Political law links for Fri., Jan. 27, 2012

Posted on January 27, 2012

STOCK ACT SET FOR VOTE. Roll Call. “The Senate is set to vote on taking up legislation Monday that would explicitly ban federal lawmakers and their staff from trading on insider information.”

ROMNEY TO REVISE. Story here. “Mitt Romney could face new questions about his overseas investments after a campaign official acknowledged to NBC News that his campaign is revising his federal ethics forms to report more than a half dozen offshore holdings, including income from a multi-million dollar Swiss bank account that was not disclosed last year.”

LOBBYING NUMBERS IN. The Post. “Lobbying activity plunged in 2011 for the first time in a decade, most likely driven lower by the struggling economy and legislative gridlock on Capitol Hill, according to new estimates released Thursday.”  The Hill has this report.

FORMER WALKER AIDES CHARGED. Story here. “Two former aides to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker were charged Thursday with allegedly doing political fundraising while working on taxpayer time in the Milwaukee County Executive’s office when he ran it.”

MOVING PAST SOLYNDRA?  Story here.  “President Barack Obama isn’t letting Solyndra scare him away from pushing a green energy agenda.”

CNN PROFILES NANCY WATKINS.  The video report is here.  When I was at Patton Boggs I had the pleasure of working with her and she’s a total pro.

LOBBYIST STATUS.  The Times has this editorial.  “Under the federal lobbying law, Newt Gingrich can legitimately claim that he is not a lobbyist. That alone demonstrates how much the law needs to be changed.”

FL SPENDING.  The Post.  “Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich is getting a boost from a pair of wealthy benefactors, but he’s still likely to get drastically outspent on television ads in Florida.”

GINGRICH AND PAST ETHICS BATTLES.  The Times.  “Mr. Gingrich lodged a complaint against Mr. Wright, which cost the Democratic speaker his job. Democrats, in turn, bombarded Mr. Gingrich with accusations of ethical impropriety, which led to a $300,000 fine and a reprimand for bringing discredit to the House.”

CAMPAIGN FINANCE AND PERDUE.  Story here.  “While the State Board of Elections fined The Bev Perdue Committee $30,000 for failing to report numerous flights, Perdue has not been charged or indicted for anything related to the issue. And Wake County District Attorney Colon Willoughby Jr. has said Perdue won’t face any charges.”

UK LOBBYIST REGISTRY NEWS. Story here. “The British government has opened a consultation to introduce the first statutory register of lobbyists in Westminster, drawing on the experience of a similar transparency register in Brussels, which went online last year.”

GRECO REPORT.  The Post.  “A top European anti-corruption body wants the U.S. to increase transparency of political funding through outside groups that donate millions to support candidates, warning that they could be used to skirt long-established disclosure rules.”

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND.

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Political law links for Thurs., Jan. 26, 2012

Posted on January 26, 2012

SUPER PAC PRIMER. Covington’s super PAC primer is online here.

SUPER PAC FINANCING.  CBS.  “Sheldon and Miriam Adelson are among the richest couples in the world with a fortune Forbes estimated at $23 billion, and they’re bankrolling the super PAC that supports Gingrich.”

SUPER PAC SPENDING.  CNN.  “Super PACs have spent $35.4 million on the 2012 presidential race, according to federal campaign disclosures, including $11.4 million on last Saturday’s South Carolina Republican primary and $6.4 million on next week’s contest in Florida.”

SUPER PAC LEGISLATING.  HuffPost.  “Amid growing concern over the growing influence of super PACs, congressional Democrats are set to introduce new legislation designed to bring an increased level of transparency to campaign-related expenditures.”

SUPER PAC LEAN.  The Post.  “Endorse Liberty, an interest group with the sole purpose of helping Rep. Ron Paul’s bid for the presidency, has spent $3.1 million this year without expensive campaign consultants or a full-time staff member.”

SUPER PACS IN H AND S RACES.  Story here. “Third-party political action committees, flexing their muscle in the Republican presidential tilt, also are focusing on U.S. congressional races, observers say.”

LEAKING ETHICS.  The Hill.  “A leak to the media that identified three Republicans who are being investigated by the House Ethics Committee has lawmakers and staffers wondering who the source is, and his or her motive.”

LOBBYIST FEEDBACK.  Roll Call.  “Lobbyists obviously don’t get to write the State of the Union. But the White House did solicit advice from its liberal-leaning outside allies and heard plenty from industry groups such as the NRF. Though some groups were pleased to hear President Barack Obama give their priorities a boost and quickly dispatched press releases cheering him, others are now downplaying the address’s significance at all.”

TECH LOBBYING.  Politico.  “Now, as it celebrates what appears to be a victory in its Capitol Hill fight over fast-moving copyright bills, the tech industry may see itself as an innovator in lobbying, using the tools it created to beat the opposition at its own game on its own turf.”

FUNDRAISER HOSTED.  Roll Call.  “Democratic lobbyist Heather Podesta will host an ‘annual intimate dinner with the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee’ on Wednesday, according to an invitation obtained by Roll Call.”

PARTIES THROWN.  Story here.  “The first ’48 hour’ reports for lobbyists are starting to trickle in to the Secretary of State’s Office. By law, during a legislative session, lobbyists are required to report expenditures larger than $500 within 48 hours of the spending.”

MAINE PROBE.  Story here.  “A Maine ethics board has given the go-ahead for a deeper investigation into the finances of two political action committees that support efforts to bring a casino to Lewiston last year.”

HAVE A GREAT DAY.

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Ethics, lobbying, bundling, the SOTU, and more in today’s political law links

Posted on January 25, 2012

LOBBYING AND THE SOTU.  The Hill.  “President Obama took aim at K Street in his State of the Union Tuesday night, calling on Congress to limit the campaign fundraising activities of lobbyists.”

SOTU EXCERPT.  “I’ve talked tonight about the deficit of trust between Main Street and Wall Street.  But the divide between this city and the rest of the country is at least as bad — and it seems to get worse every year.

Some of this has to do with the corrosive influence of money in politics.  So together, let’s take some steps to fix that.  Send me a bill that bans insider trading by members of Congress; I will sign it tomorrow.  (Applause.)  Let’s limit any elected official from owning stocks in industries they impact.  Let’s make sure people who bundle campaign contributions for Congress can’t lobby Congress, and vice versa — an idea that has bipartisan support, at least outside of Washington.”

ETHICS REFORM AND THE SOTU.  Politico.  “President Barack Obama hadn’t even left the Capitol yet when lawmakers began pouring cold water on his call to limit ‘any elected official from owning stock in industries they impact.’”

LOBBYING REFORM AND 2012.  Roll Call.    “The lawyer who a decade ago advised Newt Gingrich on how to engage in advocacy without officially becoming a ‘lobbyist’ is now working to close the loopholes that enable the former Speaker and other Members to avoid public disclosure.”

THANKING WARREN AND BROWN.  The Post.  “Even if the dam ends up springing a few leaks, they deserve credit for trying. Good for them.”

SECOND GINGRICH CONTRACT RELEASED.  News here.  “Though the contract with The Gingrich Group — the speaker’s former company — excludes lobbying, Gingrich advised the company’s chief lobbyist, Mitchell Delk, about ‘business and public policy issues.;”

GINGRICH AND LOBBYING ALLEGATIONS.  The Washington Times.  “Notably, during his work at Freddie Mac, Mr. Gingrich dealt directly with the agency’s chief lobbyist, Craig Thomas, who was identified as “project director” in Mr. Gingrich’s contract. In other words, he was working for the agency’s lobbying shop.”

THOMPSON EARNINGS.  Story here.  “Former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson has earned more than $8.5 million in compensation since 2005 from a web of private sector companies that includes a prominent Washington lobbying firm, a medical device manufacturer and a globally recognized consulting firm, according to public filings and reports.”

SUPER PAC GROUND GAME.  The Post.  “They’re hiring field directors, setting up phone banks, building get-out-the-vote teams and crafting a message strategy worthy of a presidential candidate.”

SUPER PAC FL BUY.  Story here.  “A super PAC supporting former House speaker Newt Gingrich has made a $6 million ad buy in Florida, underscoring the new dynamics of the presidential race.”

NYT CONFUSION.  Hans von Spakovsky writes here.  “If a huge corporation such as Microsoft or Exxon was allowed to contribute directly to a federal candidate, the limitation would still apply.”

CONGRESS AND SUPER PACS.  Editorial here.  “In light of the political muscle the super PACs have shown early in this presidential election year, the voters need more than judicial reassurances to secure a level, transparent playing field for campaign funding.”

FORMER SENATE AIDE IN THE NEWS.  The Post.  “A former aide to Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran convicted in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal is facing 10 weekends in jail after bringing a steak knife to a halfway house.”

SCANLON REQUEST DENIED.  Story here.  “A federal appeals court denied a request from the former business partner of convicted Republican super-lobbyist Jack Abramoffto reduce the $20 million restitution order against him for scamming Indian nations out of more than $80 million.”

GA. ETHICS REFORM?  Story here.  “Currently, Georgia has no caps on gifts from lobbyists, and the annual tab comes to about $1.6 million; most of it is spent on food, trips and event tickets for legislators. Every state surrounding Georgia has some sort of cap or ban on lobbyist gifts.”

EDITORIAL SUPPORTS NY REFORMS.  Here.  “Publicly financed campaigns could help level the playing field. Gov. Cuomo should push to make that happen this year.”

PRISON SOUGHT IN MA CASE.  Story here.  “Federal prosecutors yesterday asked a US judge to sentence Boston developer Arthur Winn to six months in prison and fine him $200,000 for funneling illegal campaign contributions to politicians to get public subsidies for his ultimately failed Columbus Center project.”

WALKER RECALL FUNDRAISING.  Story here.  “Gov. Scott Walker’s campaign announced Tuesday it has raised more than $4.5 million in recall funding throughout the last five weeks, including millions in contributions from out-of-state donors.”

CAMPAIGN FINANCE ACROSS THE WORLD.  CNN.  CNN looks at aspects of campaign finance law in Nigeria, Norway, Russia, and other nations.

HAVE A GREAT DAY.

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Tuesday’s political law links for Jan. 24, 2012

Posted on January 24, 2012

LOBBYING FRONT AND CENTER.  Last night’s debate featured some exchanges on lobbying.  More here.  “Gingrich’s consulting firm shortly before the debate released a copy of its 2006 contract with Freddie Mac, which covers just one year of his multiple years of service. It outlines $300,000 of the $1.6 million he received from the mortgage company. A contract covering a longer period is missing, a Gingrich aide said.”

AMERICAN SOLUTIONS AND GINGRICH IN THE NEWS.  NBC News featured a report on American Solutions and it’s online here.

GINGRICH FREDDIE MAC CONTRACT RELEASE.  Story (and a copy of the agreement) here.

MORE ETHICS DOCS?  The Post.  “The leader of the 1990s ethics investigation into misdeeds by then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich rejected the idea Monday of releasing additional information from the probe, saying the 15-year-old published report covers all the pertinent aspects of the case.”

STATE OF K ST.  Politico.  “K Street boom days have come and gone.”

AM X-RDS PLANS.  CNN.  “American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS, the two groups he helped found, plan to raise $300 million this year to defeat President Obama, elect Republicans to Congress, and block the Democrats’ agenda.”

AT&T SCALING BACK.  The Hill.  “Telecom behemoth AT&T has begun shedding lobbyists in the wake of its failed merger with T-Mobile.”

UNION SPENDS IN R PRIMARY RACE.  Story here.  “An unlikely combatant has jumped into the big-money battle between independent groups running ads weighing in on the Republican presidential primary: a national union representing public employees.”

LIGHTSQUARED AND LOBBYING RULES.  Story here.  “U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa said Monday that the owner of LightSquared and a possible representative of the company may have broken ethics rules when they contacted his office about winning approval for LightSquared’s planned mobile broadband network.”

GOOGLE’S DC SPENDING.  CBS.  “Google nearly doubled its federal lobbying expenditures last year, surpassing rival Microsoft in dollars doled out to persuade legislators to consider its policy positions.”

WARREN-BROWN DEAL.  The Post.  “Under the terms of the deal, each campaign would agree to donate half the cost of any third-party ad to charity if that ad either supports their candidacy or attacks their opponent by name.”

SUPER PAC ACTION FIGURES.  Story here.  “A super PAC supporting Paul, Revolution PAC, is selling action figures of the candidate to raise money for their efforts.”

MS. ADELSON GIVES.  The Times.  “A wealthy supporter of Newt Gingrich will donate $5 million to a ‘super PAC’ supporting his candidacy, providing a significant infusion of cash to the group as it seeks to defend Mr. Gingrich in Florida ahead of next week’s Republican primary, a person with knowledge of the contribution said on Monday.”

SHAYS TO ANNOUNCE.  Roll Call.  “Former Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) will formally declare his candidacy for Senate at noon Wednesday at the Old State House in Hartford.”

GRASSLEY TWEET-JACKED. Politico.  “The Twittter account of Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, a former supporter of the anti-piracy legislation PIPA, was hacked Monday by a follower of the Anonymous ‘hacktivist’ group.”

OFA’S ONLINE ADS.  ClickZ.  “The South Carolina primary day ad is the third in what could become a long series of primary day homepage takeovers from the Obama team.”

JUDGE LIFTS LIMITS.  Story here.  “In a 32-page decision, a federal judge has declared it unconstitutional for the city of San Diego to cap political party donations to candidates at $1,000.”  More here.

KING RETURNS FUNDS.  Story here.  “Attorney General Gary King has returned part of a $15,000 campaign contribution some said violated the state’s cap on the size of political donations.”

GOVT CORP. GIVING.  News from Canada.  “Under provincial legislation, a prohibited corporation could be fined up to $10,000 for making an improper donation. Political parties and constituency associations are barred from knowingly soliciting or accepting donations from such corporations, but face a maxi-mum fine of only $1,000.”

HAVE A GREAT DAY.

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Monday’s political law links

Posted on January 23, 2012

WH PETITION HITS 13K SIGNATURES. Althouse notes that an effort to petition the White House sparked by recent comments of Chris Dodd has over 13,000 signatures.

COLBERT POKING FUN. Story here. “He said he must stand for corporations because, without legs, they cannot stand for themselves.”

COLBERT AND HIS UNFUNNY RUN. Colbert King explains here. “It’s one thing to play presidential politics for laughs. It’s quite another matter to run ads against candidates.”

SUPER PAC FL BLAST. Politico.

SCALIA ON SUPER PACS. Story here. “Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has a simple solution for people who do not like all the political advertisements unleashed by the court’s decision two years ago that ended limits on corporate contributions in political campaigns – change the channel or turn off the TV.”

SUPER SUPER PAC.  Politico.  “Here’s how it works: under new federal rules, a traditional PAC and super PAC may operate under one roof. These hybrid operations can raise and spend unlimited amounts of cash to promote or oppose candidates, as any super PAC can, while simultaneously giving limited amounts of money directly to campaigns and committees, like a traditional political action committee.”

SUPER PACS 101.  Q&A here.  “Technically known as independent expenditure-only committees, super PACs can’t work directly with candidates or their campaigns, but they may raise and spend unlimited funds to pay for online, television and radio advertising and handbills.Because there are no limits on contributions, super PACs can raise vast amounts of money to support a cause or a candidate. As of Friday, 286 groups organized as super PACs reported receipts of $32.01 million and total expenditures of $33.11 million.”

SMITH ON CU AT 2. WSJ. “The U.S. government argued in Citizens United that it had the right to ban the publication of books, pamphlets and movies that advocated the election or defeat of a candidate if they were produced or distributed by unions or corporations, such as Random House, Barnes & Noble and DreamWorks. That position is the one that deserves scorn. Fortunately, no new amendment was needed to defeat it—only the First Amendment and a Supreme Court willing to uphold it.”

FORMER MEMBER AND PROJECT HE SUPPORTED. The Times. “Experts in federal earmarking — a practice of financing pet projects that has been forsaken by many members of Congress as a toxic symbol of political abuse — said they could not recall a case in which a former lawmaker stood to benefit so directly from an earmark he had authorized.”

GINGRICH ETHICS MATTER IN THE NEWS. Story here. “Newt Gingrich offered further explanation Sunday of the 1997 ethics investigation against him that resurfaced in recent days on the presidential campaign trail.”

FREDDIE MAC ATTACK.  The Post.  “Romney intends to attack Gingrich for his work with Freddie Mac at a housing-themed round-table session in Tampa on Monday morning and, at a media availability shortly thereafter, plans to call for Gingrich to release his work product with the firm, the official said.”

ROMNEY TAX RELEASE.  The Post.  “Hoping to put to rest the mounting controversy over his personal finances, Mitt Romney said Sunday that he will release his 2010 tax returns and an estimate for 2011 Tuesday. The Republican presidential candidate had said previously that he would make some of his tax information public in April.”

SANTORUM TAX RELEASE.  Story here.  “Former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum promised Sunday that he will release his tax records as early as Tuesday—and certainly sometime this week.”

CHAMBER LOBBYING.  The Hill.  “The U.S. Chamber of Commerce cut its lobbying spending nearly in half in 2011, according to lobbying disclosure reports filed Friday.”

GIFFORDS RETIREMENT AND ELECTIONS.  News here.  “Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords’ decision to step down this week instead of finishing her term means many of the voters in what’s now Congressional District 8 will see two rounds of primary and general elections this year.”

SCOTUS OCCUPIED.  Story here.  “Protesters descended on the U. S. Supreme Court on Friday as part of the nationwide effort that Occupy Wall Street has dubbed ‘Occupy the Courts.’ The rallies at courthouses around the country were to challenge a 2010 Supreme Court decision that largely removed limits on union and corporate spending in support of political campaigns.”

NM GOV ON LOBBYING REFORM.  Story here.  “Gov. Susana Martinez on Sunday called on state legislators to prohibit themselves from becoming lobbyists for two years after leaving office.”

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND LOBBYING BILL? Story here. “Lobbyists who fail to register their activities could be fined €30,000 and jailed for two years under proposed legislation to be published by Fianna Fáil today.”

THANKS AND WELCOME. Many thanks to Rick Hasen for mentioning my site last week. Just so any new subscribers know what to expect, you’ll get one email a day with my set of links, usually around 9 a.m, Monday through Friday.  Need to read them earlier in the day?  They’re online at www.PoliticalActivityLaw.com around 7:30 a.m. My links are mainly intended for those with an unusually high interest in political law news and views, including the topics of campaign finance rules, lobbying laws, House and Senate ethics and travel rules, and related areas on the local, state, and sometimes international level. I don’t necessarily read everything I link to or endorse views found in items I link to.  I hope you find the links valuable and please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or links you’d like to share.

HAVE A GREAT DAY.

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