UPDATED (C)(3) GUIDE FOR ELECTION-YEAR ACTIVITIES. Steven Sholk has updated his helpful guide and it’s online here.
SCHOCK PROBE. Story here. “The House Ethics Committee revealed today that it is investigating the conduct of House Republican Aaron Schock of Peoria.”
OWENS SCRUTINY. Politico. “ProPublica, in a story published by POLITICO, first reported the trip was planned and organized by lobbyists hired by the Chinese Culture University in Taiwan. According to House ethics rules, ‘Member and staff participation in officially-connected travel that is in any way planned, organized, requested, or arranged by a lobbyist is prohibited.'”
DAY 41. Story here. “Local 4 is inside the courtroom for the federal corruption trial of former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, Kilpatrick’s dad Bernard Kilpatrick and his childhood friend Bobby Ferguson. Each day we bring you information from inside federal court as it happens.”
INQUIRER VIEW. Here. “Judges, even when they’re retired, rarely comment on public issues. But after watching the 2012 elections play out with hundreds of millions of dollars spent to secretly finance political ads, the judges decided to speak out.”
CA: LIMIT INCREASE. Story here. “Section 83124 of Political Reform Act requires the Commission to adjust the amounts every other year based on inflation.” More from the LAT here.
DC: MONEY ORDER BAN. Story here. “A D.C. councilmember is introducing emergency legislation to ban money-order campaign contributions greater than $25.”
DC: REFORM NEEDED. The Post. “The District’s 2010 mayoral campaign was marred by the free flow of unreported campaign cash, the unrestrained use of straw donors and undisclosed campaign spending. Those violations land squarely in the bailiwick of the city’s elections board and campaign finance office. Do we ignore the whole scandal and let the violators get away?”
MN: LIMIT INCREASE. Story here. “Minnesota campaign regulators backed a plan Wednesday to let candidates accept more money from donors by raising limits in force since 1993.”
NH: BIPARTISAN FIRM. Story here. “The chiefs of staff for two former governors, one a Republican, the other a Democrat, have partnered to begin a new lobbying effort at the McLane law firm.”
NY: HEVESI RELEASED. NY Post. “A former New York state comptroller has been released from prison after serving 20 months for his leading role in an influence-peddling scandal at the state’s massive pension fund.”
NYC: FINE FOR VIOLATIONS. Story here. “A month after the city Campaign Finance Board threw the book at Dr. Kendall Stewart, slamming him with nearly $61,000 in fines for violating fundraising rules, they’re hammering Dr. Dexter McKenzie with $20,565 in penalties and ordered him to pay back more $62,810 in public funds.”
SC: ETHICS PANEL. Here. “All other things being equal, it’s much better for a legislative ethics committee to be divided between Republicans and Democrats than dominated by one party, as the S.C. House Ethics Committee always has been, regardless of which party was in control.”
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