OBAMA ADMINISTRATION AND POLITICAL INTELLIGENCE. The Post. “Wall Street investors hungry for advance information on upcoming federal health-care decisions repeatedly held private discussions with Obama administration officials, including a top White House adviser helping to implement the Affordable Care Act.”
WORST WEEK. The Post. ”Lois Lerner, this will go down on your permanent record.”
FOCUS ON (C)(4) RULES. The Times. “The stakes are high for both the I.R.S. and lawmakers in Congress, whose election fortunes next year will hinge in no small part on a flood of political spending by such advocacy groups. They are often favored by strategists and donors not for the tax benefits — they typically do not have significant income subject to tax — but because they do not have to reveal their donors, allowing them to pour hundreds of millions of dollars into elections without disclosing where the money came from.”
FAMILY TIES. Story here. “Buck McKeon’s family is getting into the defense lobbying game.”
VON SPAKOVSKY ON WAIVER ISSUE. Here. “Lerner’s short statement is open to interpretation on that issue, and there does not seem to be any clear-cut answer, which is all too often the case in the law.”
SUPER PAC SPECIAL GUEST. CPI. “During his time at an upcoming “Louisiana Bayou Weekend” super PAC fundraiser, Sen. David Vitter, R-La., will be able to ask attendees how they like the Cajun cooking. And he’s free to inquire whether they bagged a gator during the weekend’s planned alligator hunt.”
CT: BILL ON CONTRIBUTIONS. Story here. “State Representative Michael D’Agostino (D-Hamden) recently led passage of a bill in the House of Representatives that simplifies the ability of families with joint-checking accounts to make political contributions.”
MD: VEGAS OFF-HOURS. Story here. “One thing that happened in Vegas last week certainly won’t stay in Vegas: The lobbyists Lisa Harris Jones and Sean Malone were married there before about 100 well-wishers, who included some of Maryland’s top government officials — including the wedding officiant, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.”
TX: TEC TEN. Story here. ”The House just approved 137-8 sunset legislation authorizing the Texas Ethics Commission to keep operation for another decade.”
TX: PERRY VETOES. Story here. “Gov. Rick Perry vetoed two bills Saturday, the first for the current session that ends today, and one — known as the dark money disclosure bill — was filed by Sen. Kel Seliger.”
HAVE A GREAT DAY.