BUSINESS DONATED LITTLE. PRN. “Today the Committee for Economic Development of The Conference Board (CED) released new data indicating that, during the 2016 federal election cycle, business corporations did not participate in campaign finance activities to the extent that many anticipated. Among the findings, business corporations made up six percent of Super PAC receipts. The data comes amid the changed campaign finance environment that resulted from Citizens United. The landmark Supreme Court decision allows Super PACs to raise unlimited sums of money from not only business corporations, but also unions.”
MCCAIN’S RETURN. WP. “He and McConnell have had an on-again-off-again relationship. Its rockiest patch came 15 to 20 years ago as they clashed over campaign finance legislation restricting large donations to political parties. McCain beat McConnell on the Senate floor, but McConnell won in court, leading the legal battle that gutted McCain’s eponymous bill.”
PAY TO PLAY TO STAY. L360. “The Sixth Circuit rejected the latest constitutional challenge. Those rules are here to stay — at least until the constitutional arguments reappear in an enforcement action.”
PAID TO QUIT. PHILLY. “Federal prosecutors said Tuesday that U.S. Rep. Bob Brady’s campaign secretly paid a 2012 primary rival $90,000 to abandon his race and that the city’s longtime Democratic power broker later tried to derail an FBI investigation into the payoff by coaching a witness.”
ETHICS CLASH. NYT. “David J. Apol, named by President Trump last week as the new head of the Office of Government Ethics, has repeatedly clashed with colleagues over his career at the agency as he sought to roll back or loosen ethics requirements on federal employees, including those in the White House, three former senior officials at the agency said.”
BUSINESS GOOD. Politico. “Most of Washington’s top lobbying firms saw their revenue rise in the second quarter, after fears among some corporations and lobbyists — and hopes among some Trump supporters — that the president’s election in 2016 would curb Washington’s influence industry.”
IL: RESPECT ETHICS. CST. “Following what appears to be a Chicago standard, Mayor Emanuel, the one caught engaging in improper conversations despite being tasked with protecting taxpayer interests, decided that neither he nor his political insiders did anything wrong — instead, the law is wrong.”
KY: SUPER PAC CHARGES. MYCN. “The director of a Democratic super PAC has been jailed on charges of theft by deception, forgery and possessing stolen vital statistic records after Lexington police discovered her depositing fraudulent checks and found another person’s birth certificate and Social Security card at her residence.”
NM: REVISION RELEASED. KRWG. “New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver today released a revised draft campaign finance rule intended to provide much needed guidance regarding New Mexico’s Campaign Reporting Act.”
NY: ALLY DIDN’T REGISTER. NYT. “A search of the public record websites of the state’s Joint Commission on Public Ethics and the New York City Clerk’s Lobbying Bureau found no record that Mr. Kwatra or his company had registered as a lobbyist for Mr. Singh or his restaurant, Water’s Edge, in Queens, or any of Mr. Singh’s companies.”
NY: CONTRACTOR CONTRIBUTIONS. RO. “The law originally allowed such businesses to give the county executive no more than $1,000 a year, but lawmakers changed that after Neuhaus took office to allow up to $4,000 over a four-year term. The restriction applied only to companies that get their contracts without competitive bidding.”
VA: MONEY RACE FOR GOVERNOR. WP. “The Republican and the Democrat running for Virginia governor each picked up seven-figure campaign contributions from national groups after their first debate.”
HAVE A GOOD DAY.