DEMINT AND ETHICS RULES. Roll Call. “Retreat organizers wanted to host an address by DeMint, the former South Carolina senator, but decided not to out of an abundance of caution. Criminal law forbids former senators from influencing members for two years after leaving Congress.”
MENENDEZ TRIPS IN THE NEWS. Story here. “Menendez’s office has acknowledged that the senator did not repay Melgen for the trips until after a New Jersey Republican official complained to the Senate Ethics Committee.”
MENENDEZ RESPONDS. The Hill. “‘The smears that right wing blogs have been pushing since the election, that is totally unsubstantiated — it’s amazing to me that anonymous, nameless, faceless individuals on a website can drive that kind of story into the mainstream,’ Menendez told CNN in an interview Monday.”
REID ENDORSEMENT. Politico. “A longtime aide to Harry Reid is opening up a lobbying firm — and he’s getting a ringing endorsement from the Senate majority leader.”
LOBBYING DATABASE ISSUE. Story here. “A weekend revamp of the U.S. Senate Lobbying Disclose Act database has caused previosly active hyperlinks to hundreds of thousands of lobbying disclosure documents to stop functioning.” The source of this item is Dave Levinthal’s Primary Source, a site definitely worth following closely.
ADELSON PRIMED FOR MORE DONATING. Yahoo! “Las Vegas Sands (LVS) CEO and Chairman Sheldon Adelson has racked up monster gains on a $37 million purchase of company stock. In March 2009, soon after the market bottomed during the financial crisis, Adelson scooped up 12,500,000 shares around $3 apiece. Since then, Las Vegas Sands shares have skyrocketed to $54, meaning Adelson’s initial purchase is now worth north of $600 million.”
GA: LATEST ON LOBBYING REFORM. Here. “Many legislators say they see lobbyists as sources of expert information. Indeed, reading the lawyer-drafted bills that are filed by the dozen every day is sometimes like trying to read a foreign language.”
NJ: LOCAL LOBBYING. Story here. “The $73 million is the sum businesses and other special interests spent lobbying the state government in 2011, according to required lobbyist disclosures filed with the Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC).”
HAVE A GOOD DAY.