Federal:

Gingrich, Romney Campaigns Count on Lobbyists to Pay the Bills

Occupy D.C. Protesters Shut Down K Street

Stephen Colbert Gets Love at FEC

From the States and Municipalities:

Alabama

Alabama Ethics Law Limits What Students Can Give Teachers; Homemade Cookies OK, Hams Not Allowed

California

California Ethics Agency Relaxes Rules on Gifts to Politicians

California

Watchdog Agency Fines Former Pinole Councilman $111,500 for Ethics Violations

District of Columbia

D.C. Council Tentatively Approves Ethics Reform Bill

Georgia

Fines Levied on Georgia Politicians Reported Reduced Because of Notification Costs

Illinois

Blagojevich Hit with 14-Year Prison Sentence

Maryland

Jack Johnson, Former Prince George’s Executive, Sentenced to Seven Years in Corruption

Maryland

Rule Would Allow Campaign Donations by Text Message

Minnesota

Minnesota Ads Discussing Gay Marriage Approved For Less Financing Disclosure

Missouri

Missouri Politicians Enjoyed World Series Thanks to Lobbyists

Vermont

Vermont Court Imposes $10,000 Penalty in Campaign Finance Suit

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.

CLARK COUNTY, NEVADA: The Clark County commissioners passed a new lobbying policy on December 6, 2011.

The policy permits county commissioners who are public employees to return to their public jobs immediately after serving in an elected position.

The ethics amendment also prohibits commissioners from working as paid consultants or lobbyists on any issue coming before a public body in Clark County.

The Ottawa City Council Governance Renewal Sub-Committee has directed the city clerk to refine a proposed lobbyist code of conduct.

The councillors explicitly want the differences between advocacy and lobbying to be delineated in order to exempt advocacy activities from registration. The subcommittee differentiated advocacy activities, “communications that state a position for the purpose of a general community benefit, either city-wide or local,” from lobbying activities, “communications that seek to influence a decision for the direct benefit of an individual or the group they represent.”

The clerk’s office is also directed to develop options for a definition of a community association.

Also unsure of the best manner for the city to handle lobbyist activity disclosure, an additional demand was made of the clerk’s staff to “provide a high level overview of options for disclosure, including pros and cons of disclosure by Public Officials only, disclosure by lobbyists only, and dual disclosure.”

A response to the sub-committee is during sometime in the first quarter of 2012. The Governance Renew Sub-Committee is a sub-committee of the Finance and Economic Development standing committee.

Photo of Ottawa in January by SimonP on Wikipedia.

Newt Gingrich claims he was not lobbying after he left public office. The charge by some that he was lobbying – and Gingrich’s response – has raised issues regarding whether one can tell the difference between a lobbyist and someone engaged in non-lobbying advocacy.

Read more about it in this Reuters article, “Gingrich’s work shows limits of U.S. lobbying law” by David Ingram.

Also: “Gingrich Says He Was Acting as a Citizen, Not a Lobbyist” by Jim Rutenberg in the New York Times.

Photo of Newt Gingrich by Gage Skidmore on Wikipedia.

The overhaul split the commission staff into an administrative division, an investigative division, and a compliance-education division. In addition to these changes, a change in the reporting law has resulted in hundreds of delinquencies by local officials who are filing with the state for the first time. The agency has been required to devote time and resources to contact anyone in arrears by certified mail.

Meanwhile, larger investigations have stalled. Earlier this month the commission dismissed a case filed in 2004 because the statute of limitations had expired. A more recent complaint filed against a lobbyist who failed to timely file or register and who paid for a state official’s travel to Europe is now 10 months old and delayed.

Executive Secretary Holly LaBerge is expected to hire staff auditors and receive assistance from the attorney general’s office to aid prosecutorial efforts.

Federal:

Democratic Groups Stalled on Launch Pad

FEC Permits Small Donor Channeling

Religious Lobbying Groups Multiply on Capitol Hill

South Jersey Congressman Spent $9,000 from Campaign Funds on Donor’s Wedding

From the States and Municipalities:

California

New Chair of Campaign Finance Watchdog Draws Strong Reactions

Connecticut

WFP Director Fined For Lobbying Without Badge

District of Columbia

D.C. Council to Consider Ethics Reform Bill

Illinois

Tony Rezko Sentenced to 10½ Years: Former Blagojevich fundraiser convicted of corruption

Massachusetts

Bump Knocked for Fundraising Letter

Mississippi

Campaigns Downplay Race, but Voters Don’t Follow Suit

Nevada

Trip to Brazil Raises Concerns about Lobbyists’ Access

Pennsylvania

City’s Lobbyist-Disclosure Program to Start in ’12

Washington

Right-Wing PAC Fights Campaign Disclosure

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.

GoLocalProv.com posted this article today: “RI Groups Have Spent Over $2.2 million on Washington Lobbyists in 2011” by Dan McGowan.

According to the article, “Rhode Island corporations, cities and towns, colleges and universities and non-profit organizations have spent more than $2.2 million this year on lobbyists in the nation’s capital, a GoLocalProv review of lobbyist reports shows.”

Lobbyists in Texas must update their filing software to the newest version in order to properly file reports.

Becky Levy, Director of the Disclosure Filings Division of the Texas Ethics Commission, issued a memorandum stating before filing lobby activities reports, the software used must be upgraded in order to have the latest enhancements to file properly. Lobbyist activity reports in Texas must be filed electronically unless qualifying for an exemption.

More information about the software, and how to download it, is located here.

Howard Marlowe is the new president. For the whole list of the new lineup, ALL offered this press release on November 18, 2011.

Catherine Ho writes in the Washington Post how the organization is ready to defend the profession of lobbying in 2012. Here is her article, “American League of Lobbyists regroups, heads into 2012 under new director,” from November 20, 2011.

Photo of the United States Capitol Rotunda by UpstateNYer on Wikipedia.

The Council of the District of Columbia will soon consider legislation that would establish an independent ethics panel and reduce the amount of money council members can raise to help constituents. Council member Muriel Bowser has crafted draft legislation that seeks to streamline 10 separate reform proposals that have been introduced by council members in the aftermath of several ethics controversies.

The proposal sets up a three-member Board of Ethics and Government Accountability, prohibits lobbyists from offering discounted legal advice to council members, sets limits on how much the mayor and council chairman can accept from donors for transition and inaugural committees, and cuts by half the amount that council members can raise for constituent service funds. The proposal does not impose term limits or prohibit lobbyists from making political contributions as sought by other reform proposals.

Mashable posted the feature article “Lobbyists and Politicians Beware: First Street Reveals Your Hidden Connections” by Zachary Sniderman, detailing a new service Congressional Quarterly Press is offering. First Street is a database that can show the connections between lobbyists and political officials.

The article’s following description gives you an idea of the magnitude of First Street: “The database currently contains more than 660,000 lobbying forms, 240,000 congressional and federal staffers, 32,898 clients of registered lobbying organizations and 20,000 congressional and federal organizations. In total, First Street says it covers more than 2 million connections.”

First Street comes with a price tag of $3,000 for a single license, according to Sniderman. He points out there are other services like OpenSecrets.org, but First Street claims to have the most comprehensive database.

Here is the link to the First Street website.

Jon Green, the executive director of Connecticut Working Families has been fined $10,000 by the Connecticut Office of State Ethics for not wearing a badge while he lobbied on legislation in the 2010 election cycle.

You can find news coverage of the story here:

“Working Families Official To Pay $10,000 Ethics Fine” by Jon Lender in the Hartford Courant.

“WFP Director Fined For Lobbying Without Badge”  by Christine Stuart in CT News Junkie.

“CT levies $10K fine against unsanctioned lobbyist” in the Hartford Business Journal.

CHARLES COUNTY, MARYLAND: Commissioners made the decision to pass an ethics ordinance required by the state after removing a key amendment Tuesday. The amendment would have included stricter campaign finance and reporting laws.

After debate, the commissioners elected to remove the amendment and take up campaign finance and reporting as a separate piece of legislation in the future. The ordinance, as passed, states that commissioners can only represent the county, prohibits gifts over $20, and requires lobbyist registrations to be filed by January 15th.

All counties, municipalities, and school districts are required by law to pass an ethics ordinance.

The first reporting period will be the first quarter of 2012, and the first expense report is due April 30, 2012.

Regulation No. 9, regarding lobbying, will become effective January 3, 2012. The Board of Ethics intends to recommend amendments to Regulation No. 9 to bring it into conformity with amendments made to Philadelphia City Code Chapter 20-1200 by Bill No. 110556.

In the event an online filing system is not available by January 3, 2012, an interim registration method will be provided by the Board of Ethics.