Good morning, here are Monday’s political law links (5/14/12)

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QUESTIONS ON ADS.  Roll Call.  “Members are largely restricted from using official funds to promote, host or advertise events that do not directly serve their constituents. However, guidance from the House Administration Committee, the franking commission and the House Ethics Committee gives lawmakers enough leeway to at times fund events outside their districts.”

CHAMBER ON YOUTUBE.  Story here.  “The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, on pace to spend upward of $50 million on voter mobilization this campaign cycle, has launched a YouTube advertising campaign targeting residents of seven Congressional districts. More ads in other districts are likely on the horizon.”

FEC MEETING PRESS RELEASE.  A press release on last Thursday’s meeting is online here.

EDWARDS DEFENSE.  Story here.    “The first witnesses to be called by the defense include former Federal Election Commission chairman Scott Thomas, political pollster Harrison Hickman and ex-Edwards attorney Wade Smith. Edwards’ attorneys have not indicated whether he will take the stand.”

REP. OWENS TO REPAY.  Story here.  “Congressman Bill Owens says he will repay more than $20,000 dollars for a junket that he took last December to Taiwan.”

JPMORGAN’S LOBBYING.  Story here.  “Several visits over months by the bank’s well-connected chief executive, Jamie Dimon, and his top aides were aimed at persuading regulators to create a loophole in the law, known as the Volcker Rule.”

PERSONAL FUNDS BAN IN THE NEWS.  The Hill.  “The Federal Election Commission (FEC) renewed its charge to Congress Thursday to extend a ban prohibiting personal use of campaign funds to all political committees.”

LOOKING AT LOBBYING.  The Times.  “The steady take-over of this unofficial branch of government by WPP, Omnicom, Interpublic and other conglomerates has turned premier lobbyists, strategists and political operatives into a species of bureaucrat, now vested in bottom-line corporate goals. Their interest in the substance of what Congress accomplishes, in policy outcomes, and in the direction of the country, has diminished. In fact, one could say that the more legislative dysfunction, the more billable hours.”

WAL-MART ALLEGATIONS IN THE NEWS.  The Post.  “The U.S. and Mexican governments reportedly are investigating the chain. Wal-Mart’s stock is down almost 5 percent since the allegations surfaced. The company and top executives are being sued by angry investors. And some shareholders are planning to vote against the re-election of several board members at Wal-Mart’s annual meeting next month.”

ROBOCALL TRIAL RESULT.  Story here.  “A Republican campaign consultant was convicted Friday of conspiracy for 2010 robocalls that prosecutors said were aimed at keeping black voters from the polls during Maryland’s gubernatorial election.”

HAVE A GREAT DAY.

Good morning, here are political law links for Thurs., May 10, 2012

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WHO SPENT WHAT ONLINE.  E.politics.  “As of March 31, Obama 2012 and the DNC together had spent $21,000,000 on digital advertising, more than double total Republican spending at the presidential level.”

ETHICS AND REP. BUCHANAN.  The Hill.  “The House Ethics Committee indefinitely extended an inquiry Wednesday into whether Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.) attempted to procure a false affidavit from a witness testifying about allegations of a straw-donor scheme.”  The Times has coverage here.

COMPLAINT AGAINST BROWN.  Story here.  “The Massachusetts Democratic Party has filed an ethics complaint against Scott Brown, alleging that Brown has used official resources for campaign purposes.”

HOLLYWOOD OFA FUNDRAISING.  The Times.  “At last count, organizers said, the event had raised well over $6 million, plus many millions more through an online raffle, record territory. They said they stopped selling $40,000-a-plate tickets last week because there was no room to squeeze in any more tables.”

GETTING CREEP-Y AFTER CU?  Ciara Torres-Spelliscy discusses here.  “A Watergate redux feels palpably close when money’s role in choosing a viable candidate waxes, as transparency simultaneously wanes.”

100.22(B)LOCKBUSTER.  The Federal Election Commission’s advisory opinion in response to a group called Free Speech is online here with statements from commissioners here and here.

YESTERDAY IN THE EDWARDS TRIAL.  Story here.  “Prosecutors told Judge Catherine Eagles late Wednesday that they still were on schedule to wrap up their side of the case on Thursday, and Hunter, the woman with whom Edwards had an extramarital affair and a child, was not one of the witnesses they intend to call.”

SUPER PACS AND CONTRACTORS.  Story here.

RECALL FUNDS IN WI.  Story here.

HAVE A GREAT DAY.  The next set of links will be sent around on Monday.  Have a great weekend!

Political law links for Wed., May 9, 2012

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WHO’S AHEAD IN SUPER PAC RACE?  Roll Call.  “For Democratic super PACs struggling to catch up with their cash-flush GOP counterparts, the news that financier George Soros will soon give $2 million to a couple of progressive groups comes as small consolation.”

LUGAR’S K ST. CONNECTIONS.  Roll Call.  “Sen. Dick Lugar’s K Street ties run deep and include a network of loyal former aides and family members. But the help of his downtown supporters wasn’t enough to push the Indiana Republican to victory Tuesday.”

CONSULTANT/LOBBYIST.  The Hill.  “A lobbyist for a generic drug company was introduced as a special consultant to Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) during negotiations on patent law, according to others who attended the meeting.”

NORTON TO VENABLE.  Press release.  “Adding one of the country’s leading authorities on political law to its government affairs bench, Venable LLP announced that Lawrence Norton, formerly General Counsel at the Federal Election Commission, has joined the firm as a partner and co-chair of its Political Law practice group in Washington, DC.  Mr. Norton was previously with the Washington office of Womble Carlyle.”

READING SOROS.  The Post.  “Another senior party strategist took it even further, arguing that Soros’ decision to pass over Priorities is evidence of the ongoing riff between liberal donors and the Obama White House.”

INDEPENDENT GROUP SPENDING.  The Times.  “Senior leaders of the Democratic Party expressed alarm on Tuesday that a $100 million plan by liberal donors to increase voter turnout would duplicate a similar effort by President Obama’s campaign and squander a chance to fend off an advertising onslaught from Republican groups.”

APPLE LOBBYING.  Politico.  “Apple is taking a bruising in Washington, and insiders say there’s a reason: It’s the one place in the world where the company hasn’t built its brand.”

TEXTING DONATIONS.  Story here.  “Political campaigns are already raising millions of dollars via the internet. Now, two political consulting firms are pushing a bipartisan plan to make online giving even easier by letting cellphone users make small donations with a single text.”

REP. CANTOR AND YG ACTION FUND.  Politico.  “House Majority Leader Eric Cantor sought to distance himself Tuesday from the YG Action Fund, a super PAC run by two of his former top aides, another example of the discomfort elected lawmakers have with the big money groups.”

TX SUPER PAC OPPOSES RANGEL.  The Times.  “State Senator Adriano Espaillat’s campaign to unseat Representative Charles B. Rangel received a boost on Tuesday from an unexpected quarter, when a ‘super PAC’ based in Texas announced that it planned to support Mr. Espaillat against Mr. Rangel.”

MOUNT KISCO ON CU.  Story here.  “Seeking to send a message to Congress, Mount Kisco’s Village Board of Trustees unanimously voted for a resolution that calls for amending the federal Constitution to overturn the Supreme Court’s decision of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.”

HAVE A GREAT DAY.

Good morning, here are political law links for Tues., May 8, 2012

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SUPER PACS AND SATIRE.  Roll Call.  “Want to get big money out of politics? Set up a super PAC.”

K STREET PUNDITRY.  Story here.  “Handicapping races and dispensing other political wisdom helps a firm’s clients figure out how to dole out campaign donations and position for legislative victories after Election Day.”

UNION ACTIVITY.  Story here.  “Annual financial reports filed with the Labor Department by national and local unions show they gave nearly $16 million in contributions to more than a half-dozen umbrella groups, according to a review by The Hill.”

OUTSIDE MONEY ON THE LEFT.  The Times.  “After months on the sidelines, major liberal donors including the financier George Soros are preparing to inject up to $100 million into independent groups to aid Democrats’ chances this fall.”

FEC MEETING.  The agenda for Thursday’s meeting of the Federal Election Commission is online here.

NOMINEES APPROVED.  Story here.  “The Senate approved two nominees to the Federal Communications Commission after a months-long political tangle over an agency grappling with policies to bolster wireless Internet networks.”  Congratulations to Republican Ajit Pai and Democrat Jessica Rosenworcel.

OFA PRESSURE.  The Post.  “The Obama campaign began the week by announcing a whopping $25 million ad buy in nine battleground states — and their top strategists told reporters that it is only the beginning.”

EDWARDS TRIAL SECRETS.  Politico.  “A secret pre-dawn rendezvous to meet an aide to former Sen. John Edwards, the aide’s wife and a pregnant woman at a home construction lot and drive them to a waiting plane at a private hangar — that was just part of the story [Chapel Hill builder] Tim Toben told on the stand here Monday.”  The N&O reports here:  “Toben, 53, not only recounted his role in getting a very pregnant Hunter to a private jet at Raleigh-Durham Airport in late December 2007, he also talked about several interactions and a phone call from Edwards after that.”

BLOGGERS ON THE SHELF.  Story here.  “The director of California’s political watchdog agency is shelving her proposal to require bloggers to disclose payments they receive from political campaigns.”

HAVE A GREAT DAY.

Good morning, here are today’s political law links

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CORPORATE SPENDING CONFERENCE.  The Conference Board’s Corporate Political Spending Conference will be held on May 15, 2012 in Washington, DC.  The program is led by Caplin & Drysdale’s Trevor Potter and the day’s interesting panels will feature representatives of Microsoft, Coca-Cola, Google, Altria, and other corporations, law firms, and news organizations.  More information is available in this brochure.

PUBLIC FINANCING PUSH. The Times. “Public financing of presidential elections, the greatest reform to come out of the post-Watergate era, died this year after a long illness.”

SUPER PACS AND CONTRACTORS. Story here. “The FEC has indicated that the statute is still in effect, although some election law experts believe it will be found unconstitutional in the wake of Citizens United.”

DLA POLITICAL ALERT. Tips on how businesses can stay compliant are topic of this Political Law Alert from DLA Piper.

EDWARDS TRIAL UPDATE.  The Times.  “On Friday, the end of two weeks of testimony in a trial that is expected to stretch toward the end of the month, both her close confidant and her estate manager described how agitated she became when she realized some of the millions of dollars she had given to Mr. Edwards’s presidential bid and to his favorite causes had been used instead to hide a pregnant mistress, Rielle Hunter.”

SHOPPING AND GIVING.  Politico. “Americans may soon find it easier than ever to participate in pocketbook politics thanks to a series of new and pending federal campaign finance decisions that loosen restrictions on Internet and mobile technology.”

ELECTRONIC FILING.  Story here.  “Under arcane Senate rules, candidates don’t have to file their campaign finance reports electronically and can, instead, go through a tedious process that holds up reports for weeks, even months.”

VIEW ON L.A. ETHICS COMMISSION. Here. “The commission is the city’s political watchdog, enforcing laws to protect against improper influence in contracting, unfairness in political fundraising and spending, and conflicts of interest among officeholders and lobbyists.”

GA GIFT BAN REVIEW.  Story here.  “The language in Gov. Nathan Deal’s order is crystal clear on how the state bureaucracy is supposed to handle lobbyists. But it’s less so on whom it covers.”

HAVE A GREAT DAY.