STRAW DONORS IN THE NEWS. IPL. “Straw donor schemes are surprisingly common. Such schemes involve an individual who has made the maximum donation to a campaign and who seeks to circumvent the contribution limit by funneling money through friends and family, causing FEC reports inaccurately to list those other persons as the true donors.”
BITCOIN IN POLITICS. CT. “Even though the weight of cryptocurrency contributions in campaign funds remains modest, the overall upward trend is consistent with the increasing degree of mass adoption. There is little doubt that we will soon see more campaigns funded exclusively by crypto, as well as more successful bids relying at least partly on digital currency contributions. As these processes unfold, the FEC will be compelled to chart clearer rules and grapple with the problem of crypto donations’ limited traceability.”
CA: FPPC BOOTS. SFC. “The state’s Fair Political Practices Commission went into bureaucratic overdrive Thursday, booting a May 24 complaint filed against supporters of Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom by Antonio Villaraigosa’s campaign for governor.”
CA: REGULATOR RESIGNS. CPR. “Fair Political Practices Commission Chairperson Jodi Remke announced on Tuesday that she will step down on Friday. That follows months of acrimony with fellow commissioners.”
CA: MAYOR CLEARED. TCN. “Mayor Jim Desmond has been cleared of wrongdoing after an independent investigation found no ‘probable cause’ to validate claims he violated campaign finance laws concerning his bid for the District 5 seat on the San Diego County Board of Supervisors.”
MT: DECISION ISSUED. MISS. “The Montana Commissioner of Political Practices issued a decision Friday finding that Missoula Sheriff T.J. McDermott violated campaign finance laws.”
NY: LLC LAW IN THE NEWS. TU. “Molinaro also stated on Wednesday that he would push for the closure of the so-called ‘LLC loophole’ in state election law, which allows wealthy individuals to donate essentially unlimited sums to state political candidates using limited liability companies that often cannot be traced to the contributors.”
NY: MISTRIAL DECLARED. WSJ. “A Long Island judge on Thursday declared a mistrial in the case of Edward Mangano, the former Nassau County executive accused of public-corruption crimes, after the jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict.”
TX: CAMPAIGNS LIVE ON. WFAA. “WFAA looked at Texas Ethics Commission filings of nearly 400 former state representatives and senators. We found that about 40 of them had between then about $9 million in leftover donations.”
WA: CASE SETTLED. TDN. “Longview Democrat Teresa Purcell will pay $14,395 to settle a complaint about campaign finance reporting failures stemming from her 2016 run for a state House seat, Purcell and the state Attorney General’s Office announced Friday.”
HAVE A GOOD DAY.