SUPER PAC PARENTING. More Soft Money Hard Law. “Of course, one of the enduring questions about federal campaign finance law is why a member of a candidate’s immediate family cannot contribute more than $2,600 per election and must comply with the same contribution limit that everyone else must live by.”
INSANITY NOT STOPPED. WP. “‘The iconic musician Mick Jagger famously mused,’ she wrote, that ‘You can’t always get what you want. But if you try sometimes, well, you just might find, you get what you need.'” The opinion is online here.
AL: RSLC REPORT. Politico. “Never disclosed until now, the document detailed an investigation into alleged misconduct by multiple RSLC officials during the crucial 2010 election cycle: It charged that national RSLC leaders conspired improperly with the leader of the Alabama Republican Party to use the RSLC as a pass-through for controversial Indian tribe donations, essentially laundering ‘toxic’ money from the gaming industry by routing it out of state and then back into Alabama.”
AL: RSLC REPORT. AL.com. “And from what I can tell, nobody else here – not donors, lobbyists nor candidates – knows it’s against the law either. If we begin enforcing this law, we would have to jail just about everyone in Alabama politics.”
AZ: “DARK MONEY” COMPLETELY LEGAL. AZcentral.com. “For all negative headlines and attention paid by the media, the good-government set and those who aren’t benefiting from these efforts, the fact remains that the overwhelming majority of supposed ‘dark money’ campaign efforts are operating well within the tax and campaign-finance laws.”
CA: PAC MYSTERY. The Californian. “California’s elections ethics branch closed a case investigating the mysterious political action committee responsible for a late-May mailer targeting Monterey County Sheriff Scott Miller.”
MD: CASINO CONTRIBUTION ISSUES. WP. “Maryland lawmakers made it illegal in 2012 for casino owners to make donations to political candidates, a move intended to curb the influence of a deep-pocketed industry new to the state.”
MA: PATRICK SIGNS LAW. Masslive.com. “With no fanfare on Friday, Gov. Deval Patrick signed a law increasing individual campaign contribution limits for state candidates and requiring additional disclosures for super political action committees.”
NJ: PAY TO PLAY ISSUE. NJ.com. “Although one of the founding partners of a South Jersey law firm is also the treasurer of a political action committee that funneled $8,200 to Trenton Mayor Eric Jackson’s election campaign, a city attorney said the law firm can be granted a contact with the city worth up to $20,000.”
NY: SUBPOENAS ISSUED. NYP. “A 5-year-old investigation of the Working Families Party is back on track with a special prosecutor issuing subpoenas in his probe for alleged campaign abuses.”
VT: SEARCH SYSTEM LIVE. Free Press. “Later this month it should become easier for Vermonters to follow the money in state elections.”
HAVE A GOOD DAY.