CU REVEAL. The Post. “The biggest scoop in the [Toobin’s] book relates to the Citizens United campaign finance case, which said the First Amendment prohibits restrictions on corporate spending in elections. Toobin reveals that Roberts originally drafted a narrow opinion that held simply that the McCain-Feingold Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act did not apply to Citizens United, the group that produced a documentary critical of Hillary Rodham Clinton. But Kennedy wrote a broader opinion insisting that the court should go further and overturn McCain-Feingold’s restrictions on corporate spending.”
NEW REFORMS. The Post. “Democrats will introduce two bills to encourage small campaign contributions by matching them with public funds, a response to the million-dollar political contributions swelling interest groups active in this year’s elections.”
VAN HOLLEN ARGUMENT. Story here. “One of the judges considering the appeal called the case ‘weird’ and said he doubted the groups have authority to bring the appeal since the FEC didn’t pursue one.”
ETHICS AND RACES. Roll Call. “Congressional ethics investigations have factored into a handful of contests this fall, none more so than in Nevada, where Berkley, a seven-term Congresswoman, is locked in a high-stakes race to unseat Republican incumbent Sen. Dean Heller.”
TRUE THE VOTE. The Times. “True the Vote’s plan is to scrutinize the validity of voter registration rolls and voters who appear at the polls. Among those in their cross hairs: noncitizens who are registered to vote, those without proper identification, others who may be registered twice, and dead people.”
ROBOCALL COSTS. Story here. “Political campaigns that robocall iPhones and Androids may be in for a shock: They could be fined $16,000 per call.”
LOBBYIST OFFICES. The Post. “The idea was to create a more egalitarian work space, and move away from the structural hierarchy that has long dictated the allocation of space inside law firms.”
CT: RECORDS DESTROYED. Story here. “The Office of State Ethics has quietly destroyed a quarter-century’s worth of public records concerning the finances of present and former public officials, drawing a protest from the head of an open-government group who says the thousands of shredded files were an irreplaceable resource.”
GA ETHICS COMMISSION UPDATE. Story here. “The commission — the only independent agency in the state that monitors rules on campaign cash and government lobbying — was at its most aggressive in 2008, issuing record fines and even beginning a regimen of random audits of candidates’ files. After that banner year, the decline began.”
MT: ARGUMENTS IN LIMITS CASE. Story here. “Montana’s dollar limits on campaign donations aren’t preventing candidates from getting their message out to voters, and aren’t stopping political parties from wielding influence, either, a lawyer for the state argued Friday.”
HAVE A GREAT DAY.