SUPREME COURT WON’T HEAR CASE. LAT. “New Justice Neil M. Gorsuch joined Clarence Thomas in dissent Monday when the Supreme Court rejected an appeal from a Republican Party lawyer seeking to strike down limits on big-money contributions to political parties.”
LIFETIME LOBBYIST BAN. Hill. “A bipartisan group of senators wants to ban lawmakers from ever becoming lobbyists after they leave Congress.”
DEMOCRAT SEEKS INVESTIGATION. Hill. “A Democratic Federal Election Commission member is urging the FEC to investigate whether Russian agents used Facebook to spread damaging stories about Hillary Clinton before the 2016 election, Politico reported.”
OGE ASK. WP. “White House officials are seeking to stop the federal government’s top ethics officer from getting details about waivers granted to lobbyists and other appointees working in the administration, intensifying a power struggle between President Trump and the ethics agency.”
CA: CONTRIBUTIONS ISSUE. MN. “The state’s political watchdog agency says the owner of a Milpitas-based general engineering contractor company will face a $20,000 fine for laundering campaign contributions in connection to prior campaigns of two former Milpitas City Council members.”
IL: LARGEST CONTRIBUTION NOTED. CT. “Billionaire hedge fund founder Ken Griffin contributed $20 million Tuesday to Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner’s re-election campaign, an early escalation in a big-money 2018 contest expected to shatter previous spending records.”
IL: PUBLIC FINANCING MOVES. CB. “A proposal to begin a limited system of public financing of races for state office has quietly picked up some momentum in Springfield.”
OH: PARTY COMPLIANCE. JN. “Tens of thousands of dollars invested by the Butler County Republican Party into helping Donald Trump win Butler County and Ohio in the presidential election were not properly reported to the Federal Elections Commission, according to a recent audit.”
VT: ALLIANCE CLEARED. BFP. “A state investigation has cleared the Rebel Alliance group of campaign finance violations before the Town Meeting Day vote in which South Burlington’s school budget was defeated. The defeat was largely credited to the efforts of the alliance.”
HAVE A GOOD DAY.