HOUSE ETHICS AND YOUNG. WP. “The House Ethics Committee ordered Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) to pay a nearly $60,000 fine for taking 15 inappropriate trips, using campaign funds for personal use and accepting other unethical gifts.”
IT’S A WONDERFUL DAY IN THE VOGELHOOD. WSJ. “Alex Vogel spent the last decade building a Washington lobbying business with a successful practice feeding investors information about potentially market-moving changes in policy. But with federal investigators scrutinizing Washington’s interactions with hedge funds and other traders, Mr. Vogel is quitting his firm. His new venture, VogelHood Research, will make all its predictions based on computer algorithms using publicly available information—without ever talking to members of Congress or other policy makers.” Look for another entry on this and more at PoliticalIntelligenceLaw.com soon.
AK: APOC ACTS ON MAYOR. ADN. “A report by the state agency that regulates campaign finance laws says Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan broke state law by issuing a campaign-related press release through his city spokeswoman last month.”
CA: CANDIDATE FINED. Desert Sun. “The state’s Fair Political Practices Commission on Thursday fined former council candidate Haddon Libby $3,500 for not properly disclosing that he was behind mailers that targeted his 2012 political opponents.”
CA: CONFLICT CASE. Daily Journal. “The Fair Political Practices Commission agreed Thursday to let Redwood City Councilwoman Rosanne Foust pay a $3,000 fine for violating its conflict of interest rules over the now-shelved Cargill Saltworks development by heading an economic group that endorsed the mixed-use plan.”
CA: MONTEREY CFR. Herald. “The City Council voted 3-2 this week to formally consider a suggestion by Councilman Alan Haffa that the city look at local campaign finance reform.”
CT: DGA CASE UPDATE. Mirror. “The Democratic Governors Association has withdrawn its remaining legal challenge of state campaign finance law. The withdrawal was filed without comment or explanation.”
NJ: CASE FOR DISCLOSURE. Brindle. “Campaign finance law is in turmoil after a series of U.S. Supreme Court cases that have stripped away many government restraints over political fundraising.”
VA: PUCKETT GETS A LAWYER. WP. “Former Virginia state senator Phillip P. Puckett (D-Russell) has hired a veteran former federal prosecutor to represent him as investigators probe the circumstances of his abrupt departure from the state legislature, the attorney said Friday.”
VA: MCDONNELL UPDATE. WP. “All five of Robert and Maureen McDonnell’s adult children might testify at their parents’ federal corruption trial in July, and prosecutors want to treat them as ‘adverse’ witnesses and ask them leading questions.”
VA: GOV. VETOES ETHICS. WP. “Amid a furor over his veto of budget language related to Medicaid reform, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe also moved Friday to defund a major component of the bipartisan ethics legislation passed during this year’s session.”
HAVE A GOOD DAY.