PAY TO PLAY CHALLENGE UPDATE. NLR. “The Sixth Circuit dismissed this latest challenge for lack of standing. The result is not entirely surprising in that the petitioners faced a high hurdle: because they challenged the amendments to the MSRB’s rule, but not Rule G-37 itself, they were required to focus on activity restricted specifically due to the amendments and not the preexisting rule.”
JULY 2017 ELECTION LAW NEWS. Wiley Rein. This month’s edition features a number of articles of interest.
FORMER CANDIDATE SUED. MH. “Former U.S. Rep. David Rivera funneled at least $69,000 in secret campaign cash to a ringer candidate in the 2012 congressional election, according to the Federal Election Commission — which wants the Republican ex-congressman to pay $486,000 in civil penalties.”
ROKITA TEAM. JG. “Rep. Todd Rokita, R-4th, announced Monday he has assembled a 60-member campaign finance team for a possible run for the U.S. Senate seat held by Democrat Joe Donnelly.”
SUPER PAC RAISES. WPR. “Illinois businessman Richard Uihlein has now donated a total of $3.5 million toward a super PAC supporting Republican Kevin Nicholson’s potential campaign for Wisconsin’s U.S. Senate seat.”
SUPER PAC EYES. AC. “Outside groups have been active in central New York before. But the Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC supporting House Republican candidates, is taking a new approach.”
ID: FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE. SM. “Thanks to legislative action this year in Vermont, Idaho is now one of just two states in the nation with no requirements for personal financial disclosure by state lawmakers or other elected or appointed officials. Idaho had been one of three states with that distinction. Now it’s just Idaho and Michigan.”
KY: INVESTIGATION STATUS. KY. “Attorney General Andy Beshear shouldn’t investigate Gov. Matt Bevin if he might run for governor in 2019, a state ethics panel advised Monday.”
MA: LOBBYIST/LEGISLATOR. BG. “In a major Beacon Hill summer surprise, House Ways and Means Committee chairman Brian Dempsey, a state representative from Haverhill, dropped the news he will be leaving his seat to take a job with ML Strategies, one of the state’s leading lobbying firms. Except he hasn’t said when he’ll step down.”
SC: FUNDRAISING OK. BT. “There’s nothing wrong with Lt. Gov. Kevin Bryant raising money for a nonexistent race, said the director of South Carolina’s ethics agency.”
WA: CENTER TO PAY. WAG. “A Thurston County Superior Court judge ordered the [Washington Budget and Policy] Center to pay $33,510 in penalties, with half suspended for four years contingent on no violations in that period, as well as $13,790 in attorney fees, court costs and costs of investigation.”
WA: AG AND CAMPAIGN FINANCE. LNL. “Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced on July 11 that his office filed a complaint in Thurston County Superior Court against the Service Employees International Union Leadership Council 14, also known as SEIU Washington State Council, for allegations of campaign finance violations.”
YESTERDAY’S POLITICAL LAW LINKS. They’re available here.
HAVE A GOOD DAY.