ABRAMS ON CU. The Times. “The law at issue in Citizens United permitted The Times to endorse candidates while making it a felony for nonmedia corporations to do so. It made it a crime for a union to distribute your endorsement of President Obama for re-election to its members. It should come as no surprise that the same First Amendment that was held to shield the press in landmark cases of the past now shields such speech as well.”
APPEAL IN LOBBYIST ON BOARDS CASE. BLT. “A half-dozen lobbyists are appealing the dismissal of their suit against the government over the Obama administration’s decision to prohibit federal lobbyists from sitting on agency boards and commissions. The case is being appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.”
SCHAPIRO’S LEGACY. SEC Release. “Curtailed pay-to-play practices by advisers to government clients, like public pension plans — The agency prohibited the use of campaign contributions and related payments to influence the awarding of contracts for the management of public pension plan assets and similar government investment accounts.”
JACKSON PROBE. Politico. “Federal investigators believe that former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. was tipped off to the existence of a criminal probe into his financial activities before he took a leave of absence from Congress in June, according to a report.”
UNION CLIFF LOBBYING. Story here. “Hundreds of union members will be on Capitol Hill this week to lobby lawmakers to leave entitlements alone and let tax cuts for the wealthy expire.”
HUFFPO ON SHULER MOVE. Here. “Concerned about the revolving door culture and its corruption of our politics, our reporters asked Shuler whether he was planning to become a lobbyist after retiring. Shuler flatly told them no.”
PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN SPENDING. Washington Times. “Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign paid millions of dollars to companies led by top advisers and, by many measures, the campaign got less to show for it than in-house staffers performing a labor of love for President Obama’s campaign, expenditure records show.”
HOLIDAY GIFT ADVICE. Roll Call. “The House Ethics Committee circulated a memo Tuesday providing advice on holiday gifts and job negotiations for members and staffers.”
MO: REFORMS URGED. Story here. “Missouri House Democrats on Tuesday called for new campaign finance rules and stiffer ethics laws that cap political contributions, limit gifts from lobbyists, require departing legislators to sit out before becoming lobbyists and impose new reporting requirements for some not-for-profit groups.”
HAVE A GREAT DAY.