A special election has been scheduled for the vacant District 5 seat to be held on November 8.

The District 5 seat became vacant when Councilor Corey O’Connor was appointed the new Allegheny County Controller by the Pennsylvania Senate.

The winner of the special election will serve the remainder of the term set to expire at the end of 2023.

Pittsburgh City Council has passed an ordinance to overhaul city campaign finance rules. Introduced by Councilman Dan Gilman in September, the bill raises contribution limits to those imposed by the Federal Election Commission for federal elections, eliminates an exemption voiding limits if a candidate gives more than $50,000 to his or her own campaign, and removes a loophole allowing candidates to accept donations for the primary and general elections at the same time.

The ordinance will take effect on November 4, 2015, the day after election day.

Photo of the Pittsburgh City-County Building by Leepaxton at Wikimedia Commons.

Councilman Dan Gilman introduced a bill to rewrite the city’s campaign finance ordinance. The bill would bring the city’s contribution limits in line with the federal limits, prohibit the transfer of funds from one PAC to another above the stated limit, and make contribution stacking, where a candidate accepts a contribution for a special election and primary election during the same election cycle, illegal.

The bill also eliminates the “millionaire” exception in current law, whereby contribution limits do not apply if a candidate spends more than $50,000 per election cycle on his or her own campaign.

Gilman is also proposing a newly formed ethics board to replace the current one and a new website to compile information on the activities of government entities.

Photo of the Pittsburgh City-County Building by Leepaxton at Wikimedia Commons.

Professor Wilson Huhn [kneeling on the right] from the University of Akron School of Law presented a one hour CLE about Abraham Lincoln’s influence on the interpretation of the Constitution.

State and Federal Communications had a team of 10 attending the Council on Governmental Ethics Laws (COGEL) 36th Annual Conference. It was held from December 7-10 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at the beautiful OMNI William Penn Hotel. COGEL always offers great sessions concerning lobbying, campaign finance, governmental ethics, and election laws and best practices. It was good to see many familiar faces and meet new members.

In December we gathered together at Flemings in Akron for our annual holiday party. We had a relaxing night with good food and time to talk to each other. The staff presented Elizabeth with their gift to her – a pair of tickets to see Jay Leno and dinner beforehand at District. Elizabeth also presented the winner of the door decorating contest and gave each employee Akron’s famous TEMOs chocolate tree to enjoy.

The contributions limits in the upcoming Pittsburgh mayoral election have been removed by the courts. Judge Joseph James voided the city’s contribution limits because of one candidate’s decision to contribute his own money to his campaign.

Under city law, candidates may only accept $2,000 from individuals and $4,000 from PACs per covered election. However, if a candidate decides to use personal resources in excess of $50,000 for his or her campaign, then the contribution limitations are thrown out for all candidates in that specific race.

In this situation, Councilman Bill Peduto requested an injunction barring former state Auditor General Jack Wagner from using nearly $300,000 in contributions collected during previous campaigns. The judge ruled the use of the previous campaign funds to be a contribution, which would have exceeded the city’s contribution limits.

Wagner’s lawyers then turned their attention to Michael Lamb, the city controller who withdrew from the race earlier in the week. Lamb had given his campaign $53,000 of his own money, which voided the contribution limits and allowed Wagner to use the $300,000 in question. Lamb attempted to give $3,000 from the campaign back to himself in order to undo the contribution, but the judge ruled that the refund did not repair the breach.

The primary election for the mayoral office takes place on May 21, 2013 and the general election on November 5, 2013.

Photo of downtown Pittsburgh by Theeditor93 on Wikipedia.