“Google Protest of Anti-Piracy Bills Upends Traditional Lobbying” by Eric Engleman in Bloomberg News.

“One early winner in SOPA protest: Wikipedia” by Charles Cooper on CBS News.

“Silicon Valley learns fast in game of lobbying” by April Dembosky in Financial Times.

Voters in three Broward County cities will be asked to undo part of the recently enacted countywide code of ethics. Residents of Wilton Manors, Hillsboro Beach, and Sea Ranch Lakes will all vote during the January 31, 2012 election as to whether local elected officials should be subjected to state law on issues relating to their side jobs instead of the new county code of ethics.

The effort to pass the referendum has been spearheaded in large part by Wilton Manors Mayor Gary Resnick. Resnick, a telecommunications attorney who lobbies in other cities in Broward County, fears he will be unable to run for another term in office after his current term is complete due to the ban on elected officials also being employed as lobbyists or engaging in lobbying activities in Broward County.

The code of ethics became effective countywide on January 2, 2012.

Senate Bill 244 proposes adding the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, the National Assembly of Sportsmen’s Caucuses and the State Agriculture and Rural Leaders Association to a statutory list of lobbyist exemptions. If the bill passes, the groups will be exempt from the gift disclosures and paid travel bans imposed on lobbyists, regardless of whether lobbying occurs at their events. This is the latest attempt at carving out exceptions to the 2010 ethics reform bill which banned lobbyist-funded, out-of-state travel for legislators.

Although lobbyists cannot directly pay for a state legislator’s trip, by simply paying for membership in an exempt group like the American Legislative Exchange Council, the lobbyists gain access to legislators. Giving a group an exemption allows legislators to travel to the group’s conferences and hunting trips, at the group’s expense, without violating the lobbying rules or having to disclose the trips.

Exempt groups claim to be established for the education and support of legislators.

Photo of the Indiana State Senate Chamber by Charles Edward on Wikipedia.

Federal:

Democratic National Convention Rules Set off K St. Scramble

GOP Uses Citizens United to Challenge Corporate Donation Ban

What Donors? Super PACs Buy Time to Keep Secret the Names of Donors Ahead of GOP Primaries

From the States and Municipalities:

Arizona

State Sen. Scott Bundgaard Resigns from Legislature

California

Assemblywoman Mary Hayashi’s Shoplifting Incident Raises Medical Questions

Georgia

Wild Hog: Lobbyists’ trough?

Idaho

Idaho Leaders Ready to Strengthen Ethics Laws

Illinois

Lobbying Disclosure Rules Spotty

Massachusetts

Ex-Avon Worker’s Revenge Attempt Brings $5,000 Fine

Mississippi

Mississippi Court Halts Quick Release of Some Pardoned

Montana

SCOTUS Expected to Weigh Montana Campaign Finance Appeal

New Jersey

Bill to Prohibit Political Fundraising at Government Facilities Wins Legislature’s Approval

New Mexico

Judge Puts Parts of Contribution-Limits Law on Hold

North Carolina

Judge Clears Former Lobbyist

Oregon

Campaign Finance Regulations Go Before High Court

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 Georgia Alliance for Ethics Reform, which includes members of Common Cause and Georgia Tea Party Patriots, is pushing for gift limits that would cap lobbyist spending on lawmakers at $100 in the hopes of curbing lobbyist influence of elected officials. The group’s reforms would also ban public officials and their family members from serving on the state ethics board or holding government contracts.

State Representative Tommy Smith says he is willing to sponsor the bill this session and is looking for other lawmakers to join him.

However, House Speaker David Ralston downplayed the need for more ethics legislation. Speaker Ralston believes the existing reporting requirements sufficiently limit lobbyist influence by keeping the public informed.

Photo of the Georgia State Capitol dome by connor.carey on Wikipedia.

Lobbying:

“Group pushes ethics reform in hopes of curbing lobbyist influence at Georgia Legislature” by Errin Haines (Associated Press) in The Republic.

Campaign Finance:

“Late Night: Stephen Colbert drops ‘super PAC’ to run for president” by Meredith Blake in the Los Angeles Times. (with a wink…)

“Super PACs are making their rich presence felt in 2012 campaigns” David Goldstein in the Sacramento Bee.

“Summary of Kansas Senate Campaign Finance Reports” in the Missouri News Horizon.

“The 20 Largest Campaign Donors in Rhode Island” by Dan McGowan on golocalProv.com.

“No action taken on Oklahoma’s campaign disclosure laws” by Michael McNutt in the Daily Oklahoman.

Ethics:

“John Edwards trial: Lawyers request for delay will be considered by judge” by The Associated Press on Politico.

“Prison for ex-Rep. Siljander: He aided terrorist-linked charity” by Matt Pearce in the Los Angeles Times.

Electronic filing for lobbyist reports will be available beginning with the report due February 15, 2012 covering the month of January 2012.

You can read the press release from the Office of the Secretary of State here.

The Washington House of Representatives, Committee on State Government and Tribal Affairs, has scheduled a public hearing for January 11, 2012 and a possible executive session for January 12, 2012 to discuss House Bill 1474 which would make electronic filing of lobbying reports mandatory.

It would also create new fees associated with electronic filings by lobbyists, lobbyist employers, and PACs.

If passed by both chambers and signed by the governor, changes will be effective July 1, 2012.

Photo of the Washington House of Representatives Chamber by Cacophony on Wikipedia.

NORTH CAROLINA: Wake County Superior Court Judge Paul Ridgeway has cleared former lobbyist Don Beason of misconduct, finding parts of North Carolina’s lobbying reform law are ambiguous as applied and the secretary of state overreached in fining Beason.

The court held that Beason does not have to pay the $30,000 fine imposed on him. Secretary of State Elaine Marshall fined Beason a record-setting $111,000 in 2010, an amount that was later reduced, for failing to make required disclosures about companies he was representing.

Judge Ridgeway stated North Carolina law defines a lobbyist as someone who communicates directly with legislators or their employees, but there was no evidence Beason directly contacted anyone on behalf of the companies he represented. Additionally, because the law gave the state ethics commission the authority to interpret the act and the secretary of state the power to administer it, Marshall overstepped her authority in interpreting the act and fining Beason.

Thank you to Political Activity Law blog for bringing this to our attention. As part of its series about lobbying and U.S. politics on Morning Edition, NPR broadcast a story about how a study calculated what money corporations saved through a tax break from the American Jobs Creation Act versus what they spent lobbying on the legislation.

You can listen to the podcast and read the summary of the story at “Forget Stocks or Bonds, Invest in a Lobbyist” by Alex Blumberg on NPR. Here is the link to the previous podcast “Inside Washington’s Money Machine” from November 1, 2011.

Here is the original study conducted by Raquel Alexander, Stephen Mazza, and Susan Scholz.

“Lobbyist Is Expected to Plead Guilty in Corruption Case” by Benjamin Weiser in The New York Times .

“Why Would a Lobbyist Need Social Media?” by John Hall on Social Media Today.

“Too many lobbyists? There’s an app for that” by Anthony Man and Larry Barszewski in The South Florida Sun-Sentinel. (Thank you George Ticoras for seeing this one!)

This quick desk reference combines information from our online resources and lists the information by state:

– The Executive Source Guide on Lobbying Laws™;
– The Executive Source Guide on Political Contributions™; and
– The Executive Source Guide on Procurement Lobbying™.

This guidebook is filled with valuable information. However, we also caution it has two limitations:

The online resources, which you receive either through your subscription or as part of your lobbying compliance service, are comprehensive. This guidebook summarizes information in the online resources, and is meant only as a quick-reference guide.

While this guidebook is accurate and timely when we print it, please understand our online resources are updated continually. We provide this guidebook to you as a convenience, but your ultimate source of information should always be the online resource(s) to which you subscribe.

We consider this guidebook another value-added benefit of your partnership with State and Federal Communications. You also receive, via e-mail, monthly updates of important compliance legislation on the federal and state levels; News You Can Use™, our weekly summary of current news and events regarding compliance; and the Compliance Now newsletter with even more information.

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Title 15 requires government officials and employees to disclose their financial affairs and sets minimum ethical standards for the conduct of state and local business. The law also requires all counties, municipalities, and school boards adopt ethics standards at least equal to the state’s ethics law with regard to conflicts of interest, financial disclosure, and lobbying. Each local ethics commission is required to certify its compliance with the Maryland Ethics Commission on or before October 1st of each year, beginning in 2011.

Some local officials are still working toward agreement and passage of the required bills. Although officials may follow the state’s guidelines, many are choosing their own paths. For instance, the registration thresholds for lobbyists in Title 15 include an expenditure clause and a gift clause: $500 in expenditures towards influencing legislative or executive action; or $100 in gifts for the purpose of influencing executive action. The recently passed Charles County bill has a $100 gift threshold, while Alleghany County’s gift threshold is $200. Neither bill includes an expenditure clause. However, in Howard County, there is a $100 expenditure threshold for any lobbying activity, but no gift threshold.

Conflict of interest rules have also been the subject of debate. Title 15 forbids former public officials (other than legislators) and employees from assisting or representing a party in a contract or other specific matter for compensation if the former official or employee participated significantly in the matter as an official or employee. Frederick County attempted to limit this prohibition to one year for former commissioners with an exemption for former employees. This modification was rejected by the state. The Frederick County delegation now plans to propose changes to Title 15 before the general assembly to allow the one year limitations.

Counties such as Baltimore and Montgomery continue to debate and, as of December 1, 2011, had yet to approve a final version of the required ethics bill.

In the latest development, the State Ethics Commission met to respond to exemption requests. According to the Maryland Municipal League web site:

“The Maryland State Ethics Commission met on December 8 to consider a number of exemption requests from various municipalities around the state. Several jurisdictions were requesting an extension of an existing exemption, while some cities and towns were requesting new exemptions from the recently enacted financial disclosure reporting requirement. The results were varied, although it seemed as though population and budget size were the criteria most often cited by the members of the Ethics Commission when exemptions were being considered. For more information, please contact Tom Reynolds or Candace Donoho on the MML staff.”

Lobbyists wishing to lobby in any of Palm Beach County, Florida’s 38 cities will soon be subject to a countywide lobbyist registry, as approved by the Palm Beach County Board of County Commissioners at their most recent meeting.

Lobbyists will be required to pay $25 to register the names of their clients, while also being required to submit annual expense reports. There will also be limits on gifts from lobbyists.

A city may opt out of the countywide registry, but then must create its own registry.

Photo of Palm Beach by Michael Kagdis on Wikipedia.