IRAQ HIRES. Politico. “The government of Iraq is in the final stages of inking a contract with the Podesta Group as its first Washington lobbying firm, POLITICO has learned.”

LESSIG WRITES. CPI. “Harvard University law professor Lawrence Lessig and his campaign finance reform organization, Rootstrikers, are today calling on Federal Election Commission Chairwoman Ellen Weintraub to conduct a public hearing on super PAC regulation.”

REFORMERS IRKED. HuffPo. “Campaign finance reformers and government watchdogs were disappointed Tuesday night when President Barack Obama failed to include any messages around money in politics in his 2013 State of the Union address. Advocates were hoping to hear about a range of issues, from money in politics to transparency to lobbying.”

REFORMER IRKED. NPR. “FRED WERTHEIMER: Nixon did an awful lot of stuff. But as far as I know, President Nixon never did something like this nor did anyone else.”

WATCHDOGS BACK OCE. Roll Call. “In Wednesday’s letter, the groups said that despite those concerns, the OCE ‘has performed admirably in screening out frivolous cases, compiling useful information for cases by the Ethics Committee and providing a valuable link between the public and the congressional ethics process.'”

AZ: TEETH SOUGHT. Story here. “Saying the law needs some teeth, a Senate panel voted 6-1 Tuesday to make the kind of campaign finance violation Attorney General Tom Horne is accused of a crime, punishable by time in state prison.”

GA: ETHICS CONSIDERED. Story here. “The House Rules Committee on Thursday will consider sweeping reforms to the state’s ethics laws and are expected to debate changes created to make it more palatable to citizen activists.”

IA: CHANGES MULLED. Story here. “Individuals may be able to spend up to $500 per year lobbying legislators without registering, under a bill discussed Wednesday in the Senate Ethics, Elections and Local Government Committee.”

MD: REVOLVING DOOR RULE CONSIDERED. Story here. “In hopes of slowing the political revolving door out of government to influence government as a lobbyist, House Minority Leader O’Donnell testified Tuesday for a package of four ethics measures he’s introduced.”

MT: REFORM PROPOSED. Story here. “[State Rep. Scott] Reichner introduced House Bill 229, which would remove political campaign contribution limits for corporations, political action committees and state parties and increase the aggregate donation thresholds for individuals.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY. I’ll send around the next set of links on Tuesday. Have a great weekend.