FCPA CHARGES IN NIGERIAN PERMIT CASE. The Post. “Federal regulators have charged a former CEO of Swiss oil services company Noble Corp. and two other executives with bribing Nigerian government officials to get permits for drilling rigs in that country.”
FCPA VIEW FROM THE POST. Here. “Led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, businesses have been pressing Congress for changes they say are necessary to make the FCPA fairer and more comprehensible.”
COMMISSIONER URGES DISCLOSURE. Story here. “[SEC] Commissioner Luis A. Aguilar, a Democrat, urged the agency to address the fallout from the Supreme Court decision lifting restrictions on corporate expenditures.”
CAMPAIGN FINANCE ONUS. Roll Call. “Democrats on Capitol Hill have called for hearings and legislation to rein in unrestricted campaign money, but the real action is at a handful of federal agencies being bombarded with letters from lawmakers, lobbyists and activists.”
ALLEGED CONFLICT ISSUES AND FB LOBBYING. Politico. “Fierce, Isakowitz & Blalock, the Glover Park Group and TeleMedia Policy Group have all terminated their lobbying contracts with Facebook, according to sources familiar with the lobbying terminations.”
COORDINATION ISSUES AND SUPER PACS. The Times. ”The prohibition against candidates working in concert with independent political committees has its roots in Watergate-era reforms intended to prevent large donors from gaining improper influence over elected officials. But it has taken on added significance in the wake of recent court decisions that opened the spigot for unlimited contributions to the independent groups.”
WHITE HOUSE FLICKR PHOTOS USED IN CAMPAIGN. Politico. “No one seems to take the legal warning on official White House photos seriously—including President Barack Obama’s own re-election campaign.”
CONVENTION PLANNING. Roll Call. “The rules that govern a company’s — or lobbying group’s — activities at the political conventions are a complex maze of campaign finance laws, House and Senate gift restrictions and an Obama administration executive order.”
KOCH RESPONDS TO OFA. Here. More here. “Philip Ellender, president of government affairs for Koch Industries, charges in a letter to Obama campaign manager Jim Messina that President Obama and his campaign are fostering ‘an effort to chill free speech and squelch dissent.'”
ETHICS IN AZ. Story here. “A criminal investigation into the Fiesta Bowl scandal has started producing guilty pleas, but proposals to tighten gift restrictions and bolster disclosure requirements for officials and lobbyists are nowhere near the goal line at the Legislature.”
MISSING LOBBYIST UPDATE. More here. “Authorities say as much as $900,000 may be missing from an organization headed by a prominent South Carolina lobbyist Tom Sponseller, who disappeared last weekend, The State newspaper reports.”
HAVE A GREAT DAY.