FUNDRAISING AWAITS. WP. “The team of fundraisers tasked with raising more than $1 billion for Hillary Rodham Clinton’s expected presidential bid will start with two major assets: a national grass-roots operation two years in the making and a network of wealthy Democratic donors much broader than the one that backed her first White House run.”
SUPER PAC TAP. USAT. “A veteran South Carolina political strategist reportedly will help lead a super PAC to boost the Florida senator’s likely presidential bid.”
AD TANGLE. TIME. “As a legal matter, Bush’s lawyers had plenty of reasons to be cautious. His effort to reach the White House can only be carried out legally in its current incarnation if he denies that any of it is being done as part of a dedicated effort to win the White House.”
NEW WORLD FOR FEINGOLD. The Hill. “Former Sen. Russ Feingold is going to have to navigate a campaign finance world vastly different from the one he’d hoped to create if he decides to seek a Senate comeback.”
SUPER PAC TRAVEL. WESH. “Jeb Bush will travel to Washington, D.C. at the end of April to help raise money for his super PAC, according to an invitation obtained by CNN.”
SUPER PAC SHUTDOWN. Inewsource.org. “The Fund, a super PAC run by former San Diego city councilman and unsuccessful mayoral and congressional candidate Carl DeMaio, is shutting down according to a document filed Friday with the Federal Election Commission.”
DASCHLE REGISTERS. The Hill. “Onetime Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) has registered as a lobbyist for the first time since leaving the Senate a decade ago, marking an informal milestone for a powerbroker who has long insisted that his work on behalf of K Street clients does not legally constitute lobbying.”
CA: FINE PAID. East Bay Express. “Council President Lynette Gibson McElhaney has paid a large fine to the city of Oakland for her failure to file campaign finance statements on time.”
IL: NO DARK MONEY HERE. Chicago Sun Times (Letter to the Editor from Illinoisans for Growth and Opportunity). “As for Mr. Brown’s ‘dark money’ allegations, 510(c)4 structures, under which donors are not publicly disclosed, is the very same design used by hundreds of chambers of commerce and trade and labor groups across the country. Is the Sun-Times asserting that local chambers of commerce or AARP or the Sierra Club need to disclose the details of their members’ dues every time the group takes a position on a piece of legislation? Further, direct contributions to independent expenditure campaigns are always disclosed, and transfers from 510(c)4 are allowed.”
NM: BILL DIES. NM in Depth. “Lost in the drama of Saturday was the death of legislation that would have exposed so-called ‘dark money’ groups to more public scrutiny.”
NM: BILL PASSES. NM in Depth. “The House voted Friday afternoon to send legislation that would require the creation of a searchable online database of lobbyists to the desk of Republican Gov. Susana Martinez.”
NY: KILLING CAMPAIGN FINANCE. NYDN. “Let Mayor de Blasio admit this fact: His bear hug of the Fund for One New York, the not-at-all-independent nonprofit advocacy group he created, is hastening the demise of the city’s public campaign finance system.”
OR: WHAT OR NEEDS. Go Local. “Oregon is one of only six states that has no contribution limits whatsoever for candidate campaigns.”
VT: NEW RULES. Sevendaysvt.com. “The Vermont Senate approved new rules Friday requiring lobbyists to quickly report how much they spend on advertising campaigns and to more regularly report their activities within the Statehouse.”
HAVE A GOOD DAY.