MENENDEZ TRIAL BEGINS. POL. “A federal courtroom in Newark, N.J., on Wednesday morning will feature a rare sight — a U.S. senator facing felony criminal charges.”
TRIAL PREVIEW. CNN. “It’s a case with allegations spanning seven years, multiple countries, and involving hundreds of thousands of dollars. At the center of it: a sitting US senator.”
HOFFMAN READY. DC. “LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman is wielding his considerable wealth to combat the Trump administration by donating what could amount to hundreds of millions of dollars to different liberal candidates and causes.”
EXPENSES UNDER MICROSCOPE. SUT. “After questions first arose in April 2016 about Hunter’s spending of campaign money for video games and his children’s private school tuition, the congressman commissioned an audit and ended up repaying more than $60,000 in expenses he identified as personal, mistaken or undocumented.”
MA: OUT OF STATE TARGET. SN. “With tens of millions of dollars in campaign spending expected to flow into Massachusetts next year ahead of ballot questions ranging from a ‘millionaires tax’ to a $15 per-hour minimum wage, activists want to limit contributions from out-of-state donors.”
NM: FIGHT BREWING. TN. “Proposed campaign finance rules that Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver hopes to get on the books before what’s likely to be an expensive election year could be headed for a courtroom showdown.”
OH: ILLEGAL CONTRIBUTIONS ALLEGED. WCPO. “A group of local politicos have filed a lawsuit against the Cincinnati Elections Commission and Mayor John Cranley’s re-election campaign, alleging an incorrect reading of a charter amendment has allowed wealthy people to make ‘illegal’ campaign contributions to city political candidates.”
VA: CANDIDATE’S FIRM IN THE NEWS. RTD. “Vogel, the managing partner, is a former chief counsel for the Republican National Committee and a former deputy general counsel at the U.S. Department of Energy under President George W. Bush.”
CAN: UPGRADE LOBBYIST REGISTRATION. VS. “B.C. has a public-lobbyist registry and rules about who can and can’t lobby. However, as the new provincial government has accurately noted, the system is in dire need of an upgrade. Like most provinces, the lobbyist registration systems we have in place need improvement if they’re going to be effective in providing a clear window into who is influencing our governments.”
HAVE A GOOD DAY.