CONTEMPT FOR LERNER? DC. “The House Committee on Ways and Means will vote Wednesday on whether to refer ex-IRS official Lois Lerner to the Department of Justice (DOJ) on criminal charges, The Daily Caller has learned.”
GOING GLOBAL. Roll Call. “A top national law firm, which provides legal assistance to Democrats, has helped register the Global Democratic PAC with the Federal Election Commission.”
SUPREME COURT WON’T HEAR CASE. TR. “Ducking a new case on the divisive issue of campaign finance, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a challenge to an Iowa law that bans corporate contributions in state elections.”
SUPER PACS AND UNIONS. Forbes. “Union leaders have already declared their plans to spend an unprecedented amount of money in state races in 2014.”
COMMISSIONER HARI-KARI. GovExec. “Seldom does a high-level agency official state baldly in a public venue that her taxpayer-supported regulatory authority is utterly failing to do its job.”
FIRST AMENDMENT AFFIRMED. BostonGlobe.com. “The fulminating against Mammon and its wicked influence on American democracy might be more persuasive if the fulminators themselves were careful to shun financial support from well-to-do donors with strong political interests.”
RETHINKING LIMITS. Bangor Daily News. “”Twelve other states — Alaska, Connecticut, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, New York, Rhode Island, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming — have at least some kind of aggregate limit on the books, according to data compiled by the Center for Competitive Politics, a campaign finance organization that filed an amicus brief in support of overturning the federal aggregation limits.”
BYE, BYE, BIENNIAL LIMITS. New FEC Chart.
CA: A COMPLETE OVER-REACH. Sacramento Bee. “Sean Noble, the man who operated an Arizona nonprofit group that channeled millions of dollars in anonymous donations to two California ballot measures in 2012, said in a television interview Sunday that the investigation he faced by California’s political watchdog was ‘a complete over-reach.'”
CA: BROWN SIGNS LAW. Orange County Breeze. “The act requires the Franchise Tax Board to conduct audits and field investigations of various financial statements required to be submitted by lobbying firms, lobbyist employers, candidates, and specified committees.”
CA: TARGETING DONORS. WSJ. “The new law, which amends the state’s Political Reform Act, will allow the Fair Political Practices Commission to shake down groups before elections.”
WI: LOBBYIST BILL REACTIONS. Post Crescent. “Wittenwyler, who advises lobbyists and interest groups, argues that the donation date change merely reflects that the state has moved up its fall primary from mid-September to mid-August.”
HAVE A GREAT DAY.