On December 12, an appeals court found Tennessee laws barring nonpartisan PACs from donating to candidates within 10 days of an election violate the state constitution and cannot stand.

The ruling from the Tennessee Court of Appeals reinforces an earlier judgment from Nashville Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle and will end the donation restriction facing nonpartisan PACs.

State campaign finance laws had created a 10-day blackout period when such PACs couldn’t give to a candidate, but PACs controlled by a political party could.

The group Tennesseans for Sensible Election Laws argued that the law created a double standard that unfairly penalized nonpartisan groups while giving political parties an advantage.

The Court of Appeals agreed with that argument, ruling against the state.

On August 9, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker signed House Bill 543 into law, joining other recently signed bills helping to tweak the state’s current campaign finance laws. The new legislation allows for individuals to make addition political contributions of up to $1,000 to House and Senate candidates in special election races held during state election years.

Another change in the law requires a PAC or political party committee making an expenditure to support or oppose a candidate to identify the candidate on the check and subsequently review the bank’s report. If the report does not identify the candidate supported or opposed, the PAC or political party committee must append the bank’s report to disclose the name of the candidate and whether the expenditure supported or opposed the candidate.

The state’s legal requirement to disclose the top five donors on certain political advertisements now includes those on billboards and direct mailings regardless of the purpose for which the funds were given. This disclosure requirement also applies to state ballot committees. The legislation came into effect upon signing.

Lobbying

“Lobbyists Woo Potential Freshmen Long Before Election Day” by Kate Ackley for Roll Call

California: “S.F. Ballot Measure Takes Aim at Lobbyists’ Fundraising” by Noah Arroyo for San Francisco Public Press

California: “Billion-Dollar Beverly Hills Development Challenged Because of Ex-Mayor’s Lobbying” by Kim Christensen for Los Angeles Times

California: “Bill to Ban Private Communications by California’s Coastal Commissioners Gets Sidetracked” by Dan Weikel for Los Angeles Times

Campaign Finance

“Women Are Finally Breaking into the Top Tier of Political Donors” by Matea Gold for Washington Post

“Court: Super PAC Can Use Candidates’ Names” by Josh Gerstein for Politico

Minnesota: “New Boss at Minnesota Campaign Board Is Old Hand” by Brian Bakst for Minnesota Public Radio

Elections

“Left Turns to Ballot Measures to Enact Political Change” by Reid Wilson for The Hill

“The States Where Third-Party Candidates Perform Best” by Russell Berman and Andrew McGill for The Atlantic

North Dakota: “Federal Judge Bars North Dakota from Enforcing Restrictive Voter ID Law” by Michael Wines for New York Times

Campaign Finance

“Super PAC Spending Becoming More Bipartisan” by Llewellyn Hinkes-Jones for Bloomberg BNA

“Koch-Backed ‘Dark Money’ Groups Fined for Failing to Disclose Donors” by John Dunbar for Center for Public Integrity

California: “Oakland: Company laundered campaign donations to mayoral, council candidates” by Matthias Gafni for East Bay Times

New Jersey: “Jail for Birdsall Exec in Pay-to-Play Scheme” by Andrew Ford for Asbury Park Press

Ethics

South Carolina: “SC Supreme Court Rules for Pascoe, Against Wilson” by Tim Smith for Greenville News

Tennessee: “Jeremy Durham Had Sexual ‘Interactions’ with 22 Women, Report Says” by Dave Boucher and Joel Ebert for The Tennessean

Elections

“Sidewire: The chatter site for political junkies who haven’t already maxed out” by Ben Terris for Washington Post

“Americans Really Dislike Trump, Clinton. So Why Aren’t Third Parties Doing Better?” by Danielle Kurtzleben for National Public Radio

“Justice Ginsburg Doesn’t Let Up on Trump, Who Fires Back” by Robert Barnes for Washington Post

Florida: “Florida Mosque Is Removed as a Polling Site after Complaints and Threats” by Mary Hui for Washington Post

Lobbying

“Under Contract” in The Hill

“Lobbying World” in The Hill

“Top McCarthy aide heading to K Street” by Jake Sherman and Anna Palmer in Politico

Campaign Finance

“Poll: Americans not fans of public campaign financing” by The Associated Press in the Columbia Daily Tribune

“Super-PACs set to influence Senate primaries” by Ben Kamisar in The Hill

Michigan: “Senate votes to write super PACs into state campaign finance law” by Emily Lawler in MLive

Utah: “SLC Council slashes campaign contribution limits” by Christopher Smart in the Salt Lake Tribune

Ethics

District of Columbia: “Long-running probe ends without charges against former D.C. mayor Vincent Gray” by Ann E. Marimow, Spencer S. Hsu and Keith L. Alexander in The Washington Post

Legislative Issues

“Why State Legislatures Are Still Pretty White” by Teresa Wiltz in Governing

Redistricting

“Supreme Court Mulls One-Person, One-Vote Redistricting Case” by Todd Ruger in Roll Call

“Republican Redistricting Rows Rock SCOTUS” by Kimberly Robinson in Bloomberg BNA

Texas: “Analysis: In Redistricting, Somebody Will Be Slighted” by Ross Ramsey in The Texas Tribune

Lobbying

“Bill Shuster Muscled Through Transportation Bill Pushed by Lobbyist Girlfriend” by Anna Palmer, Jake Sherman, and John Bresnahan for Politico

“Taco Bell Lobbyists Thank Congressional Staff with 6,000 Tacos” by Lee Fang for The Intercept

California: “For Statewide Change, Advocates Are Making Their Battles Local” by Melanie Mason for Los Angeles Times

Indiana: “Trinkets, Website Part of Gov. Pence’s Unique Lobbying Effort” by Ryan Cook for Indianapolis Star

New York: “Skelos Probe Sparks Competing Calls for Change in Nassau County” by James Galloway for Island Now

Campaign Finance

Pennsylvania: “Council Moves to Illuminate Super PAC Money” by Tricia Nadolny for Philadelphia Inquirer

Rhode Island: “Raimondo Signs into Law New Campaign Finance Measures” by Jennifer Bogdan for Providence Journal

Ethics

Illinois: “Ex-State Rep. Smith, Who Pocketed $7,000 Bribe, Gets 5 Months in Prison” by Jason Meisner for Chicago Tribune

Elections

Missouri: “Resignations after Election of Black Mayor Put Missouri Hamlet in Spotlight” by John Eligon for New York Times

Procurement

Florida: “Inspector General Questions County Contractor Deals” by Andy Reid for South Florida Sun Sentinel

Lobbying

“Under Contract” in The Hill.

“13 K Streeters cross the street” by Byron Tau in Politico.

“Bitcoin gaining currency on K Street” by Megan R. Wilson in The Hill.

Louisiana: “Louisiana business association reviews legislative session: Four things you need to know” by Julia O’Donoghue in The Times-Picayune.

Campaign Finance

“Lawrence Lessig on His Super PAC to End Super PACs” by Denver Nicks in TIME.

“Chamber of Commerce Spends $780K for Kingston” by Kent Cooper in Roll Call.

North Carolina: “Political action committees have big impact on campaigns” by Susan Ladd in the News & Record.

Ethics

Hawaii: “New Chair Will Steer Hawaii Ethics Commission Through Disclosure Law” by Nathan Eagle in the Honolulu Civil Beat.

Louisiana: “New Orleans Ex-Mayor Ray Nagin Sentenced to 10 Years” by Cameron McWhirter in The Wall Street Journal.

Congress

“Capitol partially closed due to spill” by Mario Trujillo in The Hill.

Government Tech and Social Media

West Virginia: “W. Va. Proceeds With Massive Computer Overhaul, Employees Struggle With the Switchover” in Government Technology.

You now have two new tools for identifying who is behind a political ad that you see on TV.  The Sunlight Foundation has released Ad Hawk and Glassy Media has offered Super PAC App. Both tools can listen to an ad and tell you what group is responsible for it, and Super PAC App can even point you to Politifact and FactCheck to weigh the facts surrounding the claims of the ad.

The apps are available for iPhone and Android devices.

For full news coverage, be sure to read:

“New apps can instantly identify political ads” by Brendan Sasso in The Hill.

“’Super PAC App’ knows when political ads stretch the truth” by John D. Sutter in CNN.com.

“Who’s Behind That Political Ad? This App Tells You” by Alex Fitzpatrick in Mashable.

National and Federal

“Can 46 rich dudes buy an election?” by Charles Riley in CNN Money.

“Obama ‘Super’ PAC Donors Among White House Guests” by Jack Gillum (Associated Press) in The San Francisco Chronicle.

“Planners for Democratic convention in Charlotte scramble to raise funds” by David Nakamura in The Washington Post.

In the States

Indiana: “Super PACs start battle in Senate race” by The Associated Press in the Indianapolis Business Journal.

Iowa: “Group wants to close campaign finance loophole” by Rod Boshart in the Sioux City Journal.

Montana: “New arguments filed in campaign finance case” by Matt Gouras in the Great Falls Tribune.

Alaska: “Governor signs campaign finance bill” by The Associated Press in USA Today.

“Financial disclosures show power of super PACs” by Fredreka Schouten in USA Today.

“Santorum ‘super’ PAC returned big foreign donation” by Stephen Braun in the Boston Globe.

National:

Deep Sea Burial Forms First Corporate ‘Super PAC’

Federal:

ACLU Challenge to Small Piece of Campaign Finance Law May Lead to a Slippery Slope

Judge Sends Abramoff Deputy to Halfway House

K Street Suffers from Twitter Jitters

From the States and Municipalities:

Alaska

APOC Busy as Redistricting Raises Legislators’ Questions

California

California’s Center for Governmental Studies to Close

California

San Jose Eases Campaign Limits, Focuses Economic Efforts

Florida

To Interview Mayor, Reporters Must Register as Lobbyists

Kentucky

Judge Bars Group’s Ads Supporting David Williams from Airing

Massachusetts

Lally, DiMasi Conspirator Who Cooperated with Prosecutors, Sentenced to 18 Months

Montana

Group Asks Judge to Toss Campaign Finance Ruling

Pennsylvania

Nutter, Green Unlikely Allies in Same-Sex Ethics Bill

Tennessee

Corporations Signing Up to Donate Under New State Law

Texas

HISD Tightens Ethics Rules

 
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