Good morning, here are Monday’s political law links, 5/20/13

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TICK TOCK DRIP. The Post. “The firestorm buffeting the Internal Revenue Service intensified Friday as lawmakers began what they promised would be an extensive effort to learn whether there was any political motivation or White House involvement in the agency’s recently acknowledged misdeeds.”

CINCINNATI CONFUSED. The Times. “While there are still many gaps in the story of how the I.R.S. scandal happened, interviews with current and former employees and with lawyers who dealt with them, along with a review of I.R.S. documents, paint a more muddled picture of an understaffed Cincinnati outpost that was alienated from the broader I.R.S. culture and given little direction.”

SHAKE UP IRS. Post. “Among the many investigations getting started, the Justice Department is beginning a criminal probe. More important than criminal convictions, however, is that investigators in the Obama administration and in Congress get answers, that the IRS sees genuine reform, and that those who betrayed the public trust — willingly or not — are removed from positions in which they could repeat their errors.”

CAMPAIGN FINANCE: IT’S COMPLICATED. The Post. “How certain groups qualify for tax-exempt status as a 501(c)(4) organization — a distinction that allows them to keep both their donors and donations secret — is the focus of the week (thanks to the buffoonery, at best, of some IRS officials) but it opens up (or should open up) a conversation about the vagaries of campaign finance law.”

SEC AND DISCLOSURE. The Post. “House Republicans repeatedly warned the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday against dragging the agency into a political fray, evoking the scandal at the IRS over the targeting of conservative groups.”

IL: RAHM REFUND. News here. “Mayor Rahm Emanuel has returned a $10,000 campaign donation from a lobbyist for a tech firm disqualified from a city program this week after the Tribune raised questions about potential violations of the mayor’s self-imposed limits on political fundraising, an Emanuel spokeswoman confirmed Thursday.”

NJ: BOOKER FEES. NJ.com. “Mayor Cory Booker made $1.3 million on the speaking circuit between 2008 and 2013 and gave roughly $620,000 of it to charity, according to documents and disclosures he released yesterday.”

VA: GIFT ISSUES IN VA. The Times. “While not on a par with Washington scandals unfolding around the I.R.S. and other agencies, which are commanding national and presidential attention, Virginia’s homegrown drama, now in its seventh week, has more outsize characters and soap opera turns.”

VA: LOOSE RULES. Story here. ”The commonwealth is one of 10 states that places no cap on the size of personal gifts that officeholders can accept. Many, including Maryland and the District, prohibit elected officials from accepting any gift from a company with business before the government.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.

Good morning, here are Friday’s political law links, 5/17/13

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ANOTHER OFFICIAL TO LEAVE. The Hill. “Joseph Grant, the acting commissioner for the agency’s Tax Exempt and Government Entities division, plans to retire, according to the IRS.”

WERFEL APPOINTED. News here. “President Obama on Thursday appointed Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Controller Danny Werfel as acting commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service.”

REQUEST TO REMOVE VIDEO. Roll Call. “A video posted on the Politico website featuring Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s chief of staff has been taken down after the Kentucky Republican’s office objected to its placement on a page designed to solicit advertisers.”

REQUEST FOR SEBELIUS INVESTIGATION. Here. “A group of Republican lawmakers called on the Government Accountability Office to investigate Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius over her fundraising for a nonprofit supporting Obamacare.”

IN: CAMPAIGN FINANCE GRADE. Here. “The Center for Public Integrity, which assisted in the study, reported that in 30 states, including Indiana, it’s impossible to total how much money outside groups are spending in state and local races because of the lack of disclosure laws.”

IL: CHICAGO RULES. Story here. “Leaders of a tech firm seeking a city contract donated $15,000 to Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s campaign fund, despite Emanuel’s own executive order banning contributions from vendors trying to get city business.”

NY: CUOMO AND CFR. Story here. “New York Governor Andrew Cuomo wants to break the connection between cash and politics that’s led to corruption in Albany for decades, and he says public financing of election campaigns is the solution.”

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND.

Good morning, here are Thursday’s political law links, 5/16/13

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RESIGNATION AT IRS. Politico. “President Barack Obama announced Wednesday that Treasury Secretary Jack Lew requested and accepted the resignation of Steven Miller, the acting commissioner of the IRS.”

LERNER TESTIMONY. Lois Lerner has appeared before Congress before. In 1998, she was called to testify about a matter involving a Democratic fundraiser.  The background is somewhat complicated; the Commission had declined to pursue a case against Howard Glicken, a fundraiser alleged to have solicited a foreign national.  Rep. Burton asked:  “Why didn’t they investigate? Here is what the FEC’s General Counsel’s Report says. And I hope all my colleagues will listen to this. ‘Because of Mr. Glicken’s high profile as a prominent Democratic fundraiser, including his potential fundraising involvement in support of Vice President Gore’s expected Presidential campaign, it is unclear that this individual would agree to settle this matter short of litigation.’  Since when does someone get a free ride because he is a prominent Democratic fundraiser? Since when does someone get a free ride because he is a supporter of the Vice President? Since when does someone get a free ride because it looks like he might fight a penalty in court instead of settling?”  A transcript of the discussion is online here.

IRS ROLE IN CAMPAIGN FINANCE. Philly.com. “The truly curious universe of politically-oriented nonprofits demonstrates how murky the line has become between groups whose primary focus is issue advocacy and those that target candidates in political races.”

SLOAN SPEAKS. Roll Call. “Everyone can agree it is unacceptable for the IRS to target particular organizations based on political ideology. If that’s what agents at the IRS were up to, they were wrong and there should be consequences.”

FURLOUGHS AND ETHICS RULES. Roll Call. “As a threshold matter, yes, a furloughed staffer is still considered a House employee and remains bound by restrictions on staff employees, with certain limited exceptions.”

HI: PARKING AND LOBBYING. Story here. “But John Radcliffe, one of Hawaii’s biggest lobbyists with 30 clients — including the American Chemistry Council, the Hawaii School Bus Association and Corrections Corporation of America — has an ‘in’ that most members of the public don’t: Sen. Josh Green lets Radcliffe park in his Senate-assigned stall.”

MO: ETHICS COMMITTEE FINE. Story here. “A former state senator from St. Louis has been fined more than $270,000 by the Missouri Ethics Commission for violating numerous campaign finance laws.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.