LOBBYING BAN PERIOD ENDS. Roll Call. “For nearly 100 ex-Members of Congress who were wiped out in the 2010 elections or who left office on their own terms, the shackles came off this week. They are now free to lobby on Capitol Hill.”
CENTER FOR AMERICAN FREEDOM LAUNCH. Politico. “Impressed by the effectiveness of the liberal Center for American Progress, a group of conservative journalists and operatives are preparing to engage in their own sincerest form of flattery — launching an advocacy group with a similar name and mission but very different target.”
GINGRICH DRAWS COMPLAINT. The Hill. “A watchdog group alleged Thursday that Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich’s past work for healthcare industry clients might have violated the Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA).”
THE TIMES ON THE FEC. The Times.
SANTORUM AFTER THE SENATE. The Times. “When he left office he was not especially wealthy, but records show he wasted little time fashioning a lucrative post-government career based largely on income from businesses that had benefited from his work in Congress.”
INSIDER TRADING ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL. Politico. “Rick Perry writes in a new piece in RedState that it is time to ‘uproot and overhaul Washington’ by ensuring that members of Congress engaged in insider trading are sent to prison.”
LOBBYING ROI. Story here.
GIFTING IN CALIFORNIA. There’s a new fact sheet available from the FPPC and it’s online here.
WHAT’S NEW IN ILLINOIS? Story here. “Elected officials at every level in Illinois — from the village board to the state legislature — can use their positions to benefit paying clients or even family members, according to an examination of thousands of documents by Medill Watchdog, a journalism program at Northwestern University.”
COUNCIL MEMBER RESIGNS. The Post. “Harry Thomas Jr. resigned Thursday night, hours after he became the first sitting D.C. Council member to be charged with a felony, when federal prosecutors accused him of embezzling more than $350,000 in government funds and filing false tax returns.”
STATUS OF DC ETHICS REFORM. Story here. “Yesterday the D.C. Council passed an ethics overhaul bill as an emergency measure, meaning that once it’s signed by Mayor Vince Gray, the city can go about setting up the new D.C. Board of Ethics and Government Accountability and implementing new disclosure and conflict-of-interest rules without waiting for Congress to give the bill the usual 30-day look.”
WHAT CURRIE FACES. Story here. “When Maryland legislators return to Annapolis next week for their annual 90-day legislative session, one of their first tasks will be to decide what to do about Sen. Ulysses Currie’s admitted ethical lapses that helped land him in federal court on bribery and extortion charges last year.”
PUBLIC PROPERTY POLITICAL MONEY BAN PROPOSED. From New Jersey. “The Senate Economic Growth Committee unanimously approved a bill sponsored by state Sen. Raymond J. Lesniak which would make political fundraising from any candidate on public property illegal.”
HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEKEND.