MCGEHEE: KEEP LIMITS. CNN. “If the Supreme Court sides with McCutcheon, all it will have done is open new routes for corruption without closing the old ones.”
LIPTAK ON MCCUTCHEON. The Times. “The Supreme Court will hear his challenge to the overall limits next Tuesday.”
WALKING DEAD, FEC EDITION. The Post. “The computers will be working there to receive your reports, we’re told.”
K ST. BLITZ. The Hill. “While the staffing furloughs have forced some last-minute venue changes and communications problems, trade groups say their events have mostly gone off without a hitch.”
DONATIONS IN THE SHADOWS. NJ. “Campaign contributions are going into the dark.”
STATES AND DISCLOSURE. The Post. “A group of watchdog organizations will roll out a new multi-state effort to share information and best practices on campaign finance legislation Thursday, the first step in an effort to force organizations that spend millions on political activity to disclose their donors. … ‘This collaboration will enable us to make major inroads in improving the transparency of donors,’ said Ann Ravel, chairwoman of the California Fair Political Practices Commission. ‘Ultimately, the group could go in many other directions, such as joining enforcement matters, potentially joining in some sort of pressure groups of states with the federal government.'”
STATE UPDATES IN HI, IA, AND NC VIA WILEY REIN. Here.
COVINGTON ON SHUTDOWN FILING IMPACT. Here.
SUIT OVER ALLEGED LEAK. Story here. “The National Organization for Marriage will sue the IRS on Thursday, saying it has evidence that someone within the agency leaked the organization’s private donor list to its political enemies in 2012 but that nobody has been held responsible.”
AZ: LIMITS AT ISSUE. Here. “The lawyer for Republican legislative leaders on Friday asked the state Court of Appeals to continue to let politicians take more money from donors, arguing in effect that the old limits were unconstitutional.”
DC: INVESTIGATIONS DROPPED. Story here. “Sometimes, investigations into District politicians don’t turn anything up.”
IA: SENATOR QUITS. Story here. “An Iowa state senator resigned Wednesday after a special investigator found it likely he violated ethics rules by taking money from political entities connected to former presidential candidate Michele Bachmann and then denying he’d done so.”
NJ: COMPLAINT FILED. Story here. “The New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission today filed a 13-count complaint against Essex County Executive Joe DiVincenzo and treasurer Jorge Martinez charging non-reporting of expenditures and impermissible use of campaign funds.”
WI: CFR PROPOSAL. Here. “A Republican-sponsored bill that would ‘gut’ the state’s campaign financial disclosure laws, according to a critic, is quickly making its way through the legislative process.”
WI: TRIP DRAWS COMPLAINT. Here. “One Wisconsin Now is requesting the Government Accountability Board conduct an investigation of possible state ethics violations after United Sportsmen, a group set to receive a $500,000 grant which was later rescinded, offered a two-day Lake Michigan fishing trip to former Assembly Majority Leader Scott Suder, R-Abbotsford, who helped author the grant.”
MERGER OF THE CENTURY. Although I haven’t read Merger of the Century: Why Canada and America Should Become One Country, I hadn’t really thought about that prospect and found the author’s website interesting.
HAVE A GREAT DAY.