RULES OF THE GAME. Roll Call. “Advocates of political money restrictions have long decried the FEC’s paralysis, but they are even more irate now that the agency has finally sprung into action.”
STEYER MONEY MOVES. Seattle Times. “In late September, political reporter Jim Brunner wrote about how California billionaire and climate activist Tom Steyer had decided to drop $1 million into Washington state’s elections to help Democrats regain control of the state Senate.”
I WATCHED SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO. WFB. “As Lachlan reported last week, the left-wing activist group MoveOn.org is running a contest to see who can produce the best campaign ad highlighting ‘the importance of money in politics, and why we need to fundamentally reform the way elections are funded.'”
CONVICTION IN CASE. Roll Call. “A Chicago man who bragged to Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe in 2008 about his close ties to then President-Elect Barack Obama was convicted Friday of violating federal law as he lobbied for relief of sanctions against the African nation.”
40 YEARS LATER. NYT. “Should what remains of this legislation be used as the foundation for additional reforms, or is the system so badly damaged that lawmakers should start from scratch?”
KOCH SUPER PAC. Slate. “[T]hey’ve now launched a super PAC called the Freedom Partners Action Fund that does back individual candidates, and as such the identities of the group’s donors are public.”
TO CHAIRITY. Cleveland.com. “Democratic congressional candidate Michael Wager says he’ll donate money he got from Steris Corp.’s political action committee to charity because of its decision to move its corporate headquarters abroad for tax purposes.”
CA: CHEVRON IN RICHMOND. LAT. “So far this year, Chevron has poured an astounding $2.9 million into three campaign committees in Richmond. Of that, at least $1.4 million has gone to a committee supporting the pro-Chevron candidates and $500,000 to a committee opposing the candidate critical of Chevron, including the current mayor, Gayle McLaughlin. The figures suggest that Chevron is preparing to spend at least $33 for the vote of every resident of the city 18 or older.”
CT: DEMOCRATS SLAMMED. CTMirror.org. “In unusually blunt language, the State Elections Enforcement Commission is asking the Federal Election Commission to prevent the state Democratic Party from using funds from a federal campaign finance account to pay for a mailing supporting the re-election of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.”
LA: DONATIONS QUESTIONS. KTBS. “Among those candidates who received questionable donations—Sam Jenkins. Jenkins received one donation that raised a red flag. $1000 from a church: the New Elizabeth Missionary Baptist Church.”
AU: VICTORIAN’S SECRET. WAToday.com. “What Victorians need to know, from any party fielding candidates in the forthcoming election, is exactly who is donating to them, how much they have given and over what period of time and what, if any, are the donors’ affiliations with corporations/businesses and so on. This information is not available because Victoria does not have a donations disclosure policy (although all parties must lodge with the Victorian Election Commission a copy of their Federal annual return, which refers to the $50,000 cap on any donations received from casinos and gambling licensees).”
HAVE A GOOD DAY.