DC: TURKEYS AND DISCLOSURE. City Paper. “As in years past, Barry is declining to say who paid for the turkeys he’ll be giving away or whether those donors also have contracts with the city.”
REFORMER CONFLICT. HuffPo. “During a money-in-politics conference at UCLA on Saturday, Harvard professor Lawrence Lessig, a leading critic of privately funded elections, declared that the longtime Washington dean of the campaign finance reform community, Fred Wertheimer, was part of the problem.”
FIREFIGHTER FINE. Story here. “A Merrill fire captain and a Stevens Point fire lieutenant have been fined for their roles in illegal political contributions while they served as leaders in the state firefighter’s union, according to recently released federal documents.”
LOBBYING TIPS. The Post. “Lobbyists from Drinker Biddle’s government affairs team — including chair Ilisa Halpern Paul, Julie Allen and Erin Morton — share some of their tips for how business owners can most effectively lobby members of Congress and their staff.”
TWITTER’S ADVOCATE. The Hill. “Facebook and Google have built extensive lobbying operations to ensure that policymakers look out for their interests.”
EAC COOKED? Story here. “Republican lawmakers say it’s time to do away with the federal commission that has given states election-related advice for the past years.”
FL: WHO GETS LEFTOVERS? Story here. “Under state law, candidates can steer that money to political parties, to charity or return it to their donors. They also can steer money to their state office accounts, or if they’re feeling generous, donate the money to the state treasury.”
FL: REFORM OUTLOOK. Story here. “The incoming leaders of the Florida Legislature say they want to clean up the state’s murky campaign-finance laws by doing away with third-party funds that lawmakers use to accept giant checks from corporations, unions and wealthy benefactors.”
WA: RECALL RULES OPINION. Story here. “The commission insisted on equating a recall effort to a candidate’s election campaign, and it continued to do so; as a result, Farris’ efforts were hobbled financially for months.”
HAVE A GREAT THANKSGIVING. My sincerest best wishes to you and yours this Thanksgiving. I’ll send around the next set of links next week.