ELECTORAL COLLEGE VOTES. Story here. “Tradition trumped suspense Monday as members of the Electoral College cast the official, final votes in the 2012 presidential election, a constitutional formality on President Barack Obama’s march to a second term.”
NRSC ED PICK NEAR. Roll Call. “National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Jerry Moran of Kansas is involved in final deliberations concerning whom to hire as NRSC executive director.”
NEW ETHICS CHAIR. Story here. “Rep. K. Michael Conaway will chair the House Ethics Committee during the 113th Congress, Speaker John A. Boehner, R-Ohio, announced on Monday.”
SOCIAL MEDIA MOVE. Story here. “On Saturday, one day after the unthinkable shootings at a Newtown, Conn. elementary school, the NRA took a more drastic measure by deactivating its Facebook page after celebrating getting to 1.7 million fans on the social site earlier in the week.”
WAL-MART ALLEGATIONS. The Times. “The Times’s examination reveals that Wal-Mart de Mexico was not the reluctant victim of a corrupt culture that insisted on bribes as the cost of doing business. Nor did it pay bribes merely to speed up routine approvals. Rather, Wal-Mart de Mexico was an aggressive and creative corrupter, offering large payoffs to get what the law otherwise prohibited. It used bribes to subvert democratic governance — public votes, open debates, transparent procedures. It used bribes to circumvent regulatory safeguards that protect Mexican citizens from unsafe construction. It used bribes to outflank rivals.”
TOP 10 WINS. The Hill. “The influence industry scored several hard-fought victories in a year in which lawmakers were more focused on campaigning than legislating.”
HATCH ACT VOTE. The Post. “The House plans to vote Tuesday on two federal employment-related bills, one that would allow lesser discipline in cases involving banned political activities, and the other allowing for stiffer actions against high-ranking employees in misconduct and similar cases.”
FEC AGENDA. The agenda for Thursday’s Federal Election Commission meeting is online here.
WOMEN IN LOBBYING. Story here. “On the cusp of another possible major rewrite of the nation’s tax code, the coalition of about 150 today makes up the inner circle of what has become a thriving community of women who will influence the debate on and off Capitol Hill.”
DC: CFR PUSH. Story here. “District lawmakers will vote on a wide array of campaign finance reform measures Tuesday as part of a new effort by Ward 6 Councilman Tommy Wells to push the issue before legislators at their last session of the year.”
NY: CFR MOVING. Story here. “It may be a rare moment in the never-ending struggle to achieve campaign finance reform. A moment that some reformers thought might never come.”
HAVE A GOOD DAY.