MONEY RACE. Roll Call. “As outside-group crossfire blasts through two Senate races, candidates aren’t just raising money early — they’re spending it.”
WH ANSWER ON PETITION. The Hill. “The White House responded on Wednesday to official petitions demanding a recount of President Obama’s 2012 reelection by urging his political opponents to ‘work with your fellow citizens to help tackle the challenges that we can all agree our country faces.'”
FEC ASKED. Story here. “The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee on Monday asked the Federal Election Commission to treat married gay couples the same as opposite-sex spouses, part of an early push to bring federal statutes in line with the Supreme Court’s decision last week striking down part of the Defense of Marriage Act.”
GOOLSBEE AND IRS. DC. “Former White House Council of Economic Advisers chairman Austan Goolsbee sparked a mini-scandal in 2010 when he told reporters during a background press briefing that Koch Industries—the company of libertarian philanthropists Charles and David Koch—paid no income taxes.”
DONOR VIEW. Story here. “‘I’m not giving nobody another dime,’ [Sheila] Johnson recently told The Washington Post. ‘I’ve spent way too much money on politicians. . . . It’s like throwing money down a toilet.'”
ROMNEY, CHRISTIE, AND CAMPAIGN FINANCE. Story here. “Concerns that Governor Christie’s presence on the ticket would prevent Wall Street donors from giving to his election effort factored into Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s decision to avoid nominating the New Jersey governor as his vice presidential pick, according to an upcoming book obtained by CNN.” Here‘s more: “A ‘pay to play’ regulation from the Securities and Exchange Commission prevented the country’s largest banks from donating to candidates and elected officials from states in which big banks were located. If Christie, the governor of New Jersey, were added to the ticket, Romney’s campaign would have been barred from accepting any campaign contributions from Wall Street – a critical source of cash for the GOP candidate, formerly a private equity manager.”
AZ: HORNE CASE UPDATE. Here. “The question of whether Attorney General Tom Horne and an aide will be prosecuted for campaign-finance violations is now up to Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk.”
HI: “FREE RANGE” LOBBYISTS. Here. “Kauai still has no system for regulating lobbyists, and county officials seem blissfully unaware they have been ignoring a key constitutional provision for decades.”
MD: LOBBYIST SPENDING TRACKED. Here. “With deep-pocketed casino companies apparently satisfied with the Maryland General Assembly’s changes to the state’s gambling laws in 2012, the list of top-spending Annapolis lobbying groups returned to historical norms this year.”
VA: CUCCINELLI WALLED. The Post. “Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II’s staff purposely shielded him from allegations of improper behavior by Gov. Robert F. McDonnell for five months last year, knowing the attorney general was friendly with a key donor at the center of those accusations, according to new information released by Cuccinelli’s gubernatorial campaign.”
WI: UNION RECALL ALLEGATION. Story here. “In a remarkable turn, the growing investigation of a powerful local union is turning up evidence of likely financial abuse by the labor group’s top staffers during last year’s attempted recall of Gov. Scott Walker.”
UK: BERCOW’S JAUNTS. Daily Mail. “Commons Speaker John Bercow has run up a £100,000 in just three years on a taxpayer-funded tour of Britain and the world, MailOnline can reveal.”
HAVE A GOOD DAY.