

“Generation X joining K Street” by Jonathan Allen and Jennifer Martinez in Politico.

“Administration Staffers Head Out the Revolving Door” by Kate Ackley in Roll Call.

In the States

Illinois: “Illinois Senate panel blocks lobbyist ethics legislation” by Shannon McFarland (Associated Press) in the Jacksonville Journal Courier.

Illinois: “Lobbying reforms buried in subcommittee” by Rick Miller in Capitol Fax.

Iowa: “Iowa’s lobbying free-for-all” by Jason Clayworth and Jeffrey Kummer in the Des Moines Register.

Massachusetts: “AP: Mass. health care 5-year lobbying topped $51M” by Steve LeBlanc (Associated Press) in Bloomberg BusinessWeek.

Minnesota:  “$61M spent on lobbying in 2011” by Matt Herbert in Minnesota Daily.

National:

Study: State governments at high risk for corruption

Federal:

Federal Contractors Donate to Super PAC Backing Romney

GOP Super PAC Men Seek to Overturn Donation Limits

Insider Trading Ban for Lawmakers Clears Congress

Senate Dems Push ‘Disclose Act 2.0’

From the States and Municipalities:

Alabama

Key Corruption Trial Attorneys to Be in Benefit

Georgia

Atlanta Ethics Nominee Withdraws Name; Legislation to Give City Council More Power is Shelved

Illinois

Democrats Now Press Smith to Resign

Kansas

Kansas Bill Would Allow Officials to Explain Ballot Items in ‘Plain English’

Wisconsin

Ethics Violations Filed against Prosser

Wisconsin

Supreme Court Dismisses Case Challenging Political Ad Rules

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.

Governor Dennis Daugaard has signed House Bill 1196. The bill amends the lobbyist reporting requirements to reflect the secretary of state’s electronic filing capabilities.

The employer authorization and lobbyist expense report may be submitted in writing or electronically. The completed reports are open to public inspection and will no longer need to be notarized before filing.

Although the bill has an effective date of July 1, 2012, the EZ Lobby system is already accessible at the secretary of state’s website.

The site allows lobbyists and their employers to register, pay fees, update information, and report expenses electronically. Paper forms are still available for lobbyists who chose to register by mail.

“Revolving Door: Hill Staffers with Retiring Bosses Hit K Street” by Andrew Joseph in National Journal’s Influence Alley.

“Minnesota Capitol the recipient of $59 million lobbying effort” by Megan Boldt in the Grand Forks Herald.

“Business groups spent $14 million lobbying Minn. Legislators” by Rachel E. Stassen-Berger in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

“Democrats propose new Missouri ethics bill” by Elizabeth Crisp in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. According to the article, “the bill would restrict the amount lawmakers and their immediate family members could accept from lobbyists, prohibit lawmakers from working as paid political consultants while in office and limit the investment of campaign contributions to interest-bearing checking or savings accounts.”

“Utah’s revolving door keeps spinning out lobbyists” by Britny Mortensen in The Salt Lake Tribune.

Federal:

2012 GOP Primary Shaping Up to Be Cheapest Race in Years

Group Offers $25,000 Reward for Exposing Secret Corporate Giving

From the States and Municipalities:

Alabama

Alabama Public Corruption Trials Focus on Bribes vs. Donations

Colorado

Spending by Super PACs in Colorado Is the Dominion of Democrats

Illinois

Part of Campaign Finance Law Nixed

Illinois

State Rep. Derrick Smith, of Chicago, Is Charged with Accepting Bribe

Kentucky

Senate Changes Schedule, Allowing David Williams to Attend Kentucky Basketball Game

Minnesota

Business-Backed ALEC’s Relations with Conservative Lawmakers Riles Democrats

New Mexico

Arrests Mount in Sunland Park Scandal; New Details about Alleged Extortion Threat Emerge

Ohio

Jimmy Dimora Convicted of Racketeering, 32 Other Corruption-Related Charges

Ohio

Legislator Charged in FBI Bribery Sting

South Carolina

Ard Resigns, Is Indicted, Gets Probation

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.

Take a tour of our site and click on the “Free Live Online Demo” on the middle of the left column of the home page. You will open a page with three blue links, located in the middle of the page:

•Executive Source Guide on Lobbying Laws
•Executive Source Guide on Political Contributions
•Executive Source Guide on Procurement Lobbying

Click on any one – or all three – to view the state of Alaska compliance information we provide to clients. This comprehensive and vital compliance information is updated continuously.

We have this same online information for all 50 states, the federal government, and 226 municipal and regional governments.

If you would like to view everything we have for online clients, contact us at info@stateandfed.com or 330-761-9960 and ask about our two-week trial. There is no cost for the trial, and you are under no obligation to purchase.

We can think of no better way for you to see the value in our online resources than for you and your team to actually use them for two weeks in your compliance efforts.

Howard Marlowe, president of the American League of Lobbyists, recently sent a letter to President Obama asking him to change his tone toward lobbyists and the lobbying profession. The organization is making a connection between the administration’s anti-lobbyist rhetoric and the rising number of unregistered lobbyists.

Whether they are calling themselves consultants or advisers, Marlowe points out that these people are lobbying and their activity thus goes on without any oversight:

“Those who are not registered are protected from discovery by the lack of an effective enforcement mechanism. Our primary concern with incentivizing deregistration is that the public loses knowledge of who these people are lobbying, who is paying for their advocacy work, how much they are being paid, and what issues are they being paid to work on.”

For full news coverage, please read “Lobbyists to Obama: Tone down the rhetoric!” by Byron Tau in Politico.

Photo of the White House by UpstateNYer on Wikipedia.

The Miami-Dade County Board of Commissioners has passed an ordinance requiring registered lobbyists to complete ethics training. The effective date of the ordinance is March 16, 2012.

Registered lobbyists must, within 60 days of registration, submit to the clerk of the board a certificate of completion of an ethics course offered by the Miami-Dade County Commission on Ethics and Public Trust. Lobbyists must also complete a refresher course every two years. The cost of the ethics course will be $100.

Additionally, the requirement is not applicable to any municipal lobbyist in the county unless the municipality has adopted an ordinance requiring ethics training and an agreement with the county authorizes the county ethics commission to provide an ethics training course.

Finally, the executive director of the Miami-Dade County Ethics Commission may waive the ethics course requirement for a particular lobbyist when it is determined that the lobbyist has taken an initial or refresher ethics course offered by a municipality satisfying the requirements pertaining to the Miami-Dade County ethics course requirements.

The Miami-Dade County Ethics Commission has noted their intent to contact all registered lobbyists in regards to this course once the course is prepared and ready to be offered.

Federal:

FEC Moves on Outdated Rules

One Super PAC Takes Aim at Incumbents of Any Party

From the States and Municipalities:

Alabama

Jury Acquits All Defendants, Including Means, in Gambling Corruption Case

California

Ethics Panel Raises Donation Limits in Municipal Campaigns

California

Trutanich Paid for YouTube Views of D.A. Campaign Videos

Georgia

Some Priorities Fade as Lawmakers Favor Social Issues Ahead of Election Season

Maryland

Bereano’s 1994 Conviction Upheld

Maryland

Leopold Indicted on Charges of Using Police Detail for Political Gain

Missouri

Honor for Rush Limbaugh is Fracas for Missouri

Nevada

Ethics Case Back before Nevada Supreme Court

New Mexico

Newly Elected Sunland Park Mayor to Seek Court Order to Do Job

Oklahoma

Ex-Senator Convicted of Bribery; Co-Defendant Free

Utah

Special Interests Busy Providing Perks to Legislators

West Virginia

W.Va. Ethics Panel Clarifies Cohabitation Law

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.

The State Integrity Investigation, a project by the Center for Public Integrity and other partners, is giving each state a grade in various areas of accountability and transparency. “Keep Government Honest” is their motto.

Lobbying is one of the categories they are measuring. The report considers a state’s definition of lobbying, its registration and reporting requirements, disclosure by lobbyist employers and principals, its citizen access to data, and the monitoring of lobbying requirements. The grades they are giving are “weak,” “fair,” or “strong”.

What is the corruption risk data for your state? It is easy to check by using this interactive map. (Some states’ grades are still being compiled.)

Take a look at “Michigan ‘weak’ in lobbying oversight,” where Peter Luke of Bridge Magazine discusses the mixed grades in Michigan’s report card.

Q.  As an organization employing in-house lobbyists, what expenditures am I required to capture for inclusion in the aggregate dollar amount reported on my quarterly Federal LD-2 report?

A. There are a variety of expenditures that Federal registrants are required to track and report in an effort to provide a good faith estimate of their activity.  These expenditures include:

• Compensation, expenses and overhead associated with “registered” lobbyist employee activity.  For Federal purposes, a “registered” lobbyist is an individual who meets the statutory definition of a lobbyist and is listed by name on the LD-2 report;
• Compensation, expenses and overhead associated with any non-lobbyist employee who engaged in lobbying activity during the quarter (even though they do not meet the statutory definition of lobbyist).  Their names are not listed on the report, but the value of their activity is included;
• Dues paid to an association or membership organization during the quarter that are attributable to lobbying.  This amount is typically a percentage of the overall payments made to the membership organization and is ascertained by speaking with the outside entity directly.  Importantly, dues payments for lobbying activities should be included in the estimate for the quarter in which they are paid and cannot be apportioned over a longer period of time;
• Retainers/fees incurred during the quarter to outside consultants/firms for lobbying activities.  These fees are required to be included during the quarter in which they are incurred regardless of whether billing or payment has been made.

If we can be of assistance in helping to identify reportable expenditures, please let us know.

You can directly submit questions for this feature, and we will select those most appropriate and answer them here. Send your questions to: marketing@stateandfed.com.

(We are always available to answer questions from clients that are specific to your needs, and we encourage you to continue to call or e-mail us with questions about your particular company or organization. As always, we will confidentially and directly provide answers or information you need.) Our replies to your questions are not legal advice. Instead, these replies represent our analysis of laws, rules, and regulations.