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.